tammyw Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 My son is almost 9 and has been spending the last three weeks going CRAZY with Scratch. Seriously - I don't even know how many games he's built, but he's good! He started with this book (plus a few more from the library): http://www.amazon.com/Scratch-Programming-Adventure-Covers-Version/dp/1593274092/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1HA3QWMB9JASQHM4C01E But where do we go now? He needs something to take him to the next level. Any suggestions? TIA! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammish Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I'm in a very similar boat. My 8-year-old has been playing with Scratch for a while, and I wish there was a book with more advanced Scratch projects for him to work his way through. What we've done so far is look up YouTube videos for tutorials on things he's interested in doing. So when he wanted to learn how to make a platform game, or a scrolling game, I found him a few videos that looked good, and let him watch them and then spend a while making a bunch of his own games. I also just came across this website, which looks like it has ideas for different programs you can make. Sadly, it hasn't been updated in over 3 years, but it has a handful of ideas that look interesting. I'm very interested in hearing what other people have to say! :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I would let him spend a good long time playing around on Scratch, looking at other people's code and especially taking that code and modifying it. While obviously it isn't Python or Java, it can teach quite a bit of the concepts (as far as I understand) and may be a better vehicle for this age group. What I am trying to say is that IMO figuring out things by playing around, rather than by being taught directly, can be very effective for developing problem solving ability for coding, although it requires a lot of computer time. If you do a search for programming threads, there are classes for Java in Minecraft (or is it Javascript? I can't remember), if direct instruction is what you are looking for. I don't know whether there's a Python class for this age group as I think the target group is slightly older, but new stuff comes along every day. Also check out Hour of Code, Code Academy, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 I would let him spend a good long time playing around on Scratch, looking at other people's code and especially taking that code and modifying it. While obviously it isn't Python or Java, it can teach quite a bit of the concepts (as far as I understand) and may be a better vehicle for this age group. What I am trying to say is that IMO figuring out things by playing around, rather than by being taught directly, can be very effective for developing problem solving ability for coding, although it requires a lot of computer time. If you do a search for programming threads, there are classes for Java in Minecraft (or is it Javascript? I can't remember), if direct instruction is what you are looking for. I don't know whether there's a Python class for this age group as I think the target group is slightly older, but new stuff comes along every day. Also check out Hour of Code, Code Academy, etc. Thank you for that feedback. That's exactly what he's been doing! He really loves just creating (and yes, many hours have been spent doing this!) I was hoping maybe for additional books. He is just working through it on his own and enjoying it that way. Youtube is probably a good idea perhaps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Look at code.org . This book is good: http://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-Programming-Beginners/dp/1617290920/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427126090&sr=8-1&keywords=hello+world 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VorLady Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Rather than doing much with programming languages at this age, I'd recommend concentrating on related skills. Get him a solid grounding in logic. My daughter's too young for computer science so I haven't looked into specific resources but I have a masters' in computer science so I've spent time thinking about what I'll do with her. Get him some hands on hardware time. It's one of the places where entry comp sci students are often clueless and that tends to limit them. Maybe find a Lego Mindstorms club he can join. If this turns into a serious interest for him, add in a few languages in high school but more importantly get him all the math he can handle and teach him physics. Lots of CS programs won't require physics but not having that will, again, limit his options. Languages: Java is a good one. JavaScript is not the same thing as Java. You can't go wrong with C++, there will be embedded systems using C++ or even C for decades. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 My son is almost 9 and has been spending the last three weeks going CRAZY with Scratch. Seriously - I don't even know how many games he's built, but he's good! He started with this book (plus a few more from the library): http://www.amazon.com/Scratch-Programming-Adventure-Covers-Version/dp/1593274092/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1HA3QWMB9JASQHM4C01E But where do we go now? He needs something to take him to the next level. Any suggestions? TIA! What about something that involves doing some building? My daughter and husband are building her a clock radio at the moment based on a Raspberry Pi, so it involves programming but also putting the thing together. They are also busy collecting bits and pieces to make a radio telescope, which I think will also be based on a Raspberry Pi. They've actually managed to get almost all the parts just be collecting stuff people were going to throw away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaChicken Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 We went from scratch to khan academy programming to arduino, to html, he still enjoys scratch, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Alyssa* Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Look at code.org . This book is good: http://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-Programming-Beginners/dp/1617290920/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427126090&sr=8-1&keywords=hello+world :iagree: I just wanted to second that book suggestion as highly recommended after Scratch. If your son loved Scratch and is into making games, Python is the next logical step. After Python, he should be able to move onto C++ with ease as he gets older. