
Ask HN: Good game tutorials for kids programming - ajaxguy
I have tried to teach my 10yr old to learn programming for past few months with scratch and basic html stuff. He is not much interested in scratch and picked up html&#x2F;css and showing interest to develop simple games with it.<p>Seeking ideas from fellow hners for below topics.<p>How to engage kids for constant interest in the programming? How did you get past of the stage of loosing interest now and then to kids?
What can I teach him for basic gaming tutorials with html&#x2F;css?
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he11ow
One, here are two lists of online games to teach coding, first list is for
CSS, other is for WebDev. Frankly, I've bookmarked them for myself, they look
so cute.

[https://dev.to/paco_ita/train-your-css-skills-with-online-
ga...](https://dev.to/paco_ita/train-your-css-skills-with-online-games-4ah3)

[https://dev.to/paco_ita/train-your-javascript-skills-with-
on...](https://dev.to/paco_ita/train-your-javascript-skills-with-online-
games-289m)

Two, why not set your kid up with PyCharm, and start dabbling together with
Python. (like build a simple chatbot or something that pulls stuff from Wiki).

~~~
vo2maxer
Thanks. Checking the links out together with my 10 year old daughter. I’ve
also used these and she likes them:

[https://www.tynker.com/](https://www.tynker.com/)

[https://studio.code.org/courses](https://studio.code.org/courses)

[https://codekingdoms.com/](https://codekingdoms.com/)

[https://codecombat.com/](https://codecombat.com/)

~~~
ajaxguy
Thanks. Tynker looks good and will try with that.

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McKayDavis
I recommend you take a look at Roblox Studio [1]. My 10yo started out by
building simple 3D Obby (obstacle course) games in a manner of minutes with no
initial programming. Trough that initial interest he will now modify and even
create Lua scripts to perform more complex game actions. The Lua scripting
engine + API is simple but at the same time powerful and allows for very
complex games.

There is also a quite active Roblox Developer forum [2], and good
documentation of their API [3].

I don't push him much, and allow him to learn Lua / programming in gneral at
his own pace. The game aspect definitely keeps his interest that I'm not so
sure he would otherwise have.

[1] [https://roblox.com/create](https://roblox.com/create) [2]
[https://devforum.roblox.com](https://devforum.roblox.com) [3]
[https://developer.roblox.com](https://developer.roblox.com)

Disclaimer: I work for Roblox on the Studio team now. This is largely due to
my positive experience with Roblox Studio well before I even considered
working for the company.

~~~
ajaxguy
He works on chromebook and this studio doesn't have web version it seems. Do
you have any alternative to it?

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electronstudio
I have been teaching kids games programming with Python. I have compiled some
of the material I created into a book here:
[https://github.com/electronstudio/pygame-zero-
book](https://github.com/electronstudio/pygame-zero-book)

The only way I have found to maintain interest is to do fewer toy examples and
more full-size games, but that also inevitably leads to the kids not
understanding so much of what they are doing. I think ultimately you have to
accept that some kids will be interested in coding and some will not, no
matter how 'fun' you make it.

------
random_comment
Zachtronics:

Start with e.g. opus magnum. Visual, will teach basic concepts of sequencing
instructions, iteration etc.

Then Shenzhen I/O if they enjoy it

Alternatively:

Human resource machine (programming)

7 billion humans (parallel programming, probably will teach antipatterns but
still useful)

Alternatively:

LOGO. This is how I learned to program back in the 80s. Drawing pictures. Draw
a line. Rotate. Make a square by writing a loop to draw a line and rotate 4
times. Make a window by drawing a square + 2 more lines. Make a house by
drawing a window and doors.

Even at university I remember the first year programming course included a
'draw a house using ALGOL' exercise.

~~~
ajaxguy
Do you have links for these both?

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lurker2
You should take a look at Processing 3 (a graphical Java). My dad introduced
me to it at about 12yrs. All he did was give me a YouTube playlist to work
through and it has held my interest till this day.

I would say any framework with a narrow focus on graphics and instant
graphical feedback (like SFML for C++) would be great for kids or any
beginner. Also, Khan Academy has great resources based on ProcessingJS and
even a simple submission board with a community of other young learners.

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maynman
Shameless plug, but I've written a few simple game tutorials on my blog.
Minesweeper, Snake, Tic Tac Toe, Hangman, etc.

[https://mitchum.blog/game-tutorials/](https://mitchum.blog/game-tutorials/)

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sn9
_How to Design Programs_ and _Realm of Racket_.

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0_gravitas
might be a bit of a wildcard, but i would consider checking out Factorio. may
god help your kid if he actually gets into it though

