Teaching coding skills to kids – Some useful apps that can make your job easier

There’s hardly any career option where you don’t need someone who knows coding. Everything that is working is running by some sort of code which makes it run properly. Programming or coding is all around us and this is why we need our kids to know coding so that they can grow up to be people who adept with skills to work in any field. Don’t nurture the wrong notion that programming is something that can only be learnt by the twenty-somethings as the reality is that the brand new pint-sized coders have already started getting their coding education at their elementary school.

If you think that elementary school students aren’t blessed with the ability to code, you’re wrong. Thanks to the advancement of technology that teaching coding and learning coding has become much easier than previous days. With the plethora of web apps and mobile apps based on coding, the entire process of imparting knowledge has become convenient. Here are some apps based on coding for high school students and for the kids.

Image Source: Pixabay

1. GameStar Mechanic

This is an app which costs $2 per student and it teaches kids and students within the age limit of 7 and 16 to design their own video games according to their choice. Your students will enjoy completing their self-paced quests when they learn to build new game levels. The web tool, GameStar machine incorporates critical thinking and various other problem solving jobs. With the help of an app, students find it easier to login.

2. Tynker

This is a web platform and it’s free of cost. Though Tynker is relatively new, yet it is counted as one of the most favorite coding apps. The interface is similar to that of Scratch and while Scratch was created to program, Tynker was designed to teach programming. The app has starter lesson plans, management tools for classrooms and programs created by students. Kids and high school students can learn the lessons with ease as they’re self-paced and simple to track.

3. Hopscotch

This is an iPad platform and it is also free to download and install. This tool looks a lot similar like Tynker and Scratch but it uses similar controls and works only on the iPad. However, the controls of this tool are not as extensive as Tynker and Scratch but it is definitely a great tool to start assisting your students with learning coding experience and also the basics of programming, problem solving and logical thinking and reasoning.

4. Daisy the Dinosaur

This is a free tool for iPad users and it comes from the designers of Hopscotch. Daisy the Dinosaur chooses some of the youngest coders and the interface is similar to that of Hopscotch. You just have to move a dinosaur and move the basic functions and for the young students, this is definitely an excellent way of learning programming.

Therefore, when you’re a teacher or a parent who is wondering about the ways in which you can teach your kids coding, you can consider the above listed coding apps and tools.