There are board games that teach similar concepts.
I've played Robot Turtles (http://www.robotturtles.com/) with my 5 year old at a friends place and they all appeared to enjoy it. I'm not sold on whether it's teaching "programming" any more than any sequence toy/game does...
imo at this age, computational thinking is more important learning how to code. computational thinking can be trained in a non-coding context (like math)
Exactly. And there are lots of things that are more important than learning how to code at ages 6, and before (and, heck, after). How about exposure to different (human) languages? Appreciating and creating art. The scientific process, and evaluating hypotheses. Reading. Cooking. Fire safety. So many things!
I've used Scratch, through volunteering in the engineering department at my local science museum. It's okay, although I'm not convinced it will turn 6 year olds into brilliant programmers later in life, any more than "creating things" in any other context would.
I don't know. I'm divided. Sentiments like "I'm teaching my <very young child> to code and you should too" leave a bad taste in my mouth, though.
I've played Robot Turtles (http://www.robotturtles.com/) with my 5 year old at a friends place and they all appeared to enjoy it. I'm not sold on whether it's teaching "programming" any more than any sequence toy/game does...