Coding

[GreenMatchaLatte]

Hi

I am here to ask if anyone here has children whom are interested in coding?

My 7 year old has recently taken a big interest in coding, it stemmed from him having a lesson once a week at school, then we opted for private lessons, which I must say are quiet expensive.

Lessons don’t resume back until September, he spends a lot of time watching coding related videos on YouTube and has asked if we can buy the equipment for home.

The equipments used during his sessions are

Lego Spike Prime
&
Lego Mindstorms Inventor

I am not tech savvy, I don’t have the slightest clue how it all works.

Has anyone here purchased coding equipment for their child(ren) would you say that it is worth the money as the above equipment is rather expensive.

Thanks in advance

?

Hi, yes it is worth it! We have had Lego boost and mindstorms. Both have been well used and obviously cheaper in the long run than a tutor. Other toys that he might enjoy are: Turing tumble and (when he's older -nybble the cat). If you buy the Lego ones, you can also look at loads of hacks/programming ideas online. My son found instructions to build a robot that could solve a rubix cube when he was 10 and enjoyed doing that.

Other stem ideas: electric circuit board kits, gravitrax and a subscription to Tinkercrate. He might also enjoy watching Mark Rober on YouTube.

Raspberry Pis were literally made for this (widely used for other things do, but primarily designed for children) and are tonnes cheaper. You can get full kits on places like pimoroni if you don't have a clue where to start, and there are plenty of decent books and websites.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/

Scratch is a good place to start, loads of free resources online:

https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/codeclub/scratch-module-1

Thank you for the reply.

According to Lego.com Mindstorms seems to be discontinued, I’ve had a browse on eBay and have found a brand new set for just above RRP. I’ll also look about getting Spike Prime at a later date.

Yes, I agree it’s cheaper in the long run, our tutor was charging £36 per lesson and sometimes he was attending twice weekly.

I’ll also mention “Mike Rober” to my son, thanks for the help you’ve been great! 🙂

If he uses a tablet or has access to a computer with Internet - I use Scratch with our year 2s, and end of year 1. We use Scratch Jr with the reception and year 1s. They are free to use and there are many tutorials.

It depends on what he wants to do with his coding.

In year 2 my classes will make their own games, etc.

Hi All,
My 7 year old seems to be enjoying his coding (Scratch) lessons at school and would like to explore into this area. I am not an IT professional, hence unable to decide which course would be best for him. Please could you suggest a good coding class which could review his strengths and guide him through the right direction? Thank you for your time in advance.