In this heavily digital age, technology has surrounded us.
As a result, it has become an important second language for adults and children, as well. Parents with little or no experience may find it difficult to teach programming to children. Luckily, there are many resources available to help parents address this gap and provide a meaningful learning experience for their children.
Nowadays, there are many online coding programs for children that provide the structure necessary for children to learn while being flexible to cater to the modern family’s requirements. Not only are there many options for children’s programming classes, but there are a variety of free games, applications and other resources to help kids learn to program.
What is coding?
Coding and programming have become the language of the 21st century. It uses programming languages to give computers and machines a set of instructions on what actions to take and how. It helps humans connect to machines and create software such as programs, operating systems and mobile applications.
In this video, the speaker defines coding and its types in a simple and fun way.
Why should kids learn to code?
In a world, where most of our functions are online—the world wouldn’t work without code. And learning “how to code” means you can actively contribute in shaping the world around you.
Whatever career choice your kids make— they will come into contact with tech systems in one form or another, which is why kids must know the basics behind them. Coding is no more limited to developer-only- instead; it will become the literacy of tomorrow and the 21st-century skill that every kid should know how to maneuver.
Besides, the video mentioned above talks about the basic reasons to learn to code. It points out that coding helps improve academic performance, build soft skills and paves the way to the future.
Coding kids visualize abstract concepts, apply math to real-world situations, make math learning fun and creative, improve writing skills, and embrace creativity; they can understand the value of concision and planning, which improves writing skills and builds confidence more.
Herein, we have enlisted a few popular videos you must watch with your kids to introduce them to coding and programming.
Introduction to coding
In this video, Evie, a kid, introducing her robot, Alex defines coding in the simplest way. To explain better, she gives a live example of how her robot follows all the instructions; also states how particular one needs to be while instructing. Besides, it teaches the mechanism of coding using a daily-life routine proposed by Evie’s teacher.
Invention of computer programming
Herein, Dr. Binocs says, “The Computer programming language is a set of human-supplied instructions that enables the machine to understand them, doesn’t that make a great machine?” He explains how it works, whose super-brain was behind this great invention of programming language.
Dr. Binocs adds that previously making language compatible for both human and computer was a tough job. The instructions were made in extremely complex binary codes. Later, explaining the entire mechanism, he points out that coding was invented by Grace Hopper and recounts how the language emerged.
Inspiring Stories
Coding by a kid, for a kid
This is an extremely inspiring video for kids to learn from. This TEDx video has Krish Mehra as a speaker who started coding at the tender age of eight and learned multiple programming languages – HTML, Java, Python and Swift; become an inspiration for many. When he was ten, he created an app – Spiral Blast and uploaded it to the iOS App Store. After its successful application, he founded The Novice Tech – a technical media that is easy to read.
In this video, he compares coding to a sport’s practice, because like soccer or tennis, if you make a mistake, you can rework to correct it. He also suggests a few amazing code learning platform that kids can opt for like Scratch, Code Academy, team treehouse etc. and master coding effortlessly.
The Young Codemaster
One of the young coders, Seth Yee, is an extraordinary child whose learning power is unlike that of other children his age. This video covers his inspiring. He codes write his own programmes and help teachers set up computers, and he is only 8.
This video may encourage your children to verify their interest and curiosity about what the coding is all about.
Leaders on Coding
This five-minute clip, called “What Most Schools Don’t Teach,” by Code.org, stars Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, will.i.am, Chris Bosh, Jack Dorsey, Tony Hsieh, Drew Houston, Gabe Newell, Ruchi Sanghvi, Elena Silenok, Vanessa Hurst, and Hadi Partovi. Sharing their learning journey, they urge young people to learn computer programming.
The video highlights the worldwide shortage of computer programmers the leaders stress upon cultivating computer science in most U.S.school curricula. It also encourages kids to learn to code; emphasizes the perks and casual vibe of working at a deep-pocketed tech company, where employees get free food, work barefoot and skateboard around the office.
Gabe Newell, the co-founder of video game developer Valve, says, “The programmers of tomorrow are the wizards of the future.” he adds “They are going to look like they have magic powers compared to everybody else.” which may interest the game-lover kids to try their hands-on.
Game-Based Learning
Learning Through Minecraft
This is a perfect video to encourage your kids to learn to code. It demonstrates overall gaming experience using codes and teaches how kids can learn to code through Minecraft.
Creating Games on Scratch
Another interesting way to introduce kids to coding is by allowing them to create their own games. This is a tutorial video provided by Scratch, a coding platform. It is great at teaching kids to learn while playing but also create their games. It covers the following concepts: Hide and Show – Repeat Until loop – When key pressed – Touch sprite – Broadcast message.
If you are willing to encourage your kids to learn coding, these videos are must watch.
