

Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts? - brewgardn

My 5th grade daughter is on Spring Break this week. I'd really like to expose her to the basics of coding, and start planting some seeds. Any resources?
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EdwardMSmith
Just re-introduced my kids (8 and 10) to Scratch:

<http://scratch.mit.edu/>

Drag and drop visual programming. Its good for kids because it allows them to
quickly create things that they're used to seeing/using (graphics, animations,
sounds), but still uses real programming concepts.

At 5 you're going to have to sit with her and help guide her on concepts, but
she'll pick it up quick.

Edit: Err, 5th grade, I see, not 5yo... sorry.

~~~
jbattle
My son loved Scratch. The other thing that is great about Scratch is the
built-in mechanisms for sharing your creations with friends. Tapping in to
that popularity contest mentality can either be a motivation or a distraction
depending on the kid, but it's there as an option not a core part of the tool.

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stiff
I first learned some programming being 8 year old and typing BASIC programs in
an editor. Somewhat surprisingly, I think it was easier to get started then
than it is now, BASIC was then included among the initial program set of the
computer, complete with an IDE and if you ever got to that level it included
graphics routines etc. and everything was described in a single book. I now
have been seriously programming for more than 10 years, including 7
professionally, but whenever I want to do some fun graphics or sound stuff I
still struggle a lot to pick libraries, install them, actually make them work
etc.

I would love some recommendations for programming languages + runtimes that
you install with one click and immediately have at your disposal a decent
language + IDE without weird quirks together with good graphics and sound
primitives. I don't think this should be specifically for kids. It should
simply be free of ridiculous language issues (PHP and JavaScript are out) and
ridiculous runtime issues (managing a thousand and one libraries). Then it
will be as good for kids as for adults (as if there was some magic gap between
them!) willing to prototype. Actually, I think it is a great project idea, the
few existing projects that target this are not all that great I believe.

~~~
aethertap
You know, I've been having thoughts along this line for a while too. I
actually miss the days of the 8088 in some ways. A lot of the excitement and
discovery of computing seems be diluted by having so much stuff to work with.
The job changes somehow from one of creating to one of assembling. Not sure
exactly what the difference was, but somehow it seems like it's easier to get
in touch with the essence of what makes code fun when it's just you and the
machine. I was more excited by my simple text-only calculator programs back at
the beginning than I am by my big complicated 3d graphics stuff today.

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masterponomo
This is not a website, but my kids LOVED The Art of Computer Programming (1st
edition, when they still had the Maurice Sendak illustrations). The pictures
in the volume on Sorting and Searching, though, are not recommended for kids
under the age of 9.

~~~
brewgardn
The 1st edition of this?? <http://amzn.to/179DGr8>

~~~
masterponomo
Yes, but back in the day it was only vols 1-3. No Sendak in later
volumes/editions:-(

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sopooneo
I always thought the game "lightbot" might be good as part of a intro course.

<http://armorgames.com/play/2205/light-bot>

~~~
nutmeg
Cargo-Bot (<http://twolivesleft.com/CargoBot/>) on the iPad is also very
similar in teaching programming.

~~~
tianshuo
The later Cargo-Bot levels esp. those with recursion are difficult for even
the most proficient programmers.

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gorrillamcd
There's also [Hackety-Hack](<http://hackety.com/>), which was made to help
introduce kids to programming with ruby. It uses a DSL I believe. I'm sad to
say though, it looks like it hasn't seen much activity recently (only 2 blog
posts total and last commit was a year ago).

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cwhittle
Depends on whether she has an innate interest or whether you're trying to
spark interest, but I think this is the best/most fun way to start any kid
with the basics: <http://drtechniko.com/2012/04/09/how-to-train-your-robot/>

My six year old just started with Blockly, which is similar to Scratch:

<http://blockly-demo.appspot.com/static/apps/turtle/en.html>

But we're going to try <http://kidsruby.com/> as soon as he's got enough
written language under his belt. Probably will work great for a 5th grader
though.

~~~
brewgardn
Great point. She is definitely more in the "spark interest" camp. Probably,
naturally more suited to the design field, but I want her to be exposed to
coding early so she can make an informed decision, instead of being
intimidated by the prospect at a later stage (like her dad). Also, she's a
great leader and I've got two more coming up behind her, so if she takes to
it, I might have a hacker family on my hands :)

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bink-lynch
My daughter 5/6th grade was using Khan Academy:

<https://www.khanacademy.org/cs/tutorials/programming-basics>

~~~
gorrillamcd
Khan Academy is great. I was teaching my cousin (12) when I was home for
Christmas and even my niece (7) was learning writing her own snippets to draw
smiley faces and such. Definitely is a good resource for teaching the basics
of programing (variables, functions, syntax, etc).

