There are a lot of positives to screen time if we can learn how to tap into them. That does beg a certain question. How can we tap into the positives of screen time? This month’s haul of resources gives us a bit of inspiration and tools to get your kids, young and older, coding.

1. The Upside to Screen Time

As the guilt of too much screen time starts to nag, Dr. Jenny Radesky has some hope for us. Check out all the benefits of screen time Dr. Radesky lists and check in on the potential your kid has.

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2. A 6 year old became the world’s youngest computer programmer

What’s more impressive, getting into the Guinness Book of World records at age 6 or mastering Python in 6 months? Not every kid can be the youngest computer programmer, but we can all be inspired.

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3. Bahamian pre-teen launches initiative to teach kids how to code

Chelsea didn’t quit when coding became boring for her but she was worried that other kids might. To prevent this, she cultivated content that spoke to their interests. Chelsea shared her skills and now her story.

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4. Written in Her Code

Where does coding education start for our kids? Too few schools are offering computer science education. But teachers are starting to notice this void, and they’re stepping up to the challenge.

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5. Library Introduces STEM Kits for Children

Teachers aren’t the only ones stepping up. Librarians are looking for ways to help get kids into STEM, too. Neuse Regional Library found these STEM kits as an exciting option to make that happen.

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6. Learning with — and about — AI technology

As AI starts to take off, there are some major questions that educators are beginning to ask. How do we help kids learn this technology? And how do we make this accessible to all kids?

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7. The 4 Best Tablets for Kids on the Market Today

Educators have already started asking the important questions. Now, it’s time for parents to start asking what the right equipment is for our kids to take off in the digital age.

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8. Best Coding Apps for your Coding Obsessed Kids

Keep coding education fun and relating to kids interests, apps are perfect for introducing coding concepts without making it seem like work. It’s guilt-free screen time.

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9. 4 Paths for Breaking into the Technology Industry in 2021

What about when your kids are older? Kids in high school and college may be considering a career in technology. How do they break into the tech field? This article has 4 options to consider.

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10. 40 Tweets About Parenting With Today’s Technology

This digital age is a new one. It’s new for our kids and it’s new for parents. This article has collected tweets from the joys and struggles of parenting next to Alexa. It’s worth a laugh.

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The post Top 10 Coding Resources – February 2021 appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

Back when I was in school, we didn’t call it “coding”. We called it critical thinking skills. “Coding” for young kids is basically the same thing except with real-life application of a viable career path as the focus.

Our articles this month take us on a journey of how to start coding, yes, even really young, and how coding and online learning affect bodies and our hobbies.

1. Never too young to learn coding

This article emphasizes using the right techniques to teach children to code. The right techniques are the trick to making sure code isn’t overwhelming. For example, we’d never recommend starting 5 year olds on Java.

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2. Why a computer isn’t the first thing you need when teaching kids to code

It’s a misconception that coding starts on a computer. This article talks about how computational thinking is primarily communication and that learning starts in tactile and concrete ways.

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3. Brain activity while coding differs from processing language or doing maths

Communication may be key but neuroscientists have found that coding does not activate the same part of the brain as language. Instead it’s closer to using math, but not exactly. This article explains. 

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4. Online Learning Results in Physical Effects on Kids

Hand in hand with coding education is online learning. Here, not only the brain is being affected. This article talks about the effects on online learning on kids’ eyes and spines, and how to help.

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5. Kids are sick of Zoom too—so their teachers are getting creative

From coding to math to science, good education isn’t about holding noses to books but discovering how to teach through fun and innovative ways. Online learning has been an accelerant for this shift.

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6. People share trick showing how to use Playstation and Xbox to access home learning

This article presents a solution to homes without enough PCs for their learners. Playstations and Xboxes can access the web. Using controllers to navigate takes gamification to an interesting level. 

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7. 7 Gift Ideas for Kids Who Want to Code

Thinking about tactile and concrete ways of learning to code, this article has gadgets and gizmos aplenty. These gifts are perfect for presenting kids with a platform for learning to code.

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8. 5 Programming Languages That Will Dominate 2021: Python, Go, More

The focus shouldn’t be so much what’s dominating now but what will still be dominating in 2030. Especially for our kids, you want to think long term about the value of a particular language.

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9. You think you’ve done puzzles during the pandemic?

Puzzles are fun for all ages, but some puzzles are a little too complex for a Saturday night. This puzzle solution was a labor of 5 years and an extensive amount of code. So coding helps us play, too!

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10. Poetry vs. programming: Wandering the city, a writer finds the intersection of literature and code

It’s an unusual delight to read about coding from a poet’s perspective. FYI – flaneur is an aimless stroller. Ok, now you’re ready for this unique wrestling with written lines.

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The post Top 10 Coding Resources for Kids – January 2021 appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

All I want for Christmas is more kids in coding! Coding and STEM have traditionally been fields without much diversity, but these articles are showing a shift. Women, POC, children, and rockstars are sharing their unique gifts through code. Get inspired and find ways to help your kid in their pursuit of coding. 

1. Best STEM and Tech Gifts For Kids and Teens 2020

Need a last minute gift idea? This is a list of tried and true gifts that your kid would love to see under the tree. From robots to VR headsets, we’re wishing you a tech-y Christmas this year.

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2. Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Sunita Kaur of Twitch On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience

We love to see women in STEM rise up and take leadership. It can be a hard road to do that in a male dominated industry, but Sunita Kaur succeeded and shares her wisdom in leading as a woman in STEM.

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3. BBC Recruits Doctor Who to Help Teach Kids How to Code

Doctor Who fans can get excited because the Doctor is sharing her curious tools with young coders everywhere. The HiFive Inventor is a fun gift for any Whovian.