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 My son is almost 9 and has been spending the last three weeks going CRAZY with Scratch. Seriously - I don't even know how many games he's built, but he's good! He started with this book (plus a few more from the library): http://www.amazon.com/Scratch-Programming-Adventure-Covers-Version/dp/1593274092/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1HA3QWMB9JASQHM4C01E But where do we go now? He needs something to take him to the next level. Any suggestions? TIA! My son just got started with scratch. I noticed that this book is for an earlier version of Scratch--not the current one that is out. Was that a problem for your son at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimate01 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 It's a common conundrum for those kids who really excel at Scratch. In my view Python isn't an ideal next step, because its hard to do cool graphical games in such as way they can be shared with friends. Showing off your work to friends and family is an important validation. Javascript is a good next step, but most of the online tutorials are too vocationally oriented. It's too big a jump. http://www.s2js.com is a site specifically designed to take kids who are a whizz at Scratch, and move them onto Javascript so they can create cool games that will run directly on any device. It's "Javascript as told to Scratchers" -- Javascript concepts and examples presented in terms of the Scratch stuff they already know. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammish Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I also wanted to give a mention to something I just found out about a few weeks ago: MIT's App Inventor. Very similar setup to Scratch, but slightly more complicated, IMO. You can put the apps you make on a smartphone, and apparently even upload them to the app store. We've just started playing around with it, but there are some nice tutorials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Alyssa* Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 It's a common conundrum for those kids who really excel at Scratch. In my view Python isn't an ideal next step, because its hard to do cool graphical games in such as way they can be shared with friends. Showing off your work to friends and family is an important validation. Javascript is a good next step, but most of the online tutorials are too vocationally oriented. It's too big a jump. http://www.s2js.com is a site specifically designed to take kids who are a whizz at Scratch, and move them onto Javascript so they can create cool games that will run directly on any device. It's "Javascript as told to Scratchers" -- Javascript concepts and examples presented in terms of the Scratch stuff they already know. We do it all the time. :confused1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimate01 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 We do it all the time. :confused1: How do you handle the installation prequisitites for pygame? We found that when someone develops a game they're proud of, they send their ".py" file to their friend who: - doesn't have python installed, or - has 2.7 instead of 3.whatever, and - doesn't have pygame installed, then - tries to install pygame and starts getting dependancy errors, and finally - wants to run it on their iPhone I'm really curious as to your approach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 He really loves just creating (and yes, many hours have been spent doing this!) I was hoping maybe for additional books. He is just working through it on his own and enjoying it that way. Youtube is probably a good idea perhaps! My son has been on Scratch for years, and he still loves it as much today as he did when he was younger. For him the best way to learn has been spending time looking at other's projects. I think with Scratch one learns best through making projects and analyzing other projects. It is really something that one can teach themselves which is what makes Scratch so great. Also there are some great tutorials out there, not only on YouTube, but also on Scratch. My son made one on how to use vector on Scratch. There are many others out there that are valuable teaching tools. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Alyssa* Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 How do you handle the installation prequisitites for pygame? We found that when someone develops a game they're proud of, they send their ".py" file to their friend who: - doesn't have python installed, or - has 2.7 instead of 3.whatever, and - doesn't have pygame installed, then - tries to install pygame and starts getting dependancy errors, and finally - wants to run it on their iPhone I'm really curious as to your approach I'm getting your message this morning, but I'll have to answer you later when dh comes home. He's the one who does all that with our kids and would know how to respond with specifics. I didn't know people had a problem with this, so that's why I was confused. Dh makes it seem effortless and suggested Python as the next step after Scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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