Price: Free, with in-app purchases for additional games
The app includes access to valuable teaching guides for adults as well as settings to lock and unlock levels for individual coders.
Up to five profiles can be made within the free version. The free version of the app has in-app purchases for additional levels and links to the classroom version. Music can be turned off in the settings menu on the home screen. Narrated tips and a small hand hover over correct commands if help is needed. The free version of the app features 45 levels that are completed sequentially. Young coders guide the fuzzes around the Kodable world by using drag and drop directional arrows (commands) to move the fuzzes along squares and collect coins. (Note: The orientation is slightly different than in the 3D oriented Lightbot app mentioned above and will require a shift in thinking if moving from one app to the next). The stars of the app are fuzzes, fuzz balls exploring the universe. Kodable is a colorful, richly featured app that introduces kids to programming in a 2D game-style format. Price: Free, with in-app purchases for additional levels and classroom subscription
Note: Lightbot One Hour Coding, a special iOS and Android version released for the 2014 Hour of Code event, is temporarily available and offers a limited, free version of the full app. Lightbot Jr., a simpler version designed for younger coders, is also available. Background music can be toggled on/off and instructional text language can be changed in the home screen. No in-app purchases, ads or social media links. The app includes coins and stars to show progress. The app introduces programming vocabulary and encourages an understanding of procedures, loops and conditionals.
Each of 50 levels is played in order and teaches young coders to use commands to solve puzzles by moving a whimsical robot from square to square and lighting up specific tiles. Lightbot is a 3D game-style app that teaches the basic concepts of programming. Platform: iOS (Mac, iPhone/iTouch, iPad), Google Play, Amazon (Kindle Fire), Windows, Web Browser (Hour of Code free lite version)Ĭost: $2.99 (Lightbot One Hour Coding iOS and Android version are free- see note below) Have any suggestions for my program or an experience to share? Please send them my way! I’d love to hear what other libraries have planned. For example, what will inspire my daughter, and girls her age, to dive in? As I’ve reviewed them for inclusion in the Hour of Code program, I’ve thought about why I didn’t learn to code and how I can make the experience different for kids in my community. I figure I’m promoting lifelong learning.įor now here are a few coding apps that I’ll be introducing kids to in December. It’s a fun way to learn! The kids see me exploring, problem solving, and even getting frustrated as we figure it out together. I’ve been learning as I introduce the concept to my own kids and kids at the library. Unlike my brother who was working as a programmer at 15, I was not interested as a kid, teen, or even youngish adult.
It’s on my list of 2014 professional development goals and I’m slowly figuring out the basics. I’ll admit that I know only a little about programming. We’ll be using laptops along with the iPads to provide additional access during the program(s). This will be the inaugural program for the fleet of iPads my library received from the Alaska State Library and the Online With Libraries Initiative (OWL). Combined with the free online tutorials they offer, I’ll also be incorporating several free and paid coding iPad apps that I have tested. The Hour of Code site offers great resources for planning so I started there. For example, motivated Minecraft players check out every available Minecraft book in the library, over and over again. Fortunately, kids are curious and many are fearless so introducing something new, like coding, in a fun, informal way usually works out well. I also recognize that the use of digital media in intentional ways offers motivation that crosses over to other learning areas like reading. Learning to code, or just seeing what it’s all about, is a great example of that. I’m always looking for ways to help kids see what’s behind the digital media we consume, what we can create with it, and what’s next. Kids need to learn programming, whether it’s at school, the library or at home. I’m still designing the after school program we’ll be hosting, but the idea is to introduce kids to the basics of computer programming in the informal learning environment also known as the library. During the week of December 8th, our library will be participating in the 2014 Hour of Code.