Fun Ways to Introduce Coding to Kids Through Interactive Games

Coding is a skill that will continue to grow in importance as your children grow up. Why?
Because it’s used for a huge number of purposes in today’s digital world and isn’t going
anywhere anytime soon. It can be introduced in the home or at school, but how to make it
fun and engaging? Keep reading to find out.

Why Teach Kids to Code

In a highly digitized world, knowing how to code gives kids a large number of helpful skills,
including enhanced interaction and collaboration, as well as a boost to overall academic
performance. Coding teaches valuable critical thinking and problem solving skills, which
translates to most other areas of life.
Coding boosts communication skills by teaching kids to break down complex problems into a
series of manageable parts by giving the appropriate commands to the software. It also
encourages organization and collaboration, which boosts logical communication skills, both
oral and written.

Tips for Teaching Effective Coding

While coding is packed with benefits for kids, implementing a teaching strategy doesn’t
always come easy. There are loads of YouTube videos that introduce coding to even the
youngest kids, which is a handy place to start. But, you’ll also need to take into account the
child’s learning style and goals.

Starting small is always the best idea as it slowly introduces concepts and skills without
overwhelming kids with advanced ideas and programs right away. Allowing kids to visualize
and manipulate a single line of code can spark their interest and get them started with the
skill.
Parent (or teacher) participation is also an important part of the process. Not only do you get
to spend quality time with your child learning to use the program, but it also allows you to
provide the appropriate amount of supervision for your child’s age. If you can’t do this as well
as you’d like and are searching for a “tutor for my child,” Codemonkey is a great resource for
making this happen.
Making coding fun is going to be the single best thing you can do along the way. Kids learn
better when they are enjoying themselves and are much more involved and in tune with the
learning process when it’s fun for them, which increases the potential for wanting to keep
going with coding and apply it to other parts of their education and life.

Examples of Coding Games

Now that you know how great coding is and why it can be beneficial for your child, you’re
probably looking for some games that can make it fun and exciting. Fortunately, there are
loads of choices out there for you to choose from. Have a look here:
● Blockly Maze – this a drag and drop program that is ideal for coding beginners and
teaches them the skills by allowing them to solve mazes.
● Scratch – this free coding game lets kids learn the process by creating their own
stories, games and animations. There’s also an online community that lets kids share
their work with others.

● CodeMoji – kids will love the interactive lessons that teach coding skills, along with
the use of emojis that are familiar to children. The lessons are self-paced and give
users a chance to really learn a skill before moving on.
● mBlock – designed for STEAM education, this game has a 3.0 inspired drag and drop
concept that makes it fun and easy for kids to bring their creations to life.
● Blockly Games – with seven coding games in one place, Blockly is fantastic for
learning the fundamental concepts that go along with coding.
● Codemonkey – a gamified program, Codemonkey teaches coding through an
interactive story with a variety of puzzles to solve as the skills are learned.
● Code Combat – the combination of competitive games and coding skills makes this
program enticing to many kids and allows them to progress as they learn and
develop those skills.
● Tynker Coding for Kids – with a variety of games and an online community, there are
plenty of options at a range of ability levels with this program.
● CodinGame – if your child already has some coding knowledge, this program is free
and can help enhance those skills.
The popularity of coding for kids is predicted to continue exploding and getting your children
in on it at a young age creates excitement and builds the skills early, so they can get the
most out of them as they move forward into the future. There’s no time like the present to get
started.