I have a certain little boy, well really two little boys, who are falling head over heals for learning to code. As the wife of a husband who works in technology and uses coding every day for part of his job I can’t help but encourage this passion. Being budget minded I saught out the most inexpensive… Ok downright FREE… resources I could find.
Hour of Code: This website features video tutorials and the tools to code in things like Javascript so that students can create their own games. There is a whole tutorial around the latest Star Wars film that absolutely enthralled my boys.
Scratch – This website uses the ever popular coding language of Scratch to teach children how to create games. My children have been using this website for several weeks. I love the problem solving Scratch requires as well as the creativity. A friend of ours made a pretty sophisticated Donkey Cong type game using this website. It was impressive!
Snapsource – This website is something Berkeley has put together and is incredibly open ended meaning any budding programmer has the framework to for endless possibilities. On the other hand, there aren’t any directions or tutorials that I can find. This would be great for the child whose had some practice with coding.
Code Combat – This website is just fun! Children learn to code not by watching video tutorials or completing some kind of assignment or challenge. They learn by advancing through the levels of a game. A very fun and somewhat addictive game. Watch out parents!
Code Studio – This website is full of coding courses separated by age level. Even early readers ages 4-6 can get in on the action.