Computer programming for kids

Pre-parent hacker Brian (baby due in July) wanted to share something with the "other geek parents out there":

I am a computer programmer by trade, and have often thought about how daunting it might be to teach my children “what daddy does." http://www.kidsprogramminglanguage.com/ has a programming environment designed specifically for kids that is packed with tons of tutorials and samples that would make it easy for even the non-programmer parent or teacher to get kids interested in computer programming. The interface is super easy to use, and in two clicks a child can play a game of pong before looking under the hood.

Tags: Computer programming, Parenting

Comments

[Marc]

A guy I know taught his daughter Scheme when she was in fourth grade. I think that I'd probably start with Squeak.

[Nick]

I was planning on Logo, as antique as it seems today, it has a lot of power and is fairly easy to teach the basics to kids. I had a job one summer in the 80's teaching it to kids at a (corrupt and ineptly run) inner city daycare. In spite of the fact that I only had one computer for 15 kids some of them learned a lot from the experience.

http://el.media.mit.edu/Logo-foundation/

http://www.softronix.com/logo.html

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/

[Sara in Austin]

Nick, you beat me too it! I was going to say "what's wrong with Logo?" I never programmed in it, but my sister was driving turtles all over the screen in Logo at age 5. And there's always the Logo driven lego robot sell....

[Jon Schwartz]

I'm one of the guys working on KPL - thanks for blogging about it! We like logo, and tip our hats to it, and Seymour Papert, and everyone who worked on it over the years. But if I may, I'd like to point out that Logo is 30 years old now, and computers and software have changed a lot since then. :) And KPL is, after all, free - so even if you think you'll use Squeak or Logo or Alice, why not download KPL and take a look as part making of your decision? :)