Introduction
Hey there! Welcome to the guide to help your child learn coding with some of the most popular resources. We’ve organized this guide to share 3 main pieces of information on each resource that will help you decide which options would be best right now.
- Price/Cost of the resource
- Difficulty level
- Overview of how it works
1. Roblox Coding Studio
Price: Free
Difficulty: Medium
Overview of Roblox Coding Studio:
Coming in hot, resource number 1 is from the makers of the game Roblox themselves. The Roblox Coding Studio actually enables players to make their own games and also has an in depth library that will teach you how to code.
This is a great way for your child to explore the world of coding because coding can be intimidating for beginners. However, with Roblox coding studio, your child will be learning how to create elements in games and also add code to those elements to make them do things.
Roblox uses Lua as their programming language which can be similar to Python. A programming language is simply a specific system of notation that a software runs on. Once you learn one of the languages, learning other languages becomes much easier because they all have similar coding concepts, just written in different formats.
Links you might want to check out:
2. Scratch
Price: Free
Difficulty: Easy
Overview of Scratch from MIT:
If you’re looking for a super easy start to coding, Scratch will be your kid’s best friend. This drag and drop coding platform is great for beginners who are looking to grasp and understand coding concepts before actually writing code themselves.
Scratch is powered by the Scratch is a pretty powerful practice tool where users can build games and animations. The platform provides blocks of code that you stitch together to make things work.
This could be a great start if your kid is a complete beginner and wants to grasp some concepts before diving into other resources.
Links you might want to check out:
3. Codecademy
Price: Free with optional paid plans
Difficulty: Easy to Hard
Overview of Codecademy:
Depending on the programming language or course you want to take on Codecademy, the difficulty level will change. You can learn almost any kind of programming language on this platform because they have courses for each one (HTML, Python, JavaScript, C++, SQL, R, you name it).
The way Codecademy works is that they have a free course for each programming language and then a paid version that goes much more in depth.
This is a great resource for kids who are looking to dive right into more traditional code where they learn a concept and practice it right in the same coding area.
Links you might want to check out:
4. Code.org
Price: Free
Difficulty: Easy
Overview of Code.org:
Code.org is a non-profit company that provides curated courses for all age ranges. They separate their courses into 3 age range buckets (K-5, 6-12, and Beyond 12).
The learning method on the platform is similar to Scratch with drag and drop builders that will in real-time show the effects of the code you’ve placed down.
The interface is a little dated compared to the resources above, however because of the vast range of free materials and for many different age groups, Code.org won a spot on this list.
Links you might want to check out:
5. Young Technologist Network
Price: Paid subscription
Difficulty: Easy to Hard
Overview of the Young Technologist Network:
If you’re looking to help your child get a kick start in a technology career, explore the Young Technologist Network. It’s a childhood to career program that takes young people at any skill level and guides them to acquiring a tech career (in this case as a software engineer). Students of any age between 7 to 18+ can join and get started with their coding journey.
The way this works is students are matched with a coding mentor they meet 1:1 with on a weekly basis. Students have a learning plan curated for them in 6 month intervals depending on the student’s base knowledge, goals, and interests.
If your child learns better with the help of another person that can expertly guide them, the Young Technologist Network may be for them.
Links you might want to check out:
Honorable Mention #1: Harvard’s CS50
Price: Free + paid option for certificate
Difficulty: Very hard
Overview of the Harvard’s CS50:
This resource is honorable mention number 1 because it’s simply too difficult for most young people. However, if your kid likes a challenge and wants to try an introductory college level course from Harvard, here’s their chance.
This is the coding class from Harvard that all computer science majors take as one of their introduction courses. Harvard has actually made this course completely free for anyone who wants to join and you can pay for a certificate once you finish.
The course is a self taught avenue where you will watch recorded lectures, complete coding projects, and then submit to the system until you pass.
The program goes over coding fundamentals and programming languages like C+ and Python.
Links you might want to check out:
Honorable Mention #2: Roblox Coding Workshop
Price: $40 (but free with code below)
Difficulty: Easy to Medium
Overview of the Roblox Coding Workshop:
The Roblox Coding Workshop is great for young people who love playing games, are beginners with code, want to learn with the guidance of a professional, and want to meet other students like them all at once.
The workshop is 2 days and takes place in Zoom. Each day is 3 hours long. By the end of the 2 days, students will understand coding basics, have built a Roblox game, and receive a coding certificate.
Here is a code you can use to get access to the workshop for free: ROBLOXCODINGFREE98
Link you might want to check out:
If you found this article helpful, share it with a parent you know that would benefit! If you have any questions about learning to code, please reach out to us at info@logolife.org. We would love to help and will get back to you in 24-48 hours.
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