5 Apps To Introduce Your Kids to Coding
By Mike Agerbo
July 01, 2020
Lifestyle
Share Facebook Tweet on Twitter Share with Email Share with LinkedIn Share with Pinterest
Increasingly, parents are becoming concerned about the amount of screen time kids get and whether that time is beneficial to their development. The reality is that it’s difficult to keep kids away from screens when we all carry mobile devices and have multiple computers at home. With that in mind, introducing kids to educational games and applications is a great way to ensure they they’re growing and developing instead of passively consuming content when they’re in front of a screen. One area where apps and games offer a particularly interesting opportunity is in introducing kids to coding and even teaching them basic coding skills. There are a number of mobile apps that do this effectively so that you can rest assured that your kids are learning something when they’re tapping away on you tablet or smartphone. Here are a few of my favourite educational coding apps for kids of all ages:
Android, iOS | Free
Grasshopper is a newly-released app by Google’s internal incubator, Area 120. This app aims to teach users how to code JavaScript through a series of fun mini-games. Through bite-sized games and quizzes, kids will learn the fundamentals of JavaScript, like calling functions, strings, and variables. As they work through these puzzles and games, the lessons will become more advanced.
Grasshopper is rated for ages 4 and up and makes coding approachable to all ages. That being said, the more advanced lessons may be more suitable to older kids and adults.
iOS | Free
An oldie but a goodie, Hopscotch has been downloaded over 10 million times. This app gives kids the option to create or play. The create option gives kids the opportunity to create games, art, stories and more and publish their creations to the community. Video lessons get kids started, teaching them to create snippets of popular games like Crossy Road and PokemonGO. Play allows kids to explore creations from other members of the community.
The aim of this app is to teach kids aged 9-11 that they can create media, not just consume it.
iOS (iPad only) | Free
From the makers of Hopscotch, Daisy the Dinosaur is a fun way to introduce children as young as 4 to programming concepts. This one doesn’t actually teach coding but exposes kids to basic programming concepts with the help of mini word and puzzle games. It doesn’t hurt that the game’s protagonist is a cute dinosaur named Daisy that kids are sure to fall in love with.
iOS | Free
Run Marco! is an adventure game designed for kids aged 6 to 12. Using a visual programming language, kids help protagonists Marco or Sophia navigate levels in their journey around the world. Kids learn about commands, different types of iteration and conditional logic through a rich storyline designed by a team of experts in engineering, arts, and education. Best of all, Run Marco! is available in 26 languages, making it easy for kids around the globe to learn coding concepts. In fact, it’s recommended by Code.org for the Hour of Code global movement to introduce kids to computer science.
Android, iOS | Free
codeSpark Academy is a fun little story based game that uses visual code to help kids learn by doing. In this game, kids help fun little monsters navigate city streets by dragging and dropping commands or visual blocks of code. As kids complete each level, they earn stars based on how efficiently they used commands to guide their little monsters. They can replay levels for higher scores, which is a great way for them to experiment with code.
Suitable for kids aged 5 and up, codeSpark Academy doesn’t teach a particular coding language but focuses on introducing kids to the concepts of programming.
Grasshopper
Android, iOS | Free
Grasshopper is a newly-released app by Google’s internal incubator, Area 120. This app aims to teach users how to code JavaScript through a series of fun mini-games. Through bite-sized games and quizzes, kids will learn the fundamentals of JavaScript, like calling functions, strings, and variables. As they work through these puzzles and games, the lessons will become more advanced.
Grasshopper is rated for ages 4 and up and makes coding approachable to all ages. That being said, the more advanced lessons may be more suitable to older kids and adults.
Hopscotch
iOS | Free
An oldie but a goodie, Hopscotch has been downloaded over 10 million times. This app gives kids the option to create or play. The create option gives kids the opportunity to create games, art, stories and more and publish their creations to the community. Video lessons get kids started, teaching them to create snippets of popular games like Crossy Road and PokemonGO. Play allows kids to explore creations from other members of the community.
The aim of this app is to teach kids aged 9-11 that they can create media, not just consume it.
Daisy the Dinosaur
iOS (iPad only) | Free
From the makers of Hopscotch, Daisy the Dinosaur is a fun way to introduce children as young as 4 to programming concepts. This one doesn’t actually teach coding but exposes kids to basic programming concepts with the help of mini word and puzzle games. It doesn’t hurt that the game’s protagonist is a cute dinosaur named Daisy that kids are sure to fall in love with.
Run Marco!
iOS | Free
Run Marco! is an adventure game designed for kids aged 6 to 12. Using a visual programming language, kids help protagonists Marco or Sophia navigate levels in their journey around the world. Kids learn about commands, different types of iteration and conditional logic through a rich storyline designed by a team of experts in engineering, arts, and education. Best of all, Run Marco! is available in 26 languages, making it easy for kids around the globe to learn coding concepts. In fact, it’s recommended by Code.org for the Hour of Code global movement to introduce kids to computer science.
codeSpark Academy
Android, iOS | Free
codeSpark Academy is a fun little story based game that uses visual code to help kids learn by doing. In this game, kids help fun little monsters navigate city streets by dragging and dropping commands or visual blocks of code. As kids complete each level, they earn stars based on how efficiently they used commands to guide their little monsters. They can replay levels for higher scores, which is a great way for them to experiment with code.
Suitable for kids aged 5 and up, codeSpark Academy doesn’t teach a particular coding language but focuses on introducing kids to the concepts of programming.