In order to know, ‘what is coding for kids?’. First of all, you need to understand that we are living in the era of technology, where coding is no longer used only in big industries, rather coding is used by almost everyone from every corner of the world.
If you are not much of a technical person, you may ask but where are people using coding? Let me show you some real time examples to prove that coding is existing in almost every house or we use it everyday.
- When you use your smartphone, what are you using? You are using a bunch of codes, the hardware of your smartphone is running by the softwares installed in it, and all those softwares are nothing but a bunch of codes.
- When you require certain apps, what do you do? You go to the app store and install some apps, all these apps are nothing but a bunch of codes.
- When you switch on your computer system, it can be desktop or laptop, you are just using a bunch of codes, all the softwares installed in your computer are codes, which were created by some programmers or coders.
- When you or your kids play some game on mobile or computer, they are using nothing but codings.
All those softwares you see is used in the offices, banks, companies or industries, are made up of coding.
All the games in your smartphone or computer are developed using programming or coding.
Robots are created by using coding or programming.
There are numerous places where coding is used, and this coding is making our lives easy and better.
There is tremendous growth in this programming sector with unlimited opportunities, that’s why your kids need to learn coding, in order to be compatible with this era of technology.
Table of content
- What is coding for kids
- What is Coding Language
- What is coding used for
- What is coding class
- Coding classes for kids
- Coding for older adults beginners
- Introduction to programming languages
- What is scratch coding
- Is Scratch coding free?
- Coding courses for kids
- Is coding a waste of time?
- Do schools teach coding to kids?
1. What is coding for kids
Coding is a set of instructions written by using programming language to make a computer system work in a certain desired way.
A website, app or software all are sets of instructions to computers written by using certain programming languages. Computer reads all those codes and executes, as a result it helps us by fulfilling our desired needs.
Coding for kids is a term, where kids learn to code in the computer system through fun and games. Kids use their creativity, logical thinking and problem solving ability to create some unique games, apps or games etc.
Young kids can learn the programming concepts using Scratch software, which is a visual block-based programming platform to create interactive stories, games and animations, where kids can use their unique creative ideas to develop and create a masterpiece that the world has never seen yet.
Older kids can learn programming by learning html and css or Python. HTML and CSS are easy to learn yet full of fun to create awesome web pages, which can be a great platform to begin the journey in the world of programming.
2. What is Coding Language
Coding languages are used to create certain programs or sets of instructions for the computer.
Programming languages or coding languages are used to develop websites, games for smartphone and computer, apps for smartphone and computer, softwares for being used in offices and industries.
Some of the programming or coding language are:
- Python
- JavaScript
- C
- C++
- PHP
- Ruby
- Perl
Different programming languages are used for different purposes.
3. What is coding used for
Coding is basically used to give instruction to the computer. Different coding languages are used for different purposes.
Python is used for:
- Developing web applications
- Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
- Data Science and Data Visualization
- Scientific Computing
- Software Development
- Mobile Applications
- Game Development
- Business Applications
- Desktop Applications
- Fintech and finance
Java is used for:
- Web applications
- Embedded system
JavaScript is used for:
- Web development for creating interactive web pages
- Developing softwares by software engineers
4. What is coding class
In coding class, a person is taught how to code on the computer. Coding class is all about coding or programming classes, where a learner learns the basic concepts of programming at the beginning of the learning journey and gradually moves ahead towards the advanced level.
There are different types of coding classes, one can learn coding from 1:1 online coding classes, online recorded video courses on coding or offline coding camps.
There are many ways to take part in the coding classes with the ultimate purpose of learning coding.
Online 1:1 coding classes are relatively most expensive, whereas the online recorded coding classes are much cheaper in cost.
5. Coding classes for kids
Coding classes for kids is all about teaching coding to kids. Teaching coding to kids can be classified in the two groups in the broad sense.
Younger kids learn coding through drag and drop visual block-based platforms for beginning with the easy interface.
They are taught the concepts of coding, so that they can learn to create the animations, games and interactive stories, using their own creative thinking aligned with logical thought process and problem solving attitude.
Elder kids learn to code by learning HTML and CSS or Python programming language. Where they learn the real practical programming language which is even used in the professional programming world.
The whole purpose of coding classes for kids is to teach coding to the kids with most and effective learning experience.
6. Coding for older adults beginners
As a beginner in the world of coding, learning the concepts of coding at first is vital. Beginner learners can start the journey of coding either by watching YouTube videos or taking online courses from some affordable online learning platform like udemy.com.
I found that video coding classes are much more helpful than text based courses, as it becomes easier to follow the instructor and get less confusion.
Coding courses on web development or Python can be a great starting point for the beginners coding learner.
You can easily gain some basic concepts by watching YouTube tutorials or else the best way is taking a course from Udemy.com, udemy provides very quality courses at a very much affordable price. I myself started my journey by watching coding tutorial courses from udemy.
7. Introduction to programming languages
Learning programming languages may seem confusing at the level of introduction but understanding the right path will simplify all your confusions.
Introduction to programming languages must be done through learning an easy coding language yet full of creativity and fun, and once you learn the concepts of programming then move towards the tougher languages. Programming languages like Python or learning HTML and CSS are great for introduction to the programming languages.
