Ask HN:
"Are there any good “coding for kids” books?"
(Replying to PARENT post)
https://archive.org/details/pdfy-MgN0H1joIoDVoIC7
Dr. Johnson used to condemn me for putting Newbery’s books into children’s hands. “Babies do not want,” said he, “to hear about babies; they like to be told of giants and castles, and of somewhat which can stretch and stimulate their little minds.” When I would urge the numerous editions of Tommy Prudent or Goody Two Shoes; “Remember always,” said he, “that the parents buy the books, and that the children never read them. – Mrs Thrale, Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson
(Replying to PARENT post)
It’s got state, conditonals, loops, stacks, maybe even concurrency with multiplayer. All wrapped up in a fun game with cool art and lore.
If you can resolve a deep stack in Magic, that’s pretty much like keeping track of procedural code in your head.
Downside is it can get very expensive.
(Replying to PARENT post)
https://usborne.com/gb/books/browse-by-category/science-and-...
The official Raspberry Pi magazine website make all their issues available free to download as PDFs. Each issue is full of tutorials. (Obviously requires a Raspberry Pi) :
(Replying to PARENT post)
I didn't start learning to code until I was 27. I think probably the most compelling reason to teach your kids to code is so that you can work on projects with them and have that shared interest.
But, of course, that could backfire. My dad was interested in antiques, opera, gothic architecture, etc and tried to force that down my throat. I couldn't stand it and that made me rebel hard against it.
Your kids might just want to be different people than their parents, or maybe they really are interested in the things you're interested. I don't know. I say try to expose them to a bunch of different things, not just what you like. Maybe they'll make great software engineers, or maybe they want to become marketeers or lawyers or designers. If you encourage good social, communication, and learning skills, they'll be successful in whatever career path most interests them.
Sorry, I get a little uppity when people start talking about teaching kids to code.
(Replying to PARENT post)
Pretty outdated, of course, but still a surprisingly accessible way to learn.
(Replying to PARENT post)
In particular, The Great Logo Adventure is great for kids: https://courses.cs.duke.edu//cps108/spring00/projects/slogo/...
(Replying to PARENT post)
Of course a book about good or planning/organizing I think might make a great starter for a kid you want to become a good programmer. I have seen some a few already burn out (Even in childhood, often it's an adult pressure getting these kids into coding) however, without the organizational skills learned first, when things get even a little complex, the kids buried or set back by the lack of some formal reasoning or lack of organizational skill.
(Replying to PARENT post)
(Replying to PARENT post)
I'm a child who learned to code with adult resources as well, and the only reason I stuck with it is that I was making things. Stupid, silly things, but it hooked me for life. I also liked the social aspect: I was a rural child who had nobody else around who liked nerd stuff other than my parents, and I was more than willing to learn to code if it meant I could have friends and not be bored like I was in school.
I can't recall ever using a book, actually. It was mostly documentation + discussions. I'd actually say it might be better to take them through projects and when you get stuck, show them how to look up the answer to their problem. That's what devs do in the real world.
(Replying to PARENT post)
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/amp/usborne-coding-books
Nothing else comes close. Just install some open source version of Basic and you’re good to go.
(Replying to PARENT post)
Programming is just steps to do a task and a computer is a thing that can repeat those steps - you don't need a book to explain it - I just did it in a few sentences.
The only proper way to learn something is for it to be useful in your life. If there are games or opportunities to modify games using some scripting languages - kids will want to learn it.
Books are not fun for most kids, so you're going about it wrong - if you can't make it fun for them without books, you've already failed.
Books are good for additional information and a reference, after you've been taught something by a good teacher. They are a bad tool for learning just about everything.
(Replying to PARENT post)
(Replying to PARENT post)
(Replying to PARENT post)
https://www.techagekids.com/2015/10/the-bigtrak-programmable...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak
Probably informed my later forays into BASIC. A new one has been in development but not shipped IIRC. See XTR in Wikipedia link.
(Replying to PARENT post)
(Replying to PARENT post)
https://htdp.org/2021-11-15/Book/part_prologue.html
Take a quick scroll through, it features programming with pictures which is much more useful and motivating for a beginner than lines of text.
First impressions matter. So avoid excessive keywords and syntax that only scares beginners into thinking programming is a voodoo-magic-minefield. I'm looking at you, Python.
(Replying to PARENT post)
After that, I'd point them at Pico-8 https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php
(Replying to PARENT post)
My kid loves books but not much out there in toddler programming related board books. Also been pushing duplo legos and play dough which seem somehow programming related, no idea why. And someone gave him a linux penguin (tux) plush.
Other than that not sure where to go next. Maybe hes ready for a pi but I dont know about any special linux distros for kids.
(Replying to PARENT post)
(Replying to PARENT post)
Minecraft education edition (and even general Minecraft) is good at the lower level.
(Replying to PARENT post)
(Replying to PARENT post)
We're adding more paths soon, including a More Python path and an Introduction to Unity path.
The paths build up skills and then build up independence.
Kids can start with Scratch then move on to Python etc/
(Replying to PARENT post)
For kids 8-12 with Scratch I think it is better to actually clone ( remix ) projects to figure out how they work. There are a few books out there, but they don’t really teach the concepts. I think finding short videos on YouTube is a better approach.
(Replying to PARENT post)
Today, the barrier is so much higher, so while you could still get them to play in python (not ideal and really complex compared to BASIC) and maybe scratch, there's a really visible gap of what they can achieve without significant effort and steep learning curve.
I'm a bit more convinced that maybe going the route of scripted minecraft or roblox or even Horizon if you are into VR is probably the best way to get kids into programming.
(Replying to PARENT post)
(Replying to PARENT post)
My eight year old was making games in minutes. And was ‘getting’ it.
(Replying to PARENT post)
I've got two children (8 & 11) and done lots of volunteering teaching programming to children (and teach on a computer science degree as well!). I think a lot depends on the age and what you want them to learn.
Considerations: Do they read fluently? How is their typing? What sort of things do they actually want to programme? What is it that you want them to learn? Are you going to sit down with them and go through the book or just leave them to it?
There are a lot of resources these days that aren't books too which may be better. There are lots of online 'lessons' if you look at e.g. Code Club or Hour of Code. You've got games like CodeCombat and Erase All Kittens. There are lots of programmable toys of the robotic variety. You can get them doing stuff with Microbits or raspberry pis - the SenseHat is quite fun for example.
Not a programming book, but my older son really enjoyed Computational Fairy Tales by Jeremy Kubica.
I also wouldn't be too put off by some things being made simple. In a sense as a parent, you are trying to motivate them as much as teach them. And as a programmer yourself, you are in a good place if you want to say to them 'actually it's a bit more complicated than the book makes out'.