Why Kids Should Learn to Code and How to Get them Started

In the age of computers, with everything being digitized, children are prone to handle gadgets. But what goes behind the making of these can harbor a lot of curiosity to understand and even an urge to learn.

Coding will enable the child to write programs themselves and get to know that all the gadgets work on something similar. Studies have shown that computational thinking skills happen to correlate highly to measuring of the non-verbal form of intelligence.

Kids who would pursue STEM subjects aren’t just benefitted, but students who pursue creative arts and other pursuits can develop their skills better with coding.

Benefits of coding

Coding not only gets them to learn something new apart from the regular school curriculum, but it improves the mathematical as well the logical thinking capacity of the child. The skills acquired through such coding boot camps will give them an advantage later in life.

Studies have indicated that kids who have had the chance to learn to code early in life have had better chances of success. The children learn several problem-solving skills because they can mentally build a flowchart of events and finds solutions by putting in every possibility to find out which would be the best one that can be adapted.

How coding can be taught

Coding can be taught to kids at a very early age and with coding basics, which may not require a computer. The teachers utilize several unplugged coding activities that have exciting themes so that kids can grasp the concept easily. Such as

Using a deck of cards that are great for sequencing and building algorithms. A great example is the Lego coding game which helps them learn the coding loop, the sequencing concept, and much more with stuffed toys, water guns, and everyday things can be used to make it an interesting and  fun learning activity that the kid can relate to and pick up the concepts of coding easily

The above activities can be a great ice breaker for preschoolers and elementary school kids. The games and activities can be conducted outdoors, adding to the fun and definitely a hands-on learning experience wherein each activity will help put some coding concepts into the kid’s mind. When engaging in coding, you always wouldn’t need a screen to make them understand what coding is and why they need to learn about it.

How to unplug coding for kids

Using real-life items or situations, the educator can convince the child that coding can be part of life and make them understand the concept. Later move on to writing the code and eventually debugging any issues that arise. Prepping the kids before beginning the coding journey is essential for them to understand that what they are learning today will help to problem-solve in any field.

Finally, parents will find that children will now be able to break down issues at hand, explore the effects, and analyze it to find a solution.

The children will be in a better position to predict when they are logically thinking to articulate a problem.

Check out our Coding Course to get started.

Previously published at https://saswath.academy/scratch-coding/why-should-kids-learn-coding/