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I find Scratch so confusing. So many menu options, drop downs , select here click here. Very frustrating experience. I don't think my child (8 years old) learns

I find Scratch so confusing. So many menu options, drop downs , select here click here. Very frustrating experience. I don't think my child (8 years old) learns coding from it. I'm trying to find away to introduce him to Basic. But he looses interest once he sees just lines. Scratch is flashy and things can be moved and clicked which is what the kids are used now, but I just don't see any educational or fun value added.

Mezzie 4y ago
Can you start him with JavaScript and basic web development instead? That's how I learned around that age (started around 5 or 6). The immediate feedback of being able to change something in text and immediately see the impact was a big thing that helped me. Likewise, something like helping him mod games he plays might be good. Scratch always kind of struck me as a non-programmer's idea of how to teach children to code personally. (Or at least programmers that didn't start/weren't active as children).
khochesh_kushat 4y ago
My 7 year old watched it and it clicked quickly, but we also watched a couple example videos on their official YouTube channel. Maybe give that a try. Once it clicked we were able to make some cool stuff together, and she was able to add features on her own.
zabzonk 4y ago
honestly, you don't need to use the menus much at all. it's mostly just drag and drop from the block pallette. this thing has been specifically designed to be easy for kids to use, and all the evidence is that it has worked amazingly well.
eimrine 4y ago
> But he looses interest once he sees just lines. This hits me deeply. I do not have kids, even not married. But when/if they will appear I will manage to disallow any GUI on the territory of my house for everybody including me (I hope old Nokias will still be a thing at that time for having ability to communicate or it will not work). Then a child will look at the lines as at the most interesting thing in the house and maybe starts going a GNU/Linux hacker way as early as some greatest mathematicians have started their math careers. I respect such thing as Scratch and any of his competitors, but let's be honest, gentlemen - games is a misusing of computer and the lines is what matters.

Mezzie 4y ago

Can you start him with JavaScript and basic web development instead? That's how I learned around that age (started around 5 or 6). The immediate feedback of being able to change something in text and immediately see the impact was a big thing that helped me. Likewise, something like helping him mod games he plays might be good. Scratch always kind of struck me as a non-programmer's idea of how to teach children to code personally. (Or at least programmers that didn't start/weren't active as children).

khochesh_kushat 4y ago

My 7 year old watched it and it clicked quickly, but we also watched a couple example videos on their official YouTube channel. Maybe give that a try. Once it clicked we were able to make some cool stuff together, and she was able to add features on her own.

zabzonk 4y ago

honestly, you don't need to use the menus much at all. it's mostly just drag and drop from the block pallette. this thing has been specifically designed to be easy for kids to use, and all the evidence is that it has worked amazingly well.

eimrine 4y ago

> But he looses interest once he sees just lines. This hits me deeply. I do not have kids, even not married. But when/if they will appear I will manage to disallow any GUI on the territory of my house for everybody including me (I hope old Nokias will still be a thing at that time for having ability to communicate or it will not work). Then a child will look at the lines as at the most interesting thing in the house and maybe starts going a GNU/Linux hacker way as early as some greatest mathematicians have started their math careers. I respect such thing as Scratch and any of his competitors, but let's be honest, gentlemen - games is a misusing of computer and the lines is what matters.