Best coding games for kids

Coding, as Scratch Jr said, is the new literacy. He is the buzzword in education and beyond. There is a growing emphasis on incorporating computer science lessons into elementary schools, and in fact, several schools around the world have already started teaching kids the basics of coding.

One of the greatest things about coding is that when kids learn to code they also learn several other skills that go along with it, educators have a name for this learning phenomenon: it’s called accidental learning.

For example, coding games and exercises are inherently challenging and often require collaboration and teamwork. As kids work together to debug codes and find solutions to their coding problems, they don’t just learn the skill of coding (which is the skill that’s intentionally targeted), but also (incidentally) develop a whole lot of coding skills. other key skills including problem solving, critical thinking, strategic thinking, systems thinking, logical reasoning, conceptual thinking and more.

Indeed, games and coding activities are not only about improving technical skills, they also develop children’s psychosocial systems. The more children collaborate and engage in coding activities, the more their feelings of resilience, motivation and perseverance improve. Coding also nurtures children’s sense of curiosity, creativity and independent learning.

Over the past few years, I’ve reviewed and shared with other educators and teachers a wide variety of instructional coding resources, including coding websites, coding appsbooks on coding, etc.

In today’s article, I’m adding this collection of websites that help kids and students learn coding through play. Learners will be able to access fun, interactive games covering different coding topics, basic fundamentals of writing using programming languages ​​such as Python or JavaScript.

Children of all skill levels will find these materials useful. In fact, kids don’t even need any prior coding knowledge to start playing the games. There are video lessons, tutorials, and guides to help kids navigate their way through the coding games.

1- Codable

After introducing them to coding concepts, students can access Kodable games to test their learned skills. There are three main games offered by Kodable namely Smeeborg (for beginners), Asteroidia (intermediate level) and Bug Word (advanced level). Students can further consolidate the coding knowledge they have acquired through these lessons and games using kodable projects.

There are three main projects students can use to apply their coding skills: Fuzz Builder, Maze Maker, and Game Designer. Kodable also offers Hour of Code allowing students to follow an hour of computer activity at their own pace and at any time.

2- Scratch

Scratch Ideas offers a wide variety of activities where students can use Scratch to design different types of creations. These activities include: animating a name, making music, creating a story, creating a chase game, animating a character, animating an adventure game, creating talking animations, recording sound, animating a sprite, and more. others. For example, in the Imagine a World activity, students use Scratch to create the world as they imagine it. They can make animals talk, people fly, etc.

There is also the Scratch app which allows students to create and save their projects without needing an internet connection. The app is available for free for Windows 10+, Android 6.0+, Mac App Store and ChromeOS.

3- Minecraft Education

Minecraft helps kids learn coding through block-based games and activities. The Education Edition of Minecraft offers a wide variety of features designed specifically for teachers and students.

These include over 600 pre-built, standards-aligned lessons with the ability for teachers to write their own coding lessons to submit to Minecraft. Additionally, Minecraft Education offers support materials for using coding and programming in all curricula covering subjects such as history, STEM, language arts, space exploration, and more.

4- Coding Park

Coding Park helps children learn coding and computer science through fun video games. It also provides a wide variety of teaching resources, including lesson plans ideal for use with elementary school students.

Teachers can set up their classes and host online coding workshops, invite students to join, and track their progress in real time. Coding Park also offers the possibility of individual online coaching sessions. There are three pricing plans in Coding Park: Family ($29.90/year), Educator ($149.99/year), School (request a quote).

5- CodeCombat

Codecombat teaches kids coding through gameplay. The games are recommended for kids ages 9 and up who are just starting to learn coding. No prior technical knowledge is required. Using games, students learn to write two basic programming languages, Python and JavaScript.

The CodeCombat Resource Center has a wide variety of teaching materials for teachers, including lesson plans, activities, exercises, printable guides, and more. Teachers can easily set up their classes and invite students to join using a class code. Teachers can use the dashboard to access class statistics and student progress reports. CodeCombat offers different pricing options.

6- Block games

Blockly Games by Google introduces children to coding and computer programming using various games. There’s the Puzzle game that helps kids discover Blockly shapes and how to fit together, the Maze game introduces kids to the concepts of coding loops and conditions, the Bird game develops children’s knowledge of conditions, the Turtle game takes kids on a deep learning journey. loop-centric experience, Movie game introduces kids to math equations, teaches kids how to use math to bring movies to life, Music game teaches kids how to use functions to compose music, Pond Tutor game introduces kids to children to text-based programming languages, especially JavaScript, and finally the game Pond which teaches children how to use blocks and JavaScript to program smart ducks.

seven- Monkey Code

Code Monkey is another great platform that offers coding games to help kids learn computer programming. It offers plenty of K-8 educational resources to inspire kids of different grades and skill levels to learn to code in real programming languages.

In addition to having access to predefined lessons and activities, teachers will also be able to create their own classrooms and manage their students’ coding progress. While students are playing games and taking coding lessons, teachers use automatic grading and report analysis to track student progress and offer real-time help and feedback. Code Monkey offers two main plans: the Teacher Plan and the Parent Plan, each with their own pricing.

8- Delete all kittens

Erase All Kittens is an interactive coding game for kids aged 7-13. The game is intended to teach children the following coding languages: HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The game is web-based and does not require any software downloads.

Erase All Kittens also offers over 5 hours of engaging lesson plans covering topics such as IT, cybersecurity, online behavior, fake news, the environment, and entrepreneurship. The first two levels of Erase All Kittens are free, then a premium subscription is required to unlock further features and content.