Parents today often have to face a lot of difficult choices regarding their kids daily. What foreign languages should you teach your kids? What co-curricular activities should you enrol them in? You should direct your child towards both physical and cognitive development. Coding is one such skill that develops in your child’s cognitive development.
Some parents believe that it isn’t right to introduce their kids to the world of coding and shouldn’t overstimulate their brain. While some believe that you should teach your kids coding as early as possible. Continue reading this article to know more about how to teach coding to kids, what are the best coding languages for kids and what is coding for kids?
Also Read: Opposite Words in English for Kids: Ways to Help them Improve their Vocabulary
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What is the Best Age for Kids to Start Coding?
Kids from the age of 5 can start to code and program some basic applications. Coding for kids has gained popularity in the past couple of decades as technology has become an integral part of our daily life.
What is Coding for Kids?
Experts generally believe that children should be taught how to code as early as possible. Each child develops at a different rate and in multiple ways. You can start teaching children basic coding exercises from the age of 5 or 6. Exercises such as basic math operations, loops or arrays can help your child get a basic understanding of what they are doing. These exercises help you stimulate the skills of coding. After a couple of years, you can introduce them to some complex and demanding exercises.
Several studies show that kids who code from an early age perform better academically throughout their education than kids who don’t. Children who start coding from an early age enter STEM areas both in school and career later.
Why should Kids Learn How to Code?
Parents often think of preparing their kids for success and give them the best possible chance to get admitted to the best universities. This is a great motive, but this is not the only reason why parents motivate their children to code. Coding motivates individuals to learn logically. Coding helps children improve other aspects such as thinking and problem-solving. A child who learns to code can approach issues from a solution-oriented mindset.
How does it Help Kids?
Coding helps you tap into your child’s problem-solving mindset. The most important part of coding from a child’s perspective is to learn the core skills of reasoning and logic. You learn how to identify the problems and find solutions to them. When you start programming and see a result that you weren’t expecting, you need to continue to search, explore and find where you had gone wrong. Going through the program, again and again, will help your kids understand the logic behind it.
Once you identify the bugs you can work on avoiding them in the future. Today kids are surrounded by technology constantly and you can not eliminate the presence of technology from their life. Coding helps children realize how these technological devices work. The principles behind the working of a phone or a tablet. This will lead them to perceive the world around them in a different way.
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Benefits of Kids Learning Coding
Each individual needs a creative outlet after a day’s work, and everyone needs an opportunity to work on something that feels great. Children who don’t enjoy expressing themselves via artistic forms such as music, drawing or writing can express themselves via writing a code. They can start creating their websites, apps, and games. It is important that they feel that they have the power to create anything they want. This will also help them build their self-confidence and have trust in their abilities.
Coding Languages for Kids
Python
This is a programming language that reads like normal speech. This is a language that is recommended for kids and beginners. Students will rarely face any obstacles while coding, and this will give you the basic idea behind coding. You can create a lot of programs using basic Python libraries and don’t have to search a lot. Most of the common functions are already built in the language, which makes it great for kids.
Ruby
Ruby has the most readable syntax for beginners. Instead of spending a lot of time explaining the code that students are typing computes, it is easily understandable for them. This is a really important factor for children who want to learn how to program. At the end of the day, children will need to learn the concepts to write good codes. Ruby is the language used to develop Twitter, hence you can show them its practical application.
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Java
Java is arguably a bit harder to learn than both Ruby and Python, but choosing Java as a first-time programming language will make learning any other language a bit easier for kids. Many students can create their apps or websites with Java but simply don’t know where to start. Java has been around for some time and there are so many online classes, resources, toolkits and tutorials that anything can be created from the basics using Java. Java looks similar to C++, but offers more functionalities, thereby enabling students to create better programs.
C++
Learning this programming language can feel like learning math and might demotivate students about the idea of learning to code. Once you understand the basics of C++, you can do anything in the world of programming. C++ is considered a stepping stone for programmers.
Scratch
If your kids want to create animations, art, or interactive stories, then Scratch is a language that your kid should learn for free. While this language is simple enough for children, there are a lot of functionalities that even experienced programmers can use this language.
Also Read: How to Improve English for Kids? Here’re Some Tips to Improve Your Child’s English
Conclusion
You should introduce children to coding in their elementary years. This will allow you to sow seeds in them that leads to development in the future. Students start learning around the age of 5 to 6 generally. This can allow them to think logically and also develop a problem-solving mindset for them that will help them later in life.
The Real School Of Montessori is one of the best coding classes for kids which provides personal mentoring to kids. You can visit The Real School Of Montessori website to learn more about tips to help kids.
