I've been asked by parents, classroom teachers so many times - how could we introduce coding to young kids (kindergarten, reception or pre-school, no matter how you name it).
To be honest, it could be easy and difficult.
Coding is not only digital related; coding means way more than that. It's a concept, an ability and a connection. For young kids, we could start from unplugged activities by introducing the concept of coding, logical thinking and problem-solving ability.
Here is an example of me to use Cubetto with aged 4-6 kids. We used Cubetto to work with maze, role-play and create stories.
What is Cubetto? On it's website, it introduces itself as "the friendly wooden robot toy for kids aged 3-6, chosen by 20000 parents & teachers to guide kids on 21st century skills without screens."
If you've ever heard about Beebot, it's an advanced version of Beebot. The reason I like it, it's because it has a control board, where kids could put all steps on the control board as well as keep it as a record.
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It's also a good way to debug. Every time when they make mistakes, they could go back to check the solutions easily and find out the problems.
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Here's the procedure how we used it to make story (combine with literacy and art):
Name Cubetto - a cute name.
Give Cubetto a setting, like in a forest, desert or castle. (It would be better if you have the background)
Write down the story - for aged 4-6 students, they could make 5-6 sentences stories (or teachers could help them write it down).
Decorate Cubetto. It's all about drawing , kids will LOVE it!
Rehearsal.
Play in front of peers.
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Of course, you can do something more advanced with older kids. But starting with unplugged coding activities is always a good choice to set the ball rolling!
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