There are so many ways you can mess up the process of getting your kids interested in Python coding, that you may be apprehensive of getting started. Hopefully, this article will help you get your kids interested in Python coding. Your overall goal is not to turn them into coders, but to introduce them in a way that makes them more amenable to coding as they grow older. The first tip is that you yourself do the work and lessons with them. If you are an active part of the process, your kid will probably appreciate the attention.
Try Programming and Coding Games
You can find Python programming for kids through various free and paid courses. People have come up with a range of different games that appeal to all personality types. There are some very basic games that are still fun, and there are the more advanced games that offer a deeper sense of achievement.
Give Them Very Quick Results
The younger your kids are, the quicker they need to see results. Press this button to make this happen. That is the speed the optimal speed for action equals consequence. As your kids age into their mid-teens, they can understand how working towards a goal will reveal a result, but younger kids struggle with this concept. As a result, you need to teach them with examples. You need to show results and show examples of what each concept does. This is another reason why coding games are so useful for younger kids because a few lines of code telling the game character to go left, and the game character goes left.
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Learn Concepts Rather Than Code
You may be tempted to build a lesson plan and curriculum for your kid, but you have no idea if your kid will engage with the subject, if your kid will learn quickly, or if your kid will fight you all the way because he or she wants to do something else.
Make it easier on yourself by teaching concepts and then judging the rest of the lesson based on how your kid acts. If your kid understands a concept pretty quickly but try expanding it. For example, if you teach a kid how to change the color of a game sprite’s hat from brown to red, and your kid understands the concept, then try other colors. Is there a way to get different shades of a color in there? Can you make it change color every six seconds? Can you change the shape of the hat? Allow the concept and idea to grow organically as your child comprehends what is happening.
Recap At The Start of Every Lesson
Your first few lessons may be a roaring success and then your kid seems to pull away after lesson three. This is because your kid has started to forget the lessons that were previously taught. To your kid, it is like you are starting a story in the middle of the book (because they forget the beginning of the story). You need to recap what was learned in previous lessons and sessions so your kid can get back up to speed quickly and continue to enjoy the coding activities.
Temper Your Enthusiasm
The introduction to this article hinted at how difficult it is to get your kids interested in Python coding. It is not that you have a mountain to climb, it is that there are so many ways to get it wrong and you will have to wait years before you try to get your kids interested in coding again.
Starting out with too much enthusiasm is a common error. The kids think the activity is super great fantastic and amazing, only to discover it is a bunch of numbers and letters on a screen. On the other hand, if you approach it with too little enthusiasm, your kid may grow to view your sessions as a chore. Approach the situation as you would when teaching a child a sport. You don’t get a kid all geared up and excited to go to the batting cages, but you also don’t treat it like a chore. Your kid will look to for cues on how to feel about things, and you need to use that to adjust their expectations accordingly.