My 8 year old likes to play video games and he wants to learn to code. We are planning what he will do for the summer and one suggestion is to code using Scratch. I am not familiar with this language/environment, can anyone share their experiences or thoughts?
Is there something else we might consider for the summer instead?
I’m not sure about learning by himself, but had you thought about sending him to since classes or schools like Skyrock (https://www.skyrockprojects.com/eng)?
I don’t have any experience with Scratch, but I’ve had some success with https://www.freecodecamp.org/ (albeit with slightly older students in the teen age-range).
I think the most important thing (which was also true for myself when I started to learn to code as a teenager who liked video games) was there needs to be some sort of “visual” aspect to it. I tried several times to pick up python from a book but I didn’t really “get” why I would want to type in some numbers and get a number back (most problems where “compute the sum” or “compute the median”, etc) and how it related to making “real” programs that I used everyday.
I eventually found my way to HTML/CSS and loved that it actually produced a visual output. I then started making PHP sites and making some money on the side as a 14-15 year old which felt pretty good. Now I’m a professional software developer
Just some thoughts – I can also second the recommendation for getting a teacher / class. A lot of the initial struggle with programming is just setting up your computer for programming which can be a pain in the ass even for seasoned devs (and isn’t where you want to be stuck as a beginner)
Edit: I don’t know any off the top of my head, but another potential thing to look into would be some sort of easily programmable robotics kit in python – I could see that as being very fun to program
Thank you
Yes. He did SkyRock last summer and liked it, a little too much. Actually, he did it with friends, and it sometimes seemed that he was spending more time talking to his buddies than getting some understanding of what and why they were doing things. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t blame SkyRock or their excellent teachers. I remember summer school as a kid and it wasn’t as if I ever expected to make any breakthroughs in learning.
As a parent, though, if we are going to spend that much money (on anything), I want to feel that it is going towards him getting something other than hanging out with friends, which he can do at each others homes for much less cost.
So, if he does coding this summer, we are going to try it out 1-on-1 and see if the outcomes meet his or my expectations.
I have asked him if he has heard of Scratch btw, and he said he did use it last year in 1st Grade. He used Scratch Jr, which I see is mentioned in the link I posted.
I started both my kids on Scratch at the age of 8. It’s been a great experience, and I’m amazed at how quickly they have been picking up programming concepts. Most of the problems they’ve had come from not following the examples closely, so I don’t think a parent needs to have a background in programming to help their child.
My favorite book for self-directed learning is “25 Scratch 3 Games for Kids: A Playful Guide to Coding” by Max Wainewright, it has short lessons which result in a game to play. After completing each of the lessons, I always encourage the kids to spend a little time making their own version by changing the art, sound, or even use code from previous lessons.
Another great book I first used with my older child was " Super Scratch Programming Adventure!" this is a good book if your child likes reading stories (it’s part comic book) and has a longer attention span.
My 8-year olds used Scratch at school and I enjoyed playing the games they made. They are trying Skyrock next week, so I’ll tell you how it is once it’s too late to help you.
Scratch rocks. We use it here all the time for getting elementary and junior high school kids into programming. Many resources out there for teaching programming concepts using Scratch.
And just because it is cute, doesn’t mean it is just a toy. A colleague built some code in Scratch to run FFTs. Well, it has no practical purpose but he did it just to see what it could do…