Coding for Kids
Getting Started with your Tynker Subscription
We’re so excited that you’ve chosen to invest in your child’s future with Tynker. Children benefit in so many ways from learning to code. From building confidence and focus to developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills, coding is key. Plus, the ability to code will expose them to a world of job opportunities.
Getting Started is Easy
Your child can log in to their account and get coding right away. Tynker is designed to be self-paced and self-guided. From your parent dashboard, you can monitor their progress and follow along as they unlock new levels and gain coding mastery! Reach out to us at support@tynker.com if you have any questions about your subscription.
What’s Included?
We have puzzles, courses, and tons of DIY projects.
- Puzzles like Candy Quest, Dragon Dash, and Space Cadet will help your child get the hang of coding basics.
- Courses are designed for more in-depth learning, taking 10-15 hours to complete.
- Project Tutorials are a great start in coding with Music, Minecraft, and more.
- Tynker’s Global Community is a safe and secure place for kids to remix and share their projects with other coders.
What path should my child start on?
Tynker is an open-ended coding platform, meaning there’s no right or wrong path. Kids can learn in any order they choose. However, we recommend the following paths for kids of different ages.
Ages 5-7 Pre-Readers & Early Readers
Children in this age bracket can learn coding basics in sequencing, pattern recognition, numerical loops, and critical thinking by connecting picture blocks to move their characters in the Tynker Junior app —available on iPad/iPhone to practice coding skills at home or on-the-go.
Start by completing 5 icon-coding adventures — Ocean’s Odyssey, Robots!, Wild Rumble, Puffball Panic, and Super Squad — which include over 200+ coding challenges!
They can also build their first projects with code using friendly voice-guided tutorials, helpful hints, and a subtle increase in difficulty to motivate completion with 18+ creative coding activities in 5 Maker Studios — Art, Music, Animation, Greeting, and Game.
When they’re ready they can move on to block-coding in the Tynker app (or on the Tynker.com website) and explore courses with voice instructions such as Space Cadet, Candy Quest, Lazer Racer, Ada’s Adventure, and more.
Ages 8-13 Elementary & Middle School Students
Children in elementary and middle school can start with Tynker.com, where they’ll learn to problem-solve while building projects with Actors, Costumes, and Sounds. Here are some recommendations based on their age:
- Ages 8-9: Start with Ada’s Adventure and Glitch Manor, then try Star Runner.
- Ages 10-11: Start with Turing’s Tower, then complete Cannon Crasher.
- Ages 12-13: Start with Goblin Quest, then go to Gravity Sling and Ninja Runner.
Children who want to learn text-based coding with real-world coding languages should complete JavaScript 1, Web Dev, and Python 1 (which can be done in any order). However, we recommend that children try block-coding courses to pick up fundamental coding concepts before attempting text-coding courses.
Ages 14+ High School Students
If a high school student doesn’t have coding experience, start with a block-coding course such as Goblin Quest or Gravity Sling so they understand the basics of coding before transitioning to text coding.
Based on the coding language they want to learn, they can try the following courses to learn loops and patterns, conditional logic, variables, expressions, game design, and more:
- Python: Python 1 & Python 2
- JavaScript 1: JavaScript 1 & Processing (coming in fall 2020)
- Web Development: Web Dev with HTML & CSS
- Internet of Things: MicroPython & micro:bit programming
Program the dashboard based on your child’s interests
Your child can select a programming level and course track from the Settings (gear icon) area of our dashboard to get recommendations based on their interests. These options can be changed at any time. We have 6 Tracks:
Track 1: Art and Music – Perfect for art and music lovers, this track is a way to pursue interests in storytelling, animation, and music while reinforcing problem-solving, critical thinking, and STEM skills.
Track 2: Minecraft Modding – Designed for Minecraft lovers with Windows 10 or an iPad, this track introduces an easy visual approach that turns your child’s enthusiasm for Minecraft into a lifelong interest in learning and making.
Track 3: Game Design – Kids learn what it takes to make their own video game worlds as they play immersive adventures and layout 2D game worlds while designing players, opponents, and game controls.
Track 4: Minecraft Game Design – Java Modding! It’s kind of a big deal. Kids can quickly create and deploy Minecraft mods on their own private Minecraft Java Edition server and play with friends.
Track 5: Robotics & AR – Real-world programming engages and challenges kids in new ways as they use micro:bit, LEGO WeDo, sensors, and drones to engineer their creations to life.
Track 6: Advanced Coding – Kids learn to create their first programs using Python, JavaScript, and HTML as they solve game-based puzzles and complete hundreds of online exercises.
Monitoring your Child’s Progress
Your parent dashboard allows you to track your child’s progress as they complete activities and provides answer keys, FAQs, and subscription management options.
Each parent account can be linked with several child accounts. However, we don’t currently support multiple parents having access to all the child accounts. If your child already has an account on Tynker, you can link that account to your parent account. If your child has a gmail account, we’ll have to link it for you.
The parent dashboard has answer keys, including puzzle solutions and sample projects for all the course activities. Just select Courses in the left navigation bar and select the Answer Keys tab, then click on the course and chapter to see the solution.
More resources
Our Quick Start Guide will show you how to get started. Just set up an account for each child on tynker.com and give them their login information. Tynker is browser-based, so you don’t need to download anything on a desktop computer or laptop (an Intel i7, 4GB RAM, and a 2MBps internet connection work fine).
If you have an iPad, please download our apps from the App Store.
● Tynker Junior – Icon coding for pre-readers.
● Tynker – Build games, control robots, program micro:bit, and more.
● Mod Creator – Mod Minecraft and deploy your mods into Minecraft on iPad.
If you created your Tynker parent and child accounts on the web, sign in to the apps with the same accounts.
If you purchased a web plan, you’ll be able to access all the courses on the apps. If you purchased a plan through the app, please make sure that you follow through and create an account on the tablet where you made the purchase, so that your in-app purchase is linked to an account on Tynker.
If you have any additional questions, just contact us at support@tynker.com.
We can’t wait to see what your child creates with code!
