The June School Holidays have officially begun!
For children, this is music to the ears; for parents, not so much. Having to juggle work-from-home while finding ways to keep the kids occupied indoors during this season of Phase 2 (Heightened Awareness) can be overwhelming, so if you’re running out of ideas, we have a solution for you.
Instead of having them passively watch YouTube, this would be a good time to pick up a new and important life skill – coding. We’ve identified five great coding apps to keep your kids occupied for a fun and productive school holiday.
1. Scratch Studio
Remember Mini Clip games? Well, if you’ve been on the internet long enough, you probably would have noticed children playing these Flash games before iPads came along. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) provides Scratch, a programming language and online community with the same nostalgia as Mini Clip but with far more advanced features.
Through the use of simple drag-and-drop coding blocks and a library of tutorials, children can learn how to create their own games, stories, and animations. Scratch Studio also happens to have an active community base where children are encouraged to either work on a project with others, share the work they’ve done or provide feedback on each other’s creations. Accounts created on Scratch Studio are anonymous and forums for feedback and interaction are moderated by the MIT Media Lab.
The best part? Scratch Studio is free and does not require the downloading of any software. Simply sign up for an account and your child can begin their journey to the basics of coding.
Read more about Scratch Studio here.
2. Tynker
As the name implies, Tynker is a creative coding platform that encourages experimentation and exploration. With courses catered to kids as young as 4 years old, they’ve been used by over 90,000 schools globally across 150 countries.
Tynker has a wide variety of programmes, from summer camps to private tutoring all from one device. But Tynker is best known for its comprehensive Coding Apps that simply requires what most children already have – an iPad and curiosity.
They have three types of apps for different age groups – Tynker Junior for ages 4 to 7 and Tynker and Mod Creator for ages 7 to 13. Tynker Junior contains 5 different adventures that introduce pre-schoolers to the basics of block coding. In this programme, kids get to play puzzle games while learning basic sequencing and pattern recognition. At the end of the course, they’ll get a try at building their own project through code.
Tynker is a follow-up course from Tynker Junior, this time with 16 coding courses and over 1,000 challenges. Still using block coding, the commands increase in difficulty but still remain comprehensive enough that even parents can guide them. By the end of the course, kids can even learn how to program robots and drones using the “Crash Course” puzzle set!
If your kid loves Minecraft, the Mod Creator is a great way to level up your child’s gaming experience. Through this course, kids can learn how to create their own custom skins that can be used in the game itself. Using a similar tutorial format as Tynker, your child will be able to create a world from their own imagination using block code.
You can choose to sign up for their individual option with three different payment plans – their quarterly plan billed at $75, their 1-year plan billed at $180 annually or their 3-year plan billed at $270 for three years. Registering for an account is completely free, so if you wish to explore the site before investing in this holiday activity, this can be done with ease.
Find out more about what Tynker can do for your child here.
3. CodeSpark Academy
CodeSpark Academy, much like Tynker, is a simple coding course that also utilizes block coding to ease children into the basics of code. However, CodeSpark Academy appeals more heavily to the visually-oriented user by being completely word-free and decked out with colourful and wacky characters that help to keep your kid engaged.
Code is taught through the world of The Foos – these are adorable characters with different jobs in the game to help guide your child through different puzzles. The beginner courses feature step-by-step instructions that are meant to help your child in reading, math and pattern recognition.
Once your child is able to master the concepts taught in these puzzles, they can then advance on to create their own games. Alternatively, if your child loves Animal Crossing they can master the skill of automation through Pet Pals, a fun way to use block code to take care of pets.
CodeSpark’s coding course has achieved 7 awards for its innovative creation, including the American Association of School Librarian Best Digital Tool award in 2020. You can opt for their annual plan of $79.99 billed annually or their monthly plan of $9.99 per month.
If you’re still on the fence, they even have a 7-day free trial for your kid to try their beginner course. Find out more about their course and trial here.
4. Hopscotch
If you’ve seen ABC’s Shark Tank, Hopscotch might sound a little familiar.
Back in February, Samantha John, CEO, and creator of Hopscotch went onto Shark Tank to seek a $400,000 investment. Unfortunately, none of the Sharks seemed convinced of her pitch except for the one and only – Mark Cuban.
Not only did he provide her the funding she needed, Mark Cuban had also praised her work prior to this, stating that he looked up to her and what she had been able to accomplish for his kids.
And honestly, if you’ve seen Hopscotch it is understandable why it received such high praise. Not only is the software iPad and iPhone friendly, the brilliant graphics, and easy-to-use block coding puzzles make it intuitive enough that kids can immediately use it.
Unlike the other coding applications, Hopscotch is meant to be an empty canvas that allows users to create games, turn drawings into animations and build worlds from their minds. Through the platform, kids can even share their code for friends and family to enjoy.
Currently, they have a 7-day free trial for you to explore the platform and see if it’s right for your kid. For more information on Hopscotch, click here.
5. Mimo
If your child struggles to sit still for longer than five minutes, asking your child to sit down and undergo a coding class might seem like an impossible task. That seems to be what the creators considered when they sat down and produced Mimo.
Mimo is a coding app perfect for kids 15-years old and older to get started on coding. Instead of long, drawn-out lectures, coding is taught in bite-size exercises with immediate feedback. It uses a similar structure to Duo Lingo, cultivating the skill of code as a habit through daily goals and regular prompts and achievements.
But this time, kids (and adults) can play around with what they’ve learned on the Code Playground by writing and running codes. Mimo also uses real-world projects and problems to teach code, so if your pre-teen finds block coding a little childish, this might be the solution for you.
Mimo is currently free on the App Store and the Google Play Store, but you only have the options to learn HTML. If you choose to embark on Mimo Pro, the app also gives you the chance to learn Python and Javascript.
Learn more about what Mimo can do here!
Creating A World Through Code
The sky’s the limit when you can create digital worlds through letters and numbers. Through simple, yet engaging coding apps you could kickstart your child’s journey into creating something amazing while honing a better grasp of mathematical concepts.
Keeping your child occupied with a screen may have gotten a bad rep, but in a digital world where learning using technology is inevitable – why not allow your child to use their devices in a more meaningful and engaging manner?
