

Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming - aynlaplant
http://boingboing.net/2012/12/18/python-for-kids-a-playful-int.html

======
eccp
My daughter is following this book (Python for Kids) on her own now, and about
a year ago we spent a while reading the Hello World book
(<http://www.manning.com/sande/>) which is a very gentle intro to programming,
Python and it was great. I liked Hello World a lot because it explained lots
of terms in familiar language and the illustrations and characters were very
funny.

She's 12 now so her expectations about games are more influenced by gaming
consoles, so I think the next stop will be doing some simple stuff in the
Blender Game Engine, which can be programmed in Python too, once she becomes
more fluent on programming.

Both books use IDLE as the programming environment, which is fine, but expect
to have minor issues along the way: you have to be aware of intentation rules
(it's Python) and in one game the library name could not be found because the
name started with a uppercase letter ("import Tkinter" in Ubuntu). In Ubuntu
you may need to install some extra packages, etc.

~~~
TootsMagoon
I am working through 'the Hello World book'with my kids and plan to teach an
after school course on Python next year. I am very pleased with 'Hello World'
but am curious on your thoughts on which one you prefer. 'Hello World' or
'Python for Kids'?

~~~
eccp
It depends, I was more involved with my daughter when we read the Hello World
book and it was really nice because some odd things about computers were
explained in simple language, and the character of the kid which questions
everything is really fit for this type of book. Also, there were lots of small
games with different mechanics.

Python for Kids is really good also, has a intro about the Python language
which feels more focused than the other book and it has a chapter about
drawing with a turtle, as I did with LOGO many years ago! ... Python for Kids
also has plenty of notes about running it on Windows, Mac OS X and Ubuntu so
you'd be fine on any OS you have.

I think you should try both, but the best order would be to finish Hello World
first and Python For Kids second.

------
jeremymcanally
I've read through the sample of this book and looked at the TOC and read Hello
World from Manning, and honestly, as someone who has worked teaching
programming to this age range, they kind of suck.

They don't teach kids how to think _about_ programming. Their first instinct
is to assault them with syntax and use words that aren't readily part of a
kid's vocabulary (for example, introducing the concept of "types" and coercing
(using that word) between them in like Chapter 3 is just a recipe for
disaster) in an effort to give the kid results. "If they don't see results,
they won't stick with it!" Bull crap. If you give them great results for the
first hour, but then it becomes incredibly frustrating to proceed because they
don't understand the fundamentals well enough to do anything useful, you're
not doing anyone a favor.

I know Hello World was co-written with the author's son, and so obviously this
isn't an across the board problem. But in my experience, if you don't teach
how computers work (in general), how programs work (i.e., you type stuff, the
computer does it, etc.), and how to develop logical thinking about problems
and how to break them down, all you'll be teaching to do is ape the book until
they want riff on it, at which point it just becomes an exercise in
frustration.

There is always a learning curve, but I firmly believe that there is a very
linear progression of thought that you can teach in that will make the
learning curve much smoother for most of the kids trying to learn. I've been
doing work on a book of my own very, very slowly, but I'm hoping to fix a lot
of the pedagogical failures I see in these books.

Maybe it'll come out soon, but then again, the world ends tomorrow, so why
bother? :)

------
cowmix
If you teach Python to kids, they get a gift from Guido.

[https://plus.google.com/photos/108306457281321389001/albums/...](https://plus.google.com/photos/108306457281321389001/albums/5481524592745079409)

------
eykanal
I'd love to hear from anyone who has observed children learning from this book
to hear how it went.

~~~
jorde
Same here. My first introduction to programming happened with BASIC and I
remember really liking it; how easy it was to write basic text adventures with
almost nothing else than GOTO statements. While Python is little bit more
complex it's still the best teaching language I know.

------
peteridah
I came across Snake wrangling for kids a few months ago
<http://code.google.com/p/swfk/> I haven't given it a good run as my son is
still 3yrs old

------
freehunter
Somewhat off topic, but I've heard people here asking what the point of
selling the Raspberry Pi to hackers first was. When I loaded mine up and
looked through the recently-released Pi App Store, I noticed how many
resources for learning Python existed already and were ported/developed for
the Pi. Getting this kind of background in place before the full release to
schools will be great (if it pans out).

------
albertoavila
It looks awesome but sadly i cannot use it with my childs due to the language,
i would love to see a translation to spanish.

It would be cool to have that kind of resource so they can use it while i'm
not at home, even tough the most fun is when we all are into it.

If anyone know of a cool book or resource on spanish for them to read on their
own i would love if you could drop a line.

~~~
eccp
It seems you're lucky:

Doma de Serpientes para Niños - Aprendiendo a Programar con Python:

<http://code.google.com/p/swfk-es/>

Suerte!

~~~
albertoavila
That's great, gracias!

------
rmrfrmrf
I got into programming in the 6th grade via "Interplay's Learn to Program:
BASIC." It was a little corny (there's a host that cracks lame jokes), but it
totally changed the way I thought about video games and programming. At any
rate, I'd say that if you can find a "game"-like presentation for any
programming language, that would be the way to go instead of a book.

------
oisino
Great to see tools coming that help beginners learn programming.

------
peteridah
I just realized my earlier post <http://code.google.com/p/swfk/> is by the
same author

