What's the best way to teach my kid programming. I don't know how. He's interested. He's done well in school with Scratch. He's expressed interest in Python, owns a Thumby, but never gets too far on his own. Instead of a Winter sport, we're leaning towards a Python class, however there's none in person. How can i help my kid embrace his passion and learn this skill which will help him his whole life.
He's got Mu installed and has perused youtube tutorials, but they dont hold his interest. Any help is appreciated. Edit: He's 10.
If you can find a local team, Lego robotics competitions are a great thing: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll/game-and-season
My local team codes in Python. Not necessarily the greatest thing for learning to code properly, but the engineering experience is invaluable IMO.
In a similar vein, if there are no local teams near you, getting some sort of microcontroller that runs micropython could be fun too. I’m a big fan of microbit for younger kids, lots of options for lights and sounds, with a few pins for adding sensors/buttons etc.
https://www.hedycode.com/ might be exactly what you are looking for. It's designed to teach python to children by starting with a super simplified version of the language, and then gradually adding in syntax and features until it's full python. Here's a great talk by its creator: https://youtu.be/fmF7HpU_-9k?si=pa7jkOELQ5X7xeuu
I don’t have anything to add, but I’ve got to say thanks for posting this. There’s so much good info in this thread and I can’t wait to dig into it with my kids. Cheers everyone
If he likes games, check out "Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python": https://inventwithpython.com/invent4thed/
