Coding for Kids
Rather than having kids consume code by playing, get them to learn how to code, and from an early age! I can still remember my first-ever coding lesson. I was sitting down at an old IBM computer that had Turbo Pascal installed, the year was 1996. It was all text-based of course, with pre-printed tutorials for us to follow, kindly supplied by our teacher. It was a baptism of fire, at least for me, to coding, with little or no thought to how to teach children how to code – we were just expected to get it! Fast forward a bunch of years and we have a multitude of apps to teach us coding; YouTube Videos, Hour Of Code, code boot camps, and online courses such as Code Academy to teach us how to code.
Why Coding?
Coding is a great skill for our children to have, as it helps develop their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, not to mention how much it can improve their resilience; have you tried debugging code? It also has huge benefits for English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners, through its structure and vocabulary.
Daisy the Dinosaur
Today I bring you a very simple app, for young learners, called Daisy the Dinosaur. It is a simple introduction to coding, suitable for children as young as 4 or 5! There are two learning options; challenge and free-play modes. The learners get to give Daisy some simple instructions such as jump, turn or grow, and with a bit of creative planning you could get your learners to create an animated story. Check out the video review for more, and get your kids coding.
- Title: Daisy the Dinosaur
- For: Learning how to code
- Ages: 4-5
- Cost: Free
- Release Date: 2016
- Video Review: Daisy the Dinosaur