Apps & Websites to helping kids (& adults!) learn to code
Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. Code.org® is a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color. Their vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. We believe computer science should be part of core curriculum, alongside other courses such as biology, chemistry or algebra.
Tynker is a creative computing platform where millions of kids have learned to program and built games, Minecraft mods, apps and more. Tynker offers self-paced online courses for children to learn coding at home, as well as an engaging programming curriculum for schools.
With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for life in the 21st century. Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is provided free of charge.
Coding is the new literacy! With ScratchJr, young children (ages 5-7) can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer. Available for iOS & Android.
What if creating software was so easy even kids could do it? Writing, photography, and video have been democratized by the internet. But what about software itself? Programming is a potent form of creative expression, imagine if anyone could do it. This is Hopscotch's mission
Lightbot lets players gain a practical understanding of basic control-flow concepts like procedures, loops, and conditionals, just by guiding a robot with commands to light up tiles and solve levels. Ideal for ages 8+. Lightbot Junior is specifically designed for ages 4-8, and lets players gain a practical understanding of basic concepts like writing instructions, debugging problems, simple procedures and loops, just by guiding a robot with commands to light up tiles and solve levels.
The Foos: Over 40 puzzle levels and 3 unique creative play areas for storytelling and animation. Kids learn to code via a series of exciting adventures. Our word-free interface allows anyone, anywhere to play. They’ll track down a sneaky donut thief, rescue puppies lost in space and serve up gourmet meals while mastering core computer science concepts. Kids to put programming concepts to work by making video games and programming interactive stories. Creations can then be shared with a global community of Foo coders.
Programming is more than completing tasks, it is also about implementing your own ideas, using your own imagination, that is why we give the possibility of creating your own programs from scratch. By completing the tasks, one after another, the child learns how to plan complex operations composed of simple & intuitive commands. Kids will get familiar with the notions of loops, procedures, variables and conditional instructions.
Kodable provides a structured transition from symbols into written code focused on student outcomes. 9 out of 10 Teachers using the Kodable Curriculum reported improvements in other subject area (math, ela, and 4c’s). Kodable is for teachers and parents of students in K-grade 5. The Kodable crew talked to real teachers to ensure all lessons work in real classrooms on a real schedule. Sessions allow you to integrate a coding curriculum with just 30 minutes a week. Kodable lesson plans are made for teachers without programming experience.
Pocket Code allows you to create your own games, animations, interactive music videos, and many kind of other apps, directly on your phone or tablet.
Kodu Game Lab Community (PC program)
Kodu lets kids create games on the PC and Xbox via a simple visual programming language. Kodu can be used to teach creativity, problem solving, storytelling, as well as programming. Anyone can use Kodu to make a game, young children as well as adults with no design or programming skills.
Learn how to build and program a monster! Our lessons use the fun visual programming language used by Code.org, Blockly. Videos help reinforce concepts in each lesson. This sets us apart from some other programs, which don"t all have a video for every lesson.
In this epic around-the-world adventure game kids have so much fun that they don't even notice they learn to code! This new exciting activity introduces kids to computer science and coding in a fun and easy way!
Learn the basics of computer programming with Daisy the Dinosaur! This free, fun app has an easy drag and drop interface that kids of all ages can use to animate Daisy to dance across the screen. Kids will intuitively grasp the basics of objects, sequencing, loops and events by solving this app's challenges. After playing Daisy, kids can choose to download a kit to program their own computer game.
Cato is a little boy who just like every little boy likes to go out and play. One fine day Cato was playing outside when a portal to another world opened up in front of him; a portal to another world!
Cato stepped through and discovered that this world unlike his own didn't follow the same rules. Every time he tried to take a step or an action he'd find himself stuck in place. Stuck that is until he finally discovered the rules in this universe: by writing a program for himself he would be able to overcome all obstacles and learn something new along the way!
Cargo-Bot is a puzzle game where you teach a robot how to move crates. Sounds simple, right?
It features 36 fiendishly clever puzzles, haunting music and stunning retina graphics. You can even record your solutions and share them on YouTube to show your friends.