Coding for Kids
Featured Maker: Aditya Wants To Be a Coder When He Grows Up!
Meet our newest Featured Maker, 3rd grader Aditya from California! His favorite subjects in school include drawing, math, and writing. Cool! Aditya recently spoke with us about his experience coding with Tynker.
How did you get introduced to Tynker?
I’ve been coding for about a year or so. My dad introduced me to Tynker, and after a month or so, I got used to it, and I started creating new games.
How did you learn to use Tynker?
I first got into a few lessons. I did it over and over again, and when I made mistakes, I tried new and different things, new answers. Then, I started dragging blocks and creating my own code. And then after I was ready, I created games and tested them out.
How did you feel when you heard your project had been featured?
I felt happy. And since that project was featured, I decided to make more projects, more and more, and it made me even happier.
What’s your favorite project you’ve made so far?
My favorite project is Oceanwise. I like how there are differences in how the good guys and bad guys battle.
How do you get inspiration for your projects?
I first look at other people’s projects, and then I try to make similar things, and then once I understand the process and stuff, I create some stuff.
Why do you like to code?
Well, once we come home from school, I like to code because I get interested, and it’s
worth the time, and yeah, it’s really fun.
What’s your favorite way to use code?
My favorite code block is the forever move.
What do you do with a project when you’re done with it?
First, I test it out and see if it works the way I want it to, and then I publish it. And once I see how many views it is, if it’s less, then I try a few ideas and improve it.
What’s the best thing about Tynker?
The best thing about Tynker is how you can use whatever type code blocks you want and how you can use the programs.
Has learning to code prepared you for the future?
If I want to be a coder or something, I can use the things in the past for the future to help me in more certain stuff.
Do you think other kids should try coding?
I think they should because they can find out if they like it or not. I mean, I bet they will have interest just like I do. I bet they’ll love it.
What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker?
Try it out and see if you like it or not. And then if you like it, you should try and create more games, more and more, until you create a lot of games and you have a lot of experiences.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I’m a really great coder.
Parent Questions
Aditya’s father, Rahul, spoke with us about his son learning to code with Tynker:
It’s really fun to see how he’s so interested in coding and has so many resources available. And it’s so easy for him to go through them. I have really not supported him as much because it was an after-school activity, and I was obviously working.
I helped him initially as to what the blocks do and what to think about the logic. But then the platform is set in such a way that he can really take off once he knows what that platform does for him.
So he was able to do a lot of things and then these games and apps which are very interesting, something that he can really create and then play by himself. So I really like that the platform supports kids in that way, and I like that he’s creating something and then using it for himself.
It’s very creative as well because you have to think about characters and some logic and how do games like what people would in certain games. It also gives him an opportunity to understand what coding is all about in a very fun way. So that’s what I really liked about it.
Do you think coding benefits your son?
I think this really instills in the iterative process of making something better, whether it’s a product or something. When you grow up, how do you really make your work really better? Sometimes it helps, I would say, in courses like probably math or writing or art, if you will. You may not get it right or get it all the way you want. So it’s an iterative process.
It teaches him to understand what has happened and then make the corrections. He tests some of the games out and then he corrects them. I mean, it teaches kids about patience and not that the first time you do something it has to be right and it has to be kind of celebrated or it’s going to be the best thing and people will really love it.
I think it teaches to be very kind of methodical as well as creative. So there are two sides to it, right? Methodical in how to actually create it, but then create it in the sense like what games would interest people? So those kind of things he can start thinking about. So, I think that’s the best part about it.
Do you feel that he’s better prepared for the future?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, what he has done is quite interesting. I was very surprised to see one of his games was viewed by more than 15,000 people and there were so many likes. And I don’t remember when I was a kid I did something where thousands of people might have liked it.
Obviously, this platform provides the scale but, again, things have to be good enough for people to see and test it out and things like that. So I think he’s going on the right path. And we always encourage him. He’s more interested now to learn Python and Java without us even telling him what Python and Java is.
We have some great Python and Java courses.
So is this something that we can do on the platform offline with some of my help, or is this something which is a live course and you have to go and attend those courses?
It’s self-guided so you just read through it and he learns on his own.
Okay. Awesome. Because that’s exactly what we wanted. That would be something that will fit his needs. And he’s really interested in it.
Thank you!
We want to thank Aditya and his father for taking the time to speak with us about coding with Tynker. We can’t wait to see what he creates next – HAPPY CODING!
