Top 9 Free Coding Resources For Children

Introduction

Getting your child straight into a coding school like ours isn’t always the right move. Before you’ve identified that they have an interest in coding, try using these free online resources. Once you’re confident they have a knack for coding, it’s a good time to consider using the peer-to-peer and professional support offered by coding schools to guide them along their journey.

(Skip to the coding resources here)

When choosing the right coding platform for your child, consider 2 things:

1. Their age
2. Their experience with block-based coding or text-based coding

Know the difference:

Block-Based Coding

• Generally for ages 5-12
• No coding experience
• Used as a tool to teach coding concepts
• No careers in block-based coding

Text-Based Coding

• Generally for ages 10 and over
• Block-based experience recommended
• Proper coding – no limitations
• Careers in text-based coding growing

In reality, choosing the right coding resources depends on a lot of factors. So make sure you try them out and see what works. Here I’ve done my best to give you at least a frame of reference of where to start.

Respective resources for each stage will be listed below.

> Beginner Block-Based Coding Resources (~Ages 5-8):

The aim here is to introduce the concepts of building a computer program in the most digestible and fundamental way. These resources hold your hand in discovering the very basics, making them ideal for children with zero prior knowledge of the topic.

I recommend that every young child, just discovering coding, checks out Code.org’s kindy to year 5 courses. They’re a great way to get started, guiding you along by progressively introducing and explaining each skill as it comes.

Scratch, developed by MIT in 2003, was the first to conceive the block-based teaching method. Then in 2014, they released Scratch Jnr. Which is intended to introduce coding to children as young as 5 in even more simple comprehensive ways.

This app serves great as a virtual playground for exploration. It’s recommended that you get familiar with the app by clicking the ‘?’ on the first screen, which will start a quick tutorial on where everything is and how everything works.

> Block-Based Coding Resources (~Ages 6 – 12):

These resources either assume you have some coding experience or are old enough to understand the basic concepts of coding.

MIT was the first to conceive the block-based coding framework, so it’s no wonder they have some of the greatest coding resources in the space. Unlike Scratch *Jnr*, Scratch is completely online. Similarly, it’s designed to provide an open playground experience for users to explore. As well as a ‘tutorial’ page that will guide you through an abundance of fun coding projects.

Code for Life’s ‘Rapid Router’ engages kids with a levelling system that starts slows and gets progressively more challenging. A bonus with Rapid Router is it’s future ‘Python’ progression. When children are eventually ready to graduate to a text-based language like ‘Python’, Code for Life makes it easy by integrating it straight into the game they’re already familiar with.

If robotics is what excites your child, look no further. VexIQ’s robotics simulation tool is based on the life robot counterparts they offer. They offer a ‘Tutorials’ page to guide new users along with example projects that users can play with and draw inspiration from. It also supports future text-based coding.

> Beginner Text-Based Coding Resources (~Ages 8 – 14):

These resources are for children who have experience in block-based coding and are ready to graduate to text-based coding or are old enough to understand the concepts of text-based coding.

Unlike a coding playground, Code Combat benefits from its structured, linear style resulting in a more engaging experience for those it appeals to. In a medieval-style puzzle solver, users are incentived with collecting coins and loot as they progress through the levels – All while learning genuine text-based coding skills.

This tool simulates real robotics right in your browser, with the choice of block-based and text-based coding. They offer a ‘Tutorials’ page to guide new users along with example projects that users can play with and draw inspiration from.

> Text-Based Coding Resources (~Ages 10 and over):

These resources are for children who have mastered block-based coding or have built confidence with beginner text-based coding resources – they are ready to graduate to the real deal, fully text-based coding languages.

Note: Here’s where things change.

At this stage, you are no longer confined to a ‘framework’ (like all of the above resources) but instead, work with coding directly at the core of it – by using a coding ‘language’.

The coding language known as ‘Python’ is always recommended to new text-based coders because of its power and beginner-friendly nature. Make no mistake, Python is the real deal with 48.24% of professional coders using it.

In reality, there are a handful of coding languages that are more suitable for creating different kinds of programs, but for the most part, you can code anything you can imagine in Python. From complex data algorithms to advanced AI machines to the next TikTok. The possibilities are endless.

Firstly, you’ll need to install the Python language and a coding environment of your choice (Skip this if you have already):

If you’d like to make things easy, you can install ‘Pycharm’ (which is a coding environment) and it’ll install Python, automatically. Either follow this video tutorial here, or follow this link directly to their download page. Choose the ‘Community Edition’, which is free forever.

Okay! With that out of the way, let’s get into our favourite resources for learning Python.

There are hundreds of free Python courses on Udemy, with even more paid. Courses are great for new users wanting to learn all of the basics or learn how to make a specific program e.g “Build a Virtual Assistant”

Codecademy is often praised as one of the most comprehensive ways to learn Python, with all of their courses made in-house. They’ve transitioned from being completely free to a freemium model, but you can still find an abundance of free courses by filtering the Python catalogue with ‘free’.

The coding community is one of the best out there. You can easily find a vast amount of free resources along with dedicated communities to help you. This is more ideal for users that have a good idea of where they’d like to take coding and what they’d like to know next. Whenever coming across a specific problem, plugging it into Google is often your fastest and best bet. After all, they say being a professional coder is more like being a professional researcher.

And that’s that!

Make sure you do your due diligence and find out where your child is at and what they want to do with coding. From there, make an educated guess on which resources you think they’ll enjoy and give it a shot!

Once they demonstrate a clear interest for coding, consider using the peer-to-peer and professional support offered by your local coding schools.

If you have any questions or need help, don’t hesitate to contact me at luke@codekids.com.au

Happy coding!