It’s a lucrative industry with great career prospects, my OH works in this field himself, so if your kids are showing an interest in IT, how can you help to grow their talent? This guest post gives some good pointers
Monkey see, monkey do. If you’re a computer whizz, chances are your kids are also interested in IT. If you’ve encouraged them, they may even have started to exhibit an aptitude for computing. So what’s next? How do you help your kids to learn more and learn deeper when even GCSE level IT sticks to spreadsheets and powerpoints?
The IT industry is a growing sector where skill is rewarded generously. If your youngster is interested, encouraging their hobby could set them up for a very bright future indeed. That’s why, with the help of the child safety website Quib.ly, we’ve put together some great ideas and excellent resources that could help your tiny geek to grow into a fully fledged computer genius. Not sure that getting kids into computing is a good idea? Take a look at this great article about why kids should be learning to code.
Logo
Do you remember that little turtle who moved in different directions when you did…something? If, like me, you have vague recollections of a blocky computer ‘thing’ from school, you’re probably thinking of the original Logo. Now rebooted, this programming language for kids was spruced up by a code savvy dad teaching his daughters the basics of coding geometric shapes. It’s not as flashy as other pieces of kit out there but it’s simple, straightforward, feels more “codey” and it’s free to download. Perhaps one for slightly older kids
Tynker
This is an awesome web-based learning platform and highly visual coding language developed to teach 4-8 year olds how to programme. It costs around $50 (£32) per student and gives youngsters a brilliant introduction to thinking like a code monkey. There isn’t any syntax so kids can start building interesting things straight away and it looks really appealing to young ‘uns – perfect for making learning fun! The course covers everything from creating and animating characters to making conditional statements. Set them up and watch them go!
Scratch
This tool started out as a project at MIT, funded by the National Science Foundation. It throws kids in right at the deep end, but is brilliantly intuitive, allowing them to build their own characters, animations, music, art, games – you name it. You may need to persuade them to sit down and do a little learning to start with (you might need to bone up too!) but once you’re away this free online software is perfect for messing about, creating and learning all at once.
Alice
Another “drag and drop” programming teaching method which allows kids to programme animations – this time in a 3D environment. The tiles used to build the programme correspond to standard statements which appear in production orientated programming languages like C++, C# and JavaScript. It’s not quite as slick looking as Scratch or Tynker, but it has a strong female character (great for encouraging the girls) and does what it says on the tin.
Still stuck for ideas? Take a look at this bumper list of educational programming languages from Wikipedia – thanks internet!
Guest Post
TheBoyandMe
Great post, programming is such an important element of IT.