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I would highly recommend trying Scratch programming with your kids. It is a super creative way to learn programming. The kids have a ton of fun recording soun

by tmaly 6y ago

I would highly recommend trying Scratch programming with your kids. It is a super creative way to learn programming. The kids have a ton of fun recording sounds and drawing their own characters. I have been teaching it to my daughter and I also taught some lessons at her school. I put up my intro lessons, link in my profile.

DanBC 6y ago
Scratch programming is great fun. If you want to move onto hardware programming you can look at the BBC Micro:bit which uses Microsoft Make Code (very similar to Scratch), or Python. You don't even need to buy a Micro:bit to start programming, because they emulate a board on the website. https://microbit.org/ https://microbit.org/ https://microbit.org/code/ https://microbit.org/code/ I bought this kit which has a nice breakout board and some sensors mounted on PCBs, with colour coded wires. https://shop.sb-components.co.uk/collections/micro-bit-kits/products/micro-bit-tinker-kit https://shop.sb-components.co.uk/collections/micro-bit-kits/... Obviously most of that kit can be done far cheaper from places like Aliexpress.
- tmaly 6y ago
  Makey Makey is another fun hardware interface for Scratch. I made a money counting game with my daughter using it.
danielrpa 6y ago
I tried scratch with my 10yr old and he didn't like it. He felt it didn't look like real programming (or his idea of "real programming" from Netflix). I then tried using Usborne basic books from the 80s, running on a BBC Micro emulator. I know, sounds like an odd next step... But boy, it DID work - he has been very interested in consuming computer knowledge for 2 months now. The old Usborne books are amazing. 20 minutes of typing and you have a new simple game. I'd ask him to make changes (faster, easier, more lives etc) to the game and he learned a ton. I held his hand in the beginning, also teaching him the problems with GOTO and some of the old school Basic choices, but he eventually became quite independent. Now he wants to switch to Python after learning about its power so we'll do it next. But he has a much better understanding of basic constructs like loops, subroutines, variables etc. Usborne books (bottom of the page): https://usborne.com/browse-books/features/computer-and-coding-books/ https://usborne.com/browse-books/features/computer-and-codin...
- papa 6y ago
  I've had a great experience making use of the Unity 3D free premium learning courses (free until June during the pandemic) with my youngest child. Like your child, mine didn't care for Scratch. He's loving Unity though. Actually, who am I kidding, I'm enjoying immensely too. We've laughed our heads off together tweaking and adding small features to the rudimentary games that their basic course guides you through. This is the basic course if you're interested: https://learn.unity.com/course/create-with-code-live https://learn.unity.com/course/create-with-code-live The Usborne books you linked to sound interesting too. I'll be sure to check those out.

by tmaly 6y ago

DanBC 6y ago

Scratch programming is great fun. If you want to move onto hardware programming you can look at the BBC Micro:bit which uses Microsoft Make Code (very similar to Scratch), or Python. You don't even need to buy a Micro:bit to start programming, because they emulate a board on the website. https://microbit.org/ https://microbit.org/ https://microbit.org/code/ https://microbit.org/code/ I bought this kit which has a nice breakout board and some sensors mounted on PCBs, with colour coded wires. https://shop.sb-components.co.uk/collections/micro-bit-kits/products/micro-bit-tinker-kit https://shop.sb-components.co.uk/collections/micro-bit-kits/... Obviously most of that kit can be done far cheaper from places like Aliexpress.

tmaly 6y ago
Makey Makey is another fun hardware interface for Scratch. I made a money counting game with my daughter using it.

danielrpa 6y ago

I tried scratch with my 10yr old and he didn't like it. He felt it didn't look like real programming (or his idea of "real programming" from Netflix). I then tried using Usborne basic books from the 80s, running on a BBC Micro emulator. I know, sounds like an odd next step... But boy, it DID work - he has been very interested in consuming computer knowledge for 2 months now. The old Usborne books are amazing. 20 minutes of typing and you have a new simple game. I'd ask him to make changes (faster, easier, more lives etc) to the game and he learned a ton. I held his hand in the beginning, also teaching him the problems with GOTO and some of the old school Basic choices, but he eventually became quite independent. Now he wants to switch to Python after learning about its power so we'll do it next. But he has a much better understanding of basic constructs like loops, subroutines, variables etc. Usborne books (bottom of the page): https://usborne.com/browse-books/features/computer-and-coding-books/ https://usborne.com/browse-books/features/computer-and-codin...

papa 6y ago
I've had a great experience making use of the Unity 3D free premium learning courses (free until June during the pandemic) with my youngest child. Like your child, mine didn't care for Scratch. He's loving Unity though. Actually, who am I kidding, I'm enjoying immensely too. We've laughed our heads off together tweaking and adding small features to the rudimentary games that their basic course guides you through. This is the basic course if you're interested: https://learn.unity.com/course/create-with-code-live https://learn.unity.com/course/create-with-code-live The Usborne books you linked to sound interesting too. I'll be sure to check those out.