If your child has learned the fundamentals of coding, she may start to feel somewhat bored with it. You, as her parent, can direct her toward online resources that will re-spark her interest in coding and spur her on to learn even more. With dozens of programming languages to learn, coding is a subject always that is always developing.
Even adult coders have to keep up with new technology and take advantage of online resources to learn more. CEO and founder of Code School Greg Pollack wrote in an article for Tech Crunch that “Technology is always evolving, so developers should evolve too if they want to be the best at their craft. In many ways, learning is as much a part of the job as writing code.”
Once your child has mastered the basic idea of coding, it is time to start learning more. There are dozens of programming languages she can learn. Many of them can be learned online. Some resources are free, and others require a fee. Some are videos, others are courses in which students teach themselves.
1.) Khan Academy – Check out the videos on Khan Academy to learn more about coding. According to the Khan Academy website, your kid can “[l]earn how to program drawings, animations, and games using JavaScript & ProcessingJS, or learn how to create webpages with HTML & CSS.” Your child can also share his ideas and creations with others.
2.) Code.org – Code.org is committed to teaching children around the country how to code. Free tutorials are available to coding students from as young as four years old. Your child (or you!) can learn HTML and CSS, Python and a variety of other coding languages and principles.
3.) Team Treehouse – This site offers training in building apps and coding languages. It provides a free trial and tutorials for a fee as well.
4.) CodeSchool – CodeSchool offers a wide variety of content for a monthly fee.
5.) MIT Open Courseware – Free courses from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology such as Introduction to Programming in Java and Introduction to Computer Science and Programming.
Your child can choose from a wide variety of free and paid web design training courses in coding. This list is but a small start to help your child move past the basics of coding. These resources can assist your child in moving to the next level of coding and understanding computer science.
