We can find multiple recommendations for each age-ranges depending on multiples factors. As a result, we have read about different opinions and sometimes get confused about where to start and conclude with the same question: Which programming language is suitable for which age?
I don’t think the opinion I will express is the only one, but it can guide you with a general idea. Before deciding on the language, it’s essential to consider the most important thing when speaking about kids’ coding, which is getting students interested in coding. We can get that by showing results and stimulating them to do that.
Learning the coding principles is more important than the language we selected because new languages pop up very often. By the time our students enter the working world, there may be a lot of new languages. So the success here is to teach coding principles and practice them in languages that result in fun.
Language suitable for kids under five years old.
It is great to see toy companies making toys for preschoolers to learn logical thinking skills and foster creativity and engineering skills.
UK computing pioneer Dame Stephanie Shirley suggested that children as young as two should be learning to code. Young children can develop coding skills in the right environment.
With suitable toys, they learn about coding and robotics, too. Let’s share with you at least three coding toys available in the market:
- Fisher-Price Think & Learn Code-a-Pillar Toy
- TTS Bee-Bot Programmable and Rechargeable Robot
- Osmo – Coding Starter Kit for Fire Tablet
Language suitable for kids from 5 to 7 years old.
ScratchJR: With ScratchJr, young children (ages 5-7) can program their own interactive stories and games. They learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer.
Language suitable for kids from 8 to 10 years old.
We recommend MIT’s Scratch program for kids looking to start coding. Scratch is an excellent one because it’s drag-and-drop programming, allowing students who don’t have advanced typing skills to quickly learn the logical rules and core concepts of coding. In addition, Scratch builds these computational thinking skills, and it’s even used in college classes in schools like Harvard!
Scratch is also a fantastic tool for getting kids interested in coding. Since users get immediate feedback on what they’ve just built. Moreover, Scratch’s design is fun and kid-friendly, and it was created with projects like music videos, video games, and animated storylines in mind. As a result, it’s an easy way for kids to build fundamental skills while feeling like they’re playing!
Language suitable for kids over ten years old.
HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
10-year-olds and up usually have pretty strong typing skills, so at this point, they can either continue with Scratch in a more complex project or jump right into text-based languages. We recommend starting with web development using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript if they’re diving into text-based languages. Students can get instant feedback on their work (similar to Scratch), and they learn quickly how multiple languages and scripts can interact to do a single project.
Python
Another option for this age range is Python. Python is a great starter language because it has a pretty approachable syntax and is relatively easy.
However, it isn’t super engaging for kids who aren’t immediately passionate about coding. We can try if your child is already super engaged in their coding education.
It’s an in-demand language that can be used in various circumstances, from web development to data science. So, we highly recommend they learn Python in addition to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. that is a good option if your kids are enough involved and passionate about coding.
Final Thought
So Which language is suitable for which age?
Every child has their uniqueness. They can adopt various things at different rates and ways. Experts believe that children should learn coding at an early age. According to MIT, the best age for kids to start learning coding languages such as Scratch Jr is from the age of 5 too. But before reaching this age, the kids can interact with toys that have the functionality to help develop computational thinking.
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