Why teach a child programming? Especially if you have a future ballerina or football player growing up? The answer is simple: in order to teach you how to think logically and plan your actions. Parents boast that modern children almost from the diapers can include tablets and computers. Interest in technology and craving for entertainment can be combined with learning and development, offering the child games that teach you how to compose algorithms and even write code.
Kodable
How do you think, at what age do you need to start learning programming? The creators of Kodable claim that their game is available to two-year-olds. You can learn the code earlier than learning the letters. To drive through the mazes funny faces can really even kids, and at the same time master the compilation of programs, indicating the sequence of actions. Hints and recommendations are made using graphics, so reading the child does not have to.
Kodable is recommended for studying computer science in primary school: teachers and parents can control the learning process, set levels of complexity and monitor success. A great start for the little ones.
Kodable
Code.org
On the website Code.org, created by a non-profit organization, the international movement “Programming Hour”, several educational courses for children and adults have been collected. The age from which you can begin is four years. One game that teaches everything and immediately, there is not, but there is a step-by-step game training with the characters of various cartoons. Moving from level to level, you can learn and create your own short programs.
Сode.org
Lightbot
In the game, available on a smartphone or tablet, a small robot, obeying the commands, should light in the right places light bulbs. The main task, which will be before the child, is to design the way of the toy with the help of simple commands. The task of the parent is to explain to the kids what the pictures mean.
It’s not a fact that a child playing Lightbot will grow up to be a brilliant developer, but he will definitely learn how to plan actions and make the simplest algorithms. This application can also be recommended as one of the starting ones even for preschoolers 4-6 years old. Developers also offer a more sophisticated version, which is suitable for children older than nine years.
Parents, by the way, can also gladly spend time on compiling routes. The robot is amusing enough to please the children, and serious enough to not bother adults.
Lightbot
PictoWorld
“PictoMir”, developed by NIISI RAS, commissioned by the Russian Academy of Sciences, is our response to foreign peers. NIISI RAS has already developed the “KuMir” system, in which senior students are introduced to programming, but there is no game element in it. “PictoMir”, designed for preschoolers, turned out to be fascinating and very accessible.
The robot paints the fields, and the child learns to compose algorithms. All hints are made using graphics, so “PictoMir” can be safely given to children who can not read, starting from five years: it is noticeable that scientists tried to make the actions understandable even for toddlers. If parents do not know English and do not understand anything in programs themselves, but they really want to develop logical thinking in children, PictoMir will be a real salvation. Mobile versions are available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, but the last two will have to be downloaded from the developer’s site.
PictoWorld
Robozzle
Complete tasks and draw an algorithm for the movement of arrows on a puzzle – this is the meaning of a game in which younger schoolchildren can play. True, the ordinary shooter is unlikely to carry away the Seven Years for a long time, especially if this is the first of such games. But it can seriously interest schoolchildren from ten years already familiar with algorithmization, because the most interesting puzzles, of course, occur at more complex levels. Robozzle provides almost unlimited opportunities to create and search for new jobs, so it is most suitable not for learning the basics, but for constant repetition and practice.
Robozzle
Cargo-Bot
Another simple game for mastering, on the initial levels of which the preschoolers will feel comfortable. Since there is not enough text in it, it’s enough for children to distinguish individual letters in order to fulfill the first tasks and move the boxes for fewer moves from place to place. Over complex combinations, even adults will be able to think for a long time. Among other educational and entertainment applications Cargo-Bot stands out for a very nice picture. By the way, Cargo-Bot was completely programmed for iPad.
CodeMonkey
Lifkhaker already wrote in detail about the game CodeMonkey, which simply must take a worthy place in the list of game tutorials for children.
Online game, in which step by step children learn to manage a fun monkey, is built very simply and visually. Each new level tells about the possibilities of programming, and to perform the next task, you will have to apply the knowledge from the previous lesson. To get to the banana, it takes a few minutes, so it is convenient to plan lessons so that the child is attracted and does not have time to get tired.
The big plus of CodeMonkey is that this game gives an idea of the syntax itself, because commands need to be selected with the help of icons, and the sequence of actions is written in lines of almost the real code.
CodeMonkey
Scratch
Including Scratch in this list is not entirely fair, because it is not a game, but a specially designed environment for teaching children programming, and not include, because it is an excellent educational tool. The authorship of Scratch belongs to Massachusetts University of Technology, and in the community most of the information is translated into Russian, so Scratch is available to a very wide audience.
The possibilities for Scratch are really impressive, although there are no tasks and levels in it, but there is a sea of imagination and means for its application. Since the goal is to establish the child in each project independently, there are no universal solutions, but there is scope for creativity, which is lacking in games that teach algorithmization. Scratch is perfect for children of eight years old, who are already tired of driving robots and monkeys along the usual routes.
Scratch
CeeBot
We should not forget about the classics, even pretty dusty. CeeBot educational games appeared in 2003 as a special development for educational institutions. Initially, the developers created Colobot – a game about the colonization of a new planet, the main feature of which was that to manage characters it was necessary to write their own programs.
CeeBot is a game training course from several tasks with detailed instructions. The history of programmable robots on a new planet that destroy the local fauna, of course, for kids is not suitable, but for teens who have already been carried away by computer science and imagine what an algorithm is, it will be a good tool. Looks CeeBot on the background of modern games pale, but where else will the child manage characters, creating their own programs that are as close to C ++ syntax as possible?
Ceebot
CodeCombat
CodeCombat – this is serious, because this game teaches this code and the winner will get a ready programmer. You choose a programming language that will have to write commands for your character (the game offers Python, JavaScript, Lua or a few experimental ones like CoffeScript), and go on a journey for crystals.
To put up for the game you can boys and girls from eight years. Training and tips in Russian, for $ 9.99, you can receive new levels every month for passage (the first 70 are free). The game can be used in schools, there are separate bonuses for teachers.
In the game before the start of each level the child will read amusing and motivating citations about programming, reminding that “this code will not learn itself”. CodeCombat captures more than ordinary “rpg” and “shooters”, one of the best combinations of recreation and training.
Codecombat
