Kindergarten Coding: It's Never Too Early to Start

Did you know that people with a computer education can earn 40% more after graduation than their peers? So, let’s talk about coding. Besides money and career success, coding has numerous positive effects. It's about good memory, excellent communication skills, and the ability to solve everyday problems.

Obviously, such an activity is worth introducing to your children. But when is the best time to start? The answer is simple: the earlier, the better. We advise you to start right from kindergarten. In this blog, we will tell you how to do it in the most fun and engaging way for children.

Why Is Kindergarten Coding a Thing?

Here's an interesting fact for you. Of all the subjects taught in school, computer science is in the top 3 among students: 54% of respondents call it their favorite, even though the classes related to art are a bit popular. So, why don't you offer your kids start programming from early childhood?

Source: GEEKedu

You may be wondering what are the reasons for learning to code since kindergarten. Well, there are plenty of them:

• Coding fosters creativity. Children learn to think outside the box and find unexpected solutions during this process.

• Coding helps with math. Children often have difficulties with math starting from elementary school. Coding involves using math principles, so kids get used to this subject naturally.

• Coding is in great demand. For example, 67% of all new jobs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) are related to computing, and that number will be increasing every year. Interestingly, only 10% of STEM graduates have computer science degrees.

• Coding helps develop problem-solving skills. We have to solve problems of different kinds daily. So, children need to learn how to cope with issues from childhood. They learn to divide a problem into smaller parts, find solutions for the set task, and create a plan for solving an issue.

• Coding improves communication skills. Children learn to describe complex things in simple words as well as communicate their thoughts and ideas to the people around them. Consequently, effective communication allows kids to collaborate and work effectively with their peers.

What will your child do if they become a programmer in the future? Well, developers use programming languages for software creation purposes. Unfortunately, one language cannot be universal and suitable for creating websites, games, and control devices.

Just imagine, according to the Online Historical Encyclopedia of Programming Languages, there are almost 9,000 different programming languages today! Your child can master one or more of these before graduating high school. But where do you start, and how do you figure out what your kid will be interested in? Let’s talk about it further.

Smooth Start: The Best Ways to Introduce Coding Activities for Kindergarten

It is well-known that children learn faster than adults and often master foreign languages much more successfully at an early age. However, before your child decides to learn complex programming languages, you need to start with training and the basics of coding. If you put a child in front of a laptop and launch the standard program for writing code, they will likely become bored. As a result, they will not want to return to such an activity later. What is the way out? Let your kindergartener learn while playing.

• Fun and educational games are the best solutions to introduce coding to children. These can be puzzles, brainteasers, constructors, and more. Yes, it is far from standard software development, but thanks to such games, kids learn to find cause-and-effect relationships, solve problems, and apply their creativity. All these skills are the foundation for successful coding in the future.

• Online resources are there to help you. Choose games or funny videos that can get kids interested in coding. Try to find attractive websites on coding for children. Do it together with your kindergartener, showing by example that the activity is both valuable and exciting at the same time.

• Specialized courses let you go deeper. These can be both online and offline classes. The teacher will playfully explain the basics of programming. During such sessions, children will have the opportunity to learn something new and develop their communication skills. Also, they will work as a team if you choose group classes.

Best Kindergarten Coding Games

Do you know which games are the best and what to look for? Below, we have prepared some options of unplugged coding activities for kindergarten.

Math Games

Math games help preschoolers understand numbers and tricks they can do with them. There are numerous mobile apps and simple programs with games for a laptop. How does it work?

For example, a kid is presented with a math exercise and offered several answers. After solving the task correctly, they may get a bonus. It could be a beautiful picture hidden behind this task or some virtual elements like stars that can be collected. Then, a kid will open new levels of this game by using the previous achievements. Often, the process is accompanied by cheerful music and sounds, which allows keeping a player's attention.

Source: Pexels

Solve a Maze or a Puzzle

The process of solving puzzles and putting them together positively affects a child’s development in several ways. First, kids develop problem-solving skills. Secondly, they train memory and can retain more information. Thirdly, as fingers are working, fine motor skills are strengthened. Thus, solving mazes and puzzles is an excellent foundation for learning programming.

Source: Pexels

Story Sequence Quiz

Learning sequences in stories is also a beneficial activity. Kids see and understand the cause-and-effect relationship and apply creativity. How does it work? There are cards with pictures, each with an episode from a common story. The cards are mixed up, and a kid should sequence them correctly. It is essential that during this process, a child explains the course of their thoughts and the choice of a particular card. Then, their actions will be meaningful and not random.

Source: Twinkl

Robot Toys

What else can you use for kids' coding classes? One of the options is robotic toys. Sometimes, people have no idea how helpful robot toys are for preschoolers' studying process. They have buttons or parts a kid can press. When a child pushes them, it makes a sound or gives another response. They are suitable for learning words, numbers, colors, and more.

Source: ResearchGate

One such example is a Bee-bot robot. The toy was originally designed for studying early programming and developing spatial reasoning. How does it work? It's pretty simple and exciting. The robot has a stylized form of a bee with buttons indicating movement in different directions. It moves on a colorful map, and the quantity of moves at a time is determined by the cube with numbers, which a child should throw. The Bee-bot will move in the chosen direction depending on how often you press the button.

Conclusion

Coding is a trendy and handy skill that is in demand today. It will allow your children to find good jobs and work on exciting projects in the future. So, the earlier they start learning to code, the better. Luckily, there are numerous ways to offer coding for kindergarten kids. And the best thing is that you can do it in a simple, fun, playful way that interests children.