There are many great free sites that teach computer programming (coding). Coding academy, Hour of code, Kahn Academy, Scratch, Kodables app.
Of all of these, the one that I have found most enjoyable for my children has been “HOPSCOTCH”. I am not a programmer so I can’t speak to how well it will prepare my kids to set up a website or make an ios app. However, I have found “HOPSCOTCH” to provide a great balance of teaching complex coding logic and short term satisfaction of being able to see their work come to life on the iPad screen. By watching and frequently pausing the video tutorials, my 7 and 9 year olds have been able to using coding “duplo-like” blocks and ipad emojis to make games similar to my old Atari back in the 1980’s. I also like how the duplo blocks of code are of such a wide variety that once my kids learn the basics of adjusting variables, the games that they make become truly unique to their own imaginations.
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