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nicolethenerd
Since nobody's mentioned it yet, StarLogo TNG -
<http://education.mit.edu/projects/starlogo-tng>

StarLogo TNG is similar to Scratch, perhaps a little bit less intuitive, but
it's 3-D and lets you do some pretty cool stuff. I'm a bit biased, because I
worked on StarLogo TNG, but not biased enough that I won't admit that Khan
Academy has by far the best programming tool for kids I've seen so far. I
can't say enough good things about it.

------
newsreader
A couple of free courses from Pluralsight:

[http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/Description/teaching...](http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/Description/teaching-
kids-programming)

[http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/Description/learning...](http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/Description/learning-
programming-scratch)

------
zpj5005
She should really look into <http://codehs.com>

I've gone through most of the lessons and while they do a really good job of
breaking coding concepts down into real world scenarios involving dogs and
tennis balls.

I think they also provide live chat based help if you pay extra.

------
g-mark
I have been teaching 6th through 8th graders Processing (processing.org). They
love the creative, visual aspect of it. It's essentially Java, with a layer of
ease so you can very quickly get things done. The quick code-run-tweak cycles
are an advantage (similar to Scratch in that respect). Because it's Java, all
the programming fundamentals (functions, variables, loops, branching, objects)
can be taught - but with the purpose of creating something interesting. There
are a number of tutorials and books available for teaching (see
www.learningprocessing.com), and you can code entirely online at sketchpad.cc.

------
skanga
If you have kids who are into Minecraft then check out
[https://blogs.oracle.com/arungupta/entry/introducing_kids_to...](https://blogs.oracle.com/arungupta/entry/introducing_kids_to_java_programming)

~~~
jcl
Or you can install the ComputerCraft mod, which lets you build and program
computers (and turtle robots!) within the game using Lua.

<http://computercraft.info/wiki/Main_Page>

------
VPrime
We're actually working on an iPad app that lets people make games. Our
behaviour system is not exactly programming, but it does teach about logic and
help understand the concepts of programming. We have variables, loops, ifs..
then make it fun allowing you to make a game.

I posted about it a few days ago.
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5466311>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZUNhviJLr8>

We will be releasing at the end of April.

------
arikrak
I collected some resources on this here:
[http://www.zappable.com/2012/11/chart-for-learning-a-
program...](http://www.zappable.com/2012/11/chart-for-learning-a-programming-
langauge/)

There are some programs for kids or to make games for various languages:

Java - Greenfoot

Python - Invent Your Own Computer Games (book)

Ruby - Hackety-Hack, Ruby4Kids

Javascript - CodeAvengers

If they're not yet ready to write real code, they can look at these programs
from MIT:

General - Scratch

Android - AppInventor

------
SurfScore
It's not a website, but we created an iPad game called Kodable that teaches
kids programming concepts. As an added bonus, its pretty damn cute! We target
5-7, but most young kids tend to enjoy it.

We're also creating a curriculum to integrate it directly in elementary
schools.

<http://www.surfscore.com>

Email me if you'd like a coupon code for the IAP (jon at surfscore)

------
jbellis
<http://www.crunchzilla.com/code-monster>

Also, +1 recommendation for Scratch.

~~~
webwanderings
Thanks, this looks like a winner. My son and I are using Scratch and Khan
Academy. We'll add this as well (I'm not a programmer).

------
carlsednaoui
If you're in the NYC area, you should come to our next CoderDojo session (free
programming classes for kids, I'm the NYC co-founder):
<http://coderdojonyc.com/>

If you're somewhere else, definitely take a look at <http://coderdojo.com/>
and see if there is any Dojo near you.

~~~
vijayr
FYI - this page is throwing an error <http://coderdojonyc.com/volunteer/>

Awesome idea. What languages do you teach?

~~~
carlsednaoui
Strange, thanks for the heads up, I'll tell my co-founder about it (she runs
the site) -- here is the correct path:
<http://coderdojonyc.com/help/volunteer/>.

We've taught everything from CSS to HTML to JS to Scratch to AppInventor
(Android App Dev). We welcome kids from 7 - 17 yrs old (and their parents of
course).

------
jmeyer2k
Check out some resources and this tutorial on my blog here:
[http://www.raywenderlich.com/24252/beginning-game-
programmin...](http://www.raywenderlich.com/24252/beginning-game-programming-
for-teens-with-python) I'm 12 years old and I write for raywenderlich.com just
for this purpose.

------
jessriedel
Shameless plug for my buddy's Bay-area summer camp for middle schoolers:

<http://www.sfbasecamp.com/>

They teach kids to code games in Python. Last summer was very successful.

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draegtun
ClubCompy - <https://clubcompy.com/>

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paul7986
Check out <http://CodePupil.com>.

It teaches HTML/CSS thru visual exercises and games.

~~~
minussohn
Putting the meta tags out of head?

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groundCode
What about Ruby for kids? <http://ruby4kids.com/ruby4kids>

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stickhandle
I recommend "Python for Kids" from O'reilly

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bigdata123
robomind.net : I was able to teach my 4 year old daughter and keep her
interest with this simple free application.

------
andrewtbham
<http://www.codecademy.com/>

