Programming for early elementary

[bethben]

I saw this article recently. I would like to have my ds start programming simple things but the program mentioned in the article (free to public schools) won't let me access it as a homeschooler (they said they are working on a home-based option, but I'm not holding my breath). Are there other things out there that teach simple programming? I've looked at Lego education, but the price point seems a little high for what you get.

 

Beth

[dbmamaz]

scratchis free and there is a comic book style 'text' book called Super Scratch Programming Adventure which my 9 yo is doing by himself.

 

actually Scratch looks a lot like what they show there - color coded building blocks.

 

there are also some tutorials (brief) on the scratch website and i found their forums really helpful when we first checked it out almost 2 years ago

 

ETA: just noticed, their website will be down for an upgrade for the next three days - be patient!! its really there and really free!

[duckens]

A second vote for Scratch.

[Crimson Wife]

 

Kodu isn't exactly real programming, but it teaches the logical thinking needed for programming. DS loves it.

[Arcadia]

Both Kodu and Scratch are do-able even by your 5 year old daughter. Its basic programming is drag and drop and see how it works. For your sons, they can create more complicated programs. Kodu has a competition for age 9-18.

http://www.imaginecup.com/kodu#?fbid=P9D-pfk2-ha

[Farrar]

Remember Logo? You can also do that online now.

 

But I agree with everyone else. Scratch all the way.

[Farrar]

The software mentioned in the article does look cool. Too bad it's only for schools. It's also a bit annoying that they have an option to select homeschooler, but then it tells you you can't have it.

[stripe]

Remember Logo?

Are you kidding me? Of course I remember Logo. That was my first computer experience. I stayed after school using Logo, and I had my very own floppy disk! The big kind, that actually were floppy. It was totally thrilling. And my afterschool computer teacher was a woman. I don't remember if any other kids were there; apparently that turtle was pretty mesmerizing.

 

Scratch isn't bad.

 

If you look at the comments in the OP's article, Novus Ordo says this is something built on top of Scratch. So just use Scratch.

 

Or learn BASIC.

 

I kind of prefer that type of coding, personally.

[wapiti]

Another vote for Scratch!!! Ds10 is really getting into it. He was introduced to it at school around 3rd grade but never did anything with it until a few months ago - he decided to watch video tutorials and he's been going crazy ever since. (I signed him up for a class this summer, Intro to Scratch and Java for ages 10-12; he's getting curious about Java...)

 

One of the kids did mention something about Scratch being down for updating for three days.

 

All three of my older kids use Scratch regularly. They're also aware of the Raspberry Pi and I promised to buy it for each of them if they decide to learn Python.

 

My ds6 hasn't been particularly interested in Scratch yet.

[zoo_keeper]

 

Alice is also free.

[Walking-Iris]

All of this is awesome. Need to explore some of these with my computer loving oldest ds! :) I do not "like" computers, so no way would I have found these resources on my own.

[Eagle]

There are several beginner programming apps for ipad as well. Here are some that we use:

Daisy the Dinosaur

Logo Draw

Cargo Bot

Cato's Hike (we just started this one and are using the Lite version)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

DH is a programmer and he set our kids up with Scratch and the book that goes along with it.

[Brenda in FL]

After recently looking at past threads here, I got Hello World (http://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-Programming-Beginners/dp/1933988495/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367867419&sr=1-1&keywords=hello+world)

 

for my 10 year old from our library. The python software is a free download. He's loving it! And doing it all on his own!

 

He used scratch for a couple of weeks including the Scratch adventure book already mentioned. But he must have gotten bored with it and wanted to learn "real" programming.

[amyrobynne]

My 8 and 6 year olds have used Small Basic.

[Lilaclady]

We started with scratch and hen did Alice but we are looking into python now that dd is upper elementary.

[SunnyDays]

DS has done Kodu, Small Basic, and Scratch... He loved Scratch and by far got the most out of it. It does look very much like the program you linked. He's now doing the Visual Basic package from Kid Coder.