Let’s face it, you can’t get a screen away from your kid unless you pry it from their sleeping hands. So why not make their screen time educational? Teaching children to code will help them realize that they have agency over the games or videos they’re consuming on a daily basis; it will also open doors into a career in technology if they want to pursue their interests into adulthood.
After all, not all K-12 schools have educational opportunities for coding, so a coding program may be the best way your child can get into the subject. And bringing coding out of a regimented school environment means that learning is based on curiosity and exploration. Who knows? You may be helping your child develop skills that translate into a great future.
ID Tech is one of the very first companies to offer tech camps in 1999, and now the company teaches about 60,000 students around the country. ID Tech offers a variety of coding, robotics, and development courses in STEM for young learners. The company is quick to cash in on trends that kids are interested in; most recently, they offered a popular Fortnite camp to teach kids the basics of game development and the building blocks of design, user interface and coding, and there are location all over the United States and the world.
The Coder School was started in Silicon Valley, but now has locations around the country. It operates year round, and has a small instructor-to-student ratio. There’s an emphasis on individualized education. Children ages 7-18 learn to code with Code Coaches who immerse them in methodology by building projects, enhanced by practice. Parents say the school also teaches children creativity, logic, and public-speaking skills. Summer camps and after-school drop-off classes are offered in a broad array of languages from Scratch to Python, Javascript, Java, and more.
CodeAdvantage has various locations in New York, and offer project-based classes that enable kids 6-13 gain critical skills. The school’s philosophy is that coding is a foundational skill every child should have — just like writing and mathematics. Courses run throughout the year via after-school classes and summer camps. They teach coding as a gateway to teaching logic, analytical skills, and creative expression, and students can learn coding basics, design 3D video games, make custom mods in Minecraft, create original animations, build apps, and more in focused classes. Even first-graders absorb the fundamentals of computer programming through game-based learning
CoderDojo is more of a movement than structured company. It’s a global network of volunteer-led programming clubs for young people that’s not curriculum based. Every Dojo covers different topics, but many students start with Scratch, a visual programming tool, or by building their own website. There are Dojos from the U.S. to New Zealand and everywhere in between. The best part? Your child can develop an understanding of programming languages for free. Anyone aged seven to 17 can visit a Dojo where they can learn to code, build a website, create an app or a game, and explore technology in an informal, creative, and social environment.
Khan Academy is a nonprofit that offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that help learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. Classes include math, science, history, economics, and more, but their computer science classes have a specific emphasis: they take part in the Hour of Code as part of the Computer Science Education Week and Code.org and teach tens of millions of students in 180+ countries through a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer programming on their site. Students can learn Java Script, HTML and CSS, and the basics of database management.
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Girls Who Code is a pipeline that aims to create welcoming spaces for girls interested in programming and closing the gender gap in tech. The nonprofit hosts 11th and 12th grade girls across the country in its Summer Immersion Program, and places them in companies such as Facebook and Twitter, so they can get a hands-on classroom education in computer science and interact with high-profile tech companies. The girls learn everything from robotics, web design, and mobile app development. The goals is to encourage more predominantly male tech companies to hire and retain more female employees. Girls Who Code also helps schools organize coding clubs for younger girls in all 50 states as part of the push to get young girls interested in STEM.
