I've taught high school aged kids how to code for four years on behalf of a non-profit [0] and now I run a for-profit coding camp in the bay area [1]. Here's my

I've taught high school aged kids how to code for four years on behalf of a non-profit [0] and now I run a for-profit coding camp in the bay area [1]. Here's my advice: * Realize that you need to frontload fun over value here. Fun needs to be the hook in a way. You can't jump straight into the coding, you need a bridge and that bridge needs to be something that is fun, visual, and most critically, provides immediate gratification. I would suggest using Scratch as that bridge. If that doesn't work, research the build-a-game-and-learn-coding solutions. * Code along with them. Do exercises and challenges with them. Have small hackathons or competitions with them. Make the entire experience feel like a game - it can get really fun if done right. * Get their buy in. I get it, they might be too young to understand this pitch but if you do it right, it will resonate over time. When I go to pitch my camp to parents and kids, I ask them what coding is and some examples of it. The last part is key; once they realize how omnipresent machines and codes are and that it can be used to make the apps they use and the games they play, they be more eager. Hope that helps. Drop me a line at manish@youthcodecamp.com - happy to share more over a video conference or coffee. [0] - http://dopeboy.github.io/teaching-code/ http://dopeboy.github.io/teaching-code/ [1] - https://www.youthcodecamp.com/ https://www.youthcodecamp.com/