For younger kids, Scratch is the best platform to be introduced to the concepts of programming languages. They can create beautiful and unique interactive stories, animations and games in Scratch. Once they are comfortable with the concepts of programming then move to the real programming languages like Python or JavaScript etc.
8. What is Scratch coding?
Scratch coding is very popular for teaching coding to young kids from the age of 6 to 12. Scratch coding platform is full of fun, it is also a great place to learn the concepts of coding for kids through developing interactive stories, animations and games.
Scratch coding can be accessed either by downloading the software in your computer system or else using it online through its website https://scratch.mit.edu/.
It provides an easy yet effective drag and drop visual coding platform, which is just amazing for the younger kids, where they don’t get any confusion by writing the real codes, that can be hard for them to remember and apply.
There are thousands of young kids learning coding through Scratch platform as it is told in the official website of Scratch.
The millions of people searching about Scratch per month in Google, it must be enough to understand it’s universal popularity.
9. Is Scratch coding free?
Even though Scratch is a really powerful platform to learn coding for kids, yet it is free to use. You can download the software or use the official website online for learning for free of cost.
Without doubt Scratch is too generous with its free offer of allowing it to be used universally.
If you want your kids to learn the programming then this free platform is too amazing to begin the journey with.
I myself am a teacher who teaches coding to kids, and have personally experienced that kids really love to code in Scratch using awesome resources through the easy and attractive drag and drop visual facility.
10. Coding courses for kids
Either it is Scratch or real programming languages like Python, JavaScript, your kids need quality courses for their great learning experience. Now as a parent you may wish that the course must be with quality content yet affordable to buy.
There are different types of courses you can offer to your kids for learning coding. There are 1:1 online classes, offline coding classes and online video coding tutorials.
Among these types, 1:1 online classes are the most expensive and online video coding courses are least expensive.
Now don’t think that online video coding classes are cheaper, that’s mean it is not effective enough, rather they can be really powerful yet affordable means of learning.
Most of the online learning platforms offer a bunch of benefits with its courses.
Here are some facilities offered by udemy.com, which is an affordable online learning course provider.
- Full support from the instructor
- Support from the community of other students
- You can access the course for life time
- All the updates to the courses are accessible for free
- Certificate of completion at the end of the learning
- You also get 30 days money back guarantee to secure your money
11. Is coding a waste of time?
Coding is never a waste of time as it is not only beneficial for becoming professional in the world of technology rather it gives a lot of other benefits to the learner.
Learning to code is considered a very relevant skill for this present era of technology driven world.
The time you spend in coding can be counted as the right way to invest your time.
Some of the benefits of coding, to prove its usefulness are:
- Coding create problem solving skill, which is used almost in everywhere
- It teaches to think critically
- Coding develops the flow of logical thinking
- Math skill is improved
- It gives fun, as you create some awesome unique masterpiece that is new to the world
- Increases creativity skill
- Self satisfaction of creating beautiful and useful staffs
- Develops the confidence level
- Increase your communication skill, as you learn to communicate with computer
12. Do schools teach coding to kids?
As coding is becoming an integral part of human society, the need for teaching coding in the school to the kids from the early age is gaining popularity.
Many countries have imparted coding or programming as a compulsory subject in the school syllabus, more and more countries are adopting this in their education system.
Teaching coding to kids is no more an option rather it is considered as one of the essential subjects.
Within a very short period of time, most probably we will find that every country will start teaching coding in the school.
Without doubt it is a very wise decision to teach coding to your kids from their young age.
Summary to Takeaway
This article provides an elaborate understanding on ‘What is coding for kids?’, or ‘what is coding for younger and elder kids?’.
Let us see the whole article in short:
- Coding is spreading its wings over almost each and every industry. It is used to solve critical problems and make the human lives more easier and comfortable.
- Coding can look complicated but learning it with the right manner of fun and game make it easy to be learnt to the kids.
- Kids are taught to code through using simple and attractive drag and drop visual coding softwares, where they learn coding by playing with the codes by creating some fun filled stories, animations or games.
- Coding languages are used to code in the computer. Computer coding is simply a set of instructions that tells a computer what to do and how to do.
- Coding is used in varieties of industries for several purposes. It is used to create softwares, websites, games, developing databases, making robots etc.The wide use of coding made it so popular and demanded that it is now considered that even kids must start learning its concept from an early age.
- There are several types of coding classes available to teach coding to your kids, among them online video recorded courses are most affordable.
- Your kids can also learn the basics of coding for free through watching YouTube tutorials or by taking the available free courses from online learning platforms.
- In case of young kids they need parent’s help or an instructor to guide them. But for older kids they can learn just by watching the video tutorials.
- Younger kids can start learning coding by accessing the official website of Scratch, which is scratch.mit.edu, it is a free and fun filled platform especially for younger kids.
- Elder kids above the age of 12 years old can start coding by learning HTML, CSS or Python programming language. HTML and CSS are much easier than Python, so if you want to start with simplicity then go for it.
- There are so many quality resources available for learning coding or teaching coding to your kids, a lot of basic knowledge can be gained even for free and for advanced level go for paid courses.
- You can visit the links here for accessing the best free and paid coding courses, https://codingforkidsfree.com/free-coding-classes-websites-for-kids/