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4. This Female Founder Is Creating A Playground That Breaks Down Barriers In STEM Education

We knew that coding early helps open possibilities for girls and minority groups. Bryanne Leeming figured out a way to make coding a whole body experience, making it more accessible to all.

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5. STEM Is Not an Acronym

STEM got its name from an acronym of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but why were those four subjects integrated into STEM? This article explains how the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

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6. Coding the future: the tech kids solving life’s problems

Five stories of kids with one thing in common: they’re using code to address problems. From developing medical equipment to video games for the blind and much more. Check out these kids and get inspired.

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7. Rockstar programmer: Rivers Cuomo finds meaning in coding

Coding isn’t just for STEM careers. Nearly all jobs could be benefitted by knowledge in coding. Even rock stars, like the frontman for Weezer, find that coding makes their jobs easier.

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8. Kids guide to 200+ common programming terms and definitions

We don’t usually post our own content, but this dictionary is really useful. It’s “Let Me Add a Bookmark so I can Find it Every Time My Kid Starts Talking About Their Coding Classes” useful.

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9. Makers partners with Coding Black Females

Diversity makes us better. How important is it to see black women in the coding field? Important enough to provide them free education. See how Coding Black Females supports diverse talent.

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10. Local 13-year-old with passion for coding is trying to make Christmas cheer contagious with light show

The title says it all. Nicholas Burlarley saved up all year to buy the tech for a festive light show. He faced a lot of challenges, including sabotage from a grinch, but that didn’t stall the show.

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The post Top 10 Coding Resources for Kids – December 2020 appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

This Halloween season, we challeged kid coders at every experience level to build their own Candy Collector game in Scratch. Led by one of our fabulous teachers, we created a video and blog tutorial that teaches kids how to build their very own game at Scratch Coding for Kids: Halloween Candy Collector Game. 

We were so impressed with all the games that were shared! So many kids worked hard on developing this game and adding a few twists to really make it their own. 

Without further ado, let’s present our  top 10 favorite games in no particular order.

TheCodeMaster654 – Spooky Dodge

In this game, you slide left and right to gather the falling candy while trying to avoid the spike. I like the great use of sound effects and also the coding involved not only to always drop the new spike over the location of the block (so don’t stand still!), but also the flashing exclamation point. The change in costumes for the direction of Player is a great detail, too. Nice work!

NiceHacker_OwO – Trick or Treat!

We find a twist on this game where instead of sliding around the screen, we go door to door in a a few neighborhoods with various levels of Halloween spirit. Collect what you can and embrace this very peculiar Halloween! 

_es – Candy Clicker

This game involves a lot of clicking. Instead of a game of speed, dexterity, or strategy, it’s a game of determination. 200 clicks and you win! We see some nice coding in the costume changes every time the candy is clicked. It’s a lot of clicks. Do you have what it takes?

cwhq_matteoa1 – slimers candy hunt

This is game has a lot of fun elements happening. You want to collect 25 candies while avoiding the ghostbuster. If you run out of lives, the screen changes though you can collect a few more candies just for fun! I like how the sprites are moving around adding some extra complications to the game play. The code behind them has a lot going on and we can tell that cwhq_matteoa1 worked hard on this! Great job!

eviemom – Monster Eat Lettuce 

In this game we see a fun twist to the sprites chosen. Frank is included in the Scratch platform and he’s chasing after… lettuce! I love the consistent color palette in those choices. I do wonder how eviemom feels about lettuce, having chosen it for monster food. Frank also flips through his costumes when he eats some lettuce, an additional bit of coding we love to see! Regardless of eviemom’s feelings, Frank seems to be enjoying the lettuce. 

shadow72422 – #code wizards project

This game is an expertly crafted version of our project. The background and sprites have been customized and I love how Ghost appears to be standing on the forest floor as we start the game before he levitates about collecting candies. We’re also using keys to direct Ghost, a bonus step that was shared on the Facebook Group. Fantastic!

Funnyman3010 – Halloween Candy Collection Game

Here we see all the visual elements have been customized! Ghost is from the Scratch collection but the other pieces were brought in. There’s also additional coding seen in the addition of the timer and in the ability to move the Ghost using the arrow keys. Great work here! 

Mariofan1023 – Candy Ghost

In this game, Mariofan1023 added his own sprites and he added a LOT of them. This game has a tricky twist where only a certain pattern of candy corn will get you points. If you collect the wrong pattern, you’ll lose points! This twist certainly adds a challenge! 

We also love the additional coding needed to switch to the game over image where the ghost leans longingly toward a candy corn frozen out of his grasp. 

cwhq_inioluwaa1 – Candy Snatcher

Oh, this game is tricky! The witch is trying to collect fortune cookies but while they might appear identical, the witch may find her score reduced by -2. Can you figure out this one out? Which fortune cookie is a trick and which is a treat?

avirabh – Halloween

This is a fun shooter game where you shoot the candy to collect it. If it drops to the bottom of the screen there’s no worries but if it gets anywhere near the vampire it’s game over. While there’s some quality code in this work, avirabh created an entire webpage for this game and it looks great! Stupendous work! 

Honorable mentions for all the projects we received! You can play and post your score year-round: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/27808356

We are so proud of all our #NowYouCode #triCODEtreat participants who flexed their creativity and coding skills. We hope you continue to code and if you want to join the most fun and effective coding classes, take a look at our coding program for kids.

There are more #NowYouCode activities coming so be sure to join our Facebook Group to participate in the next one!  

The post Top 10 Scratch Halloween Candy Collector Games appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.