Learning to code for kids is not just a progressive step for the future but it also helps them develop a lot of other personal skills. There are several coding apps for kids available online to make the learning process interactive and easy. Read along to explore the Scratch coding app for kids, along with other popular options, and to understand what coding for kids actually is.
Coding may seem like a difficult thing to learn but the apps and programming languages are being developed in a very child-friendly manner. These focus on laying the foundation for the basic concepts and helping children implement programs in a very creative manner. The more they work on it, the higher their interest grows in learning more advanced features.
What is Coding for Kids?
Many teachers, parents, or tutors may wonder how to explain coding to a child in simple terms. To start off, coding involves writing programs on computers through various programming languages. It is basically instructing the computer on how to perform or achieve a particular task. It can be used to create a range of websites, games, and applications for numerous purposes.
Children can be easily introduced to codes through its application in gaming and media, as it will grab their interest quickly. Most apps for kids operate on teaching programming through games, colourful puzzles, designs, and patterns. The young minds are involved in multiple virtual projects to keep them engaged and to teach them real-life programming skills. This removes the bar of age for learning to code, as children as young as 5 years can start to learn.
Scratch Coding for Kids
Scratch coding app for kids is one of the best online coding apps for young minds to learn programming. It is a visual programming language that was created by the MIT Media Lab. Scratch coding for kids provides a colourful block-based user experience where they can learn in the most creative manner. This app is mostly for children over the age of 8, but another version call ScratchJr is available for even younger age groups.
Scratch coding for kids uses a drag and drop interface and enables them to use different media in a creative way to create games, animations, and simulations. Unlike professional programming languages like Java or Python, Scratch lets them join code blocks together through interactive gaming building tasks. There is the availability of lots of learning materials and instruction guides and also a dedicated discussion community.
Also Read: What are Coding Classes for kids? Importance of Computer Coding Lessons for Children
Features of Scratch Coding for Kids
Have a look at some of the unique features and tools that Scratch offers to ensure impactful learning:
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Different from a Coding Language Yet Similar
Even if it may not look like one, Scratch coding for kids is a real programming language. However, it is different in its approach from most other languages due to its highly colourful interface and child-friendly design. Where most languages are designed to write text-based codes, Scratch is based on block-based programming.
This block-based visual programming is based on joining colourful code blocks together and creating programs. This unique interface ensures an upwards learning curve for all users. The idea is to make the basics of coding clear to move on to the advanced features quickly.
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Creating Interactive Stories
Children can create their own personalized stories through the Scratch app. They can create games and can add creative storylines by playing as the main character themselves. This enhances their storytelling and thinking skills along with the coding. They can even create their own short movies based on the stories and have control over their projects.
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Access to the Scratch Community
The Scratch community is a common forum where all users share their work with one click and indulge in discussions. The young age groups can explore projects created by other users to get inspiration for their own tasks. They can also choose any project they like, view its code, and editing and creating their own personalized versions. The community is absolutely safe for kids, with monitored contributions.
Why Should Kids Learn Coding?
There are multiple reasons why juniors should learn to code from an early age. First of all, it gears them up for a bright future in the technological and computing world. Even for those who do not aim to choose this field, coding offers them to develop problem-solving, communication, and math skills. These sharpen the thought process among children and boost their productivity.
While learning to code, they learn from their failures and efforts, which keeps them pushing to improve and create better ideas. Computer programming can be defined as the future because of how dynamic it is. Every business is starting to implement its applications for growth and expansion. So learning to code offers children a huge ocean of opportunities.
Best Online Coding Classes for Kids
Other than Scratch, there other popular coding platforms for kids which can be explored for interactive learning. These apps cannot be stated as better or worse than each other as they are used as per the requirements of kids. Kids can use any app which matches their calibre and pace of learning. Some of the popular online coding platforms for kids are:
- The Real School Of Montessori
- Tynker
- Daisy the Dinosaur
- Cargo-Bot
- Lightbot
- Code Karts
Most of these coding platforms for kids are based on creative learning for all age groups. These start from the basics and go up to the advanced levels. With learning, there is also simultaneous growth of skills like communication, writing, logical thinking, and innovation. Kids can choose their level of learning by exploring multiple apps.
Conclusion
Learning codes and programming is a highly aspirational skill for today’s kids. The advancements in technology and the rapid growth of the digital world promise a bright future for juniors who learn coding from today. Apart from a bright future, learning codes and programming also ensures the development of numerous personal problem-solving and creativity skills. For more such informative content related to programming for children, click here and explore the concepts.
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