If you are trying to get your 8 year old that’s going into third grade how to start learning coding and computer programming fundamentals, I’m sharing with you an overview of the best tips and online resources. As a parent, if you are wanting to give them an opportunity to create using computers instead of consuming content, these are a roundup of the best tips to teach them the ideas around app developing and computer programming skills.
Generally, kids that are eight year olds can follow directions in greater detail, develop step-by-step strategies for carrying out more complex tasks, and begin to use logic and reason to address problems that they face day to day. Further, they can also think critically and abstractly and create games (e.g. outdoor play) with multiple layers of rules rules.
At the tender age of 8 years old, kids can develop a multitude of skills, which can be witness through their interests in specific hobbies or subjects that they favor in school. As a parent or teacher, if you find that your child or student are interested in troubleshooting, problem solving, or love creating, you can nourish that by introducing them to the world of computer coding and programming.
Here are some of the best tips on how you can make coding for 8 year old kids more fun and engaging, developing and feeding their curiousity and education along the way.
Overview on Teaching 8 Year Old Kids How to Code
Having superb computer and coding skills in this modern technology can definitely help create a pathway to a learning and even developing their interest in a potential career opportunity in the future. Moreover, having working knowledge of technology and computer literacy isn't just a good thing to have, it is very much needed in today's digital world.
Today’s youth are very adept to navigating the current digital world and cope with the information that streams to them due to the constant connectivity to the internet. The need to be digitally literate is important as the environment of technology continues to scale reaching deeper into our personal lives. Teaching kids the logic around coding, especially the fundamentals and what it takes to make an app with make it beneficial for them. Telling them how it can be used to create anything they put their mind to will provide them endless possibilities or ideas on what they can do with the skills they’ve learned through coding and app development.
Best Tips to Teach Your 8 Year Old How to Code
When students learn to code, they are not only developing their technical skills; they are also developing their logic and creative thinking. Using puzzles, riddles, and coding games, these various ways of helping your 8 year old how to code can teach problem-solving, patience, creativity, and perseverance to children. Below are some of the best tips to help develop problem-solving, organizing, math, storytelling, and design skills with your 8 year old child.
Explain Coding in Simply
Coding is not always a challenging subject to study. Coding tasks should be given at the proper level for each child's age to learn the fundamentals. Learning the basics of coding opens the door to an ever-expanding range of possibilities for an eight year old.
Make your introduction to coding as simple as possible. It is essential to explain to them that coding is a technique to communicate with computers in a way that they can grasp. Coders have discovered how to send information and specific instructions to a computer to make things happen in the same way people communicate.
Most probably, your 8 year old is familiar and already knows how to use computers, cellphones, play games, or mobile applications. You can discuss with them that this technology is run through the activity of coding, which is the language that informs smartphones and consoles on what to do to run apps and games. To a large extent, everything your children do on the internet is powered by coding in some way, shape, or form.
Teach Coding in a Fun and Enjoyable Way
For most of us, learning is mandated by a source of authority, such as our parents and teachers. It is not uncommon for our innate curiosity to become a compulsion as we get older. As time goes on, our natural interest fades away and becomes more like a habit, making things become boring.
For most kids, it is essential to make learning fun; they find it more memorable, and thus, they retain the lessons they have learned. Below are some tips on making it fun and enjoyable for 8 year old kids to learn coding and computer programming.
Using Coding Games and Activities for Learning
Incorporating games and activities into learning to code is a great approach to get 8 years old more involved right away as it makes studying more enjoyable.
It is possible to learn the basics of visual programming, video game creation, website development, robotics, and more through coding games for kids. Some of the coding games and activities that you can teach your kids to help them develop coding skills are following a maze, solving a puzzle, playing board games, and solving math problems.
Coding Toys for Hands On Education
One of the most effective methods to learn new skills and overcome educational obstacles is to play. And with the help of various coding toys nowadays, it is just now easy to learn through play!
Coding toys are educational toys that can help students develop computer-like thinking skills, learn the fundamentals of coding, and broaden their STEM knowledge while having fun. There is a wide range of coding toys available for all ages, and you may be surprised as they are just not limited to robots. Some of the best coding toys include puzzles, and board games, and many of the toys do not require screens, and are often especially made for 8 year old kids learning to code!
Let Them Learn with Intuitive Coding Platforms
There are various cloud applications that do not need intensive computer power to code. MakeCode, CodeMonkey, and Scratch/Scratch Junior are excellent platforms that teach young kids how to code. Most online coding applications cover various topics, from simple games to advanced coding tutorials.
Enroll them in Coding Classes with Instructors
Coding is generally not part of third grade elementary school curriculums, but rather as an extracurricular club that they can participate in after school. If you want them to advance from learning once a week to multiple times a week, there are coding classes like CodeNinja that available generally locally in major cities.
In a coding class, students learn how to code under the guidance of an instructor with a structured program. As an alternative to in-person education, online lessons are available on-demand, which means they are recorded and can be accessed. While some coding classes are live, so the instructor and students can learn via Zoom with 1:1 instruction.
Make Coding More Relatable to Their Day to Day Use of Technology
When teaching a new idea such as coding and programming, it is highly beneficial if it can be applied to something the students already know. It will be easier to explain code to a child if you make it more relatable. Ask them to think about their favorite app or website, and list out all the problems that the app solves. If it’s boredom (because their favorite app is a game), ask them how they think the developer thought that it would solve the boredom problem.
Invest in Coding Books
Books are always a standby go-to and generally 8 year olds can definitely start reading books around Scratch and Scratch Junior. There are various coding books that have been developed for children at age 8 and younger, which allows kids to get immersed. Generally, books also have a guide that steps them through a related YouTube video that guides them on how to code. You may also find some coding books with coding activities included. Below are some of our favorite books to teach 8 year old kids how to code.
Frequently Asked Questions
At 8 years of age, kids are starting to learn how to layer on solutions to complex problems in their day to day lives. This includes playing physical and digital games with layers of rules. If they can learn how to play these games, that means that they are also able to think critically to learn how to solution for problems solved by coding and programming applications.
Summary About 8 Year Old to Learn How to Code
Teaching young kids that are interested in technology and becoming creators instead of consumers is an amazing teaching moment. Eight year olds are capable of following instructions in more depth and developing step-by-step techniques for completing more challenging tasks. While coding can be a challenge, especially learning the fundamentals and basics, teaching them the concepts of coding will allow them to brainstorm problems, think critically, and use reason and logic to come up with solutions.
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