It’s a pretty well-known fact today that a career in programming is something that can get pretty enticing, rewarding as well as gratifying over time.
In fact, programming has lately become almost a part of the basic literacy. Hence, it has become nothing short of a trend for the modern day kids to get themselves acclimatized to the wonders of programming from a very early age so that they can do well in the long run.
Several apps are now available on the app stores that are actually tailor-made for children who want to acquaint themselves to the wonders of programming from a very young age. Here’s a list that can come in handy for this exact purpose of yours.
- Lightbot Jr.: Coding Puzzles (suitable for Ages 4 to 8)
The Lightbot Jr. app is available on Google Play and iTunes.
Players will be able to gain an effective practical knowledge of fundamental programming procedures like how to write a set of instructions, how to debug a program and others on this app itself.
They will also be able to get a good idea of loops and procedures by guiding a small virtual game bot to its destination via specific commands.
- Scratch Jr. (suitable for Ages 5 to 7)
Available on Google Play and iTunes.
We think Scratch Jr. to be one of the best apps that are available on the app stores for teaching programming to kids.
It has a simple, colorful, drag and drop interface where players have to assemble instruction blocks in the right order to execute a program. The best thing about this app is the fact that kids won’t even realize that they are actually learning to program while having fun.
- Daisy The Dinosaur (suitable for Ages 5 to 8)
Available on iTunes, and that too for free.
Daisy the Dinosaur is a very capable app for teaching the fundamental concepts of programming to kids in general. The app has a drag and drop interface that can be easily handled by a kid without having no previous knowledge of the subject matter.
The app presents users with a small virtual dinosaur named Daisy. They’ll have to make Daisy perform various tasks depending on the instructions provided by the app itself.
- Codeable Crafts (suitable for ages 6 to 8)
Available on Google Play and iTunes.
Codeable Crafts has a gameplay that’s more or less similar to the app Scratch Jr. (highlighted above). In this game, the players will have to design their very own stories through the aid of drawing as well as programming.
The characters can be created via templates (that come with the app itself) or through drawings (that should be done by the players themselves). The app is fun; there’s absolutely no doubt about it.
- Kodable (suitable for ages 6 to 8)
Available on Google Play and iTunes.
The Kodable app is based on a fictitious science fiction story.
A team of furry aliens on a space exploration had crashed their spaceship on a planet having a hosts and hosts of mazes. The player’s objective would be to design a code such that the aliens can go through all the mazes one by one and reach their destination in time.
- Lightbot: Programming Puzzles (suitable for ages 8+)
Available on Google Play and iTunes.
Just like the name suggests, the Lightbot app is nothing but a game of puzzles. Players will be able to learn about several basic programming concepts such as:
- Sequence of commands
- Conditional loops
- Control-flow concepts
and others on the same app itself.
Note: If you want to take our opinion, we would say that this app is a bit advanced and requires a small amount of prior programming knowledge to get into. Hence, it’s advisable to start with the Scratch Jr.-like apps discussed above and then move on to apps like this one right here.
- Tynker (suitable for Ages 9 to 11)
Available on Google Play and iTunes, and that too for free. “Tynker for Schools” is a paid version of this app and is also available on Google Play and iTunes.
The Tynker app exhibits a colorful environment that may look pretty enticing from the point of view of the user. The app presents users with a collection of puzzles that can be used to learn about various fundamental programming concepts in general.
There’s a stepwise tutorial present in the app that users can refer to for achieving their targets in particular. It’s a wonderful app indeed; there’s simply no doubt about it.
So that’s it then. Hope you found the list exceptionally convenient for your kid’s coding lessons. With that, we’ll sign off finally for the day. Hope you had a good and useful read.
Contributed By: www.myprivatetutor.sg
