“Young people today have lots of experience interacting with new technology but a lot less so of creating new technology. It’s almost as if they could read but not write”
– Mitchel Resnick, Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.
We often hear from parents who would like their kids to experiment with coding, but they do not know where to start. The options can seem a little overwhelming, but we almost always encourage our parents to start their kids with Scratch. Read on to find out why, as well as a sneak preview on how the team at Saturday Kids will take your kids on a Scratch coding adventure through the lens of ancient civilisations!
What is Scratch?
Scratch is a block-based visual programming language developed by MIT. Designed for kids 7-16 years old, kids can use it to program their own interactive stories, games and animations. This is primarily done through dragging, dropping and connecting blocks together to form sequences, making it effortless to follow for those who aren’t as proficient with a keyboard yet. So basically, Scratch is all the fun of coding with none of the hassle of typing!
Why Scratch?
For beginners who have no coding experience, Scratch is a great launchpad. Here’s why:
- Visual and block based programming; allows kids to see their code in action + learn concepts without worrying about typing actual code
- Helps kids learn to think creatively, reason systematically and work collaboratively.
- Makes kids unafraid of failing – allows them to experiment and try again
- A collaborative community of young coders where kids can learn from each other and inspire each other
Here’s a simple maze game that any kid, who has learnt the basics of Scratch, can create using fundamental programming concepts.
Now check out the kind of game kids can create when they’ve learnt more advanced programming concepts and apply it into their projects. Pretty cool huh?
What do the Vikings or the Incas have to do with Scratch?
When we say we learn through play, we mean it. In our biggest redesign of the Scratch curriculum to date, we’ll be taking your child on a coding adventure through the lens of ancient civilisations. Leveraging game-like principles, expect your child to be solving mysteries and puzzles, all while learning Scratch!
The Saturday Kids Pedagogy
At Saturday kids, our students don’t just learn to code, but they code to learn. There’s no lectures, no memorisation, no ONE right answer. Like real life, we’re all about trying things out yourself, failing, figuring what went wrong and trying again. These are the skills & mindset that will last a lifetime and how we learn in real life. Let’s get kids to learn how to learn. Because the kids who learn to learn become curious, inventive, resourceful human beings who solve real world problems to make a meaningful impact.
Ready to get started? View the full schedule here for our holiday camps and term programs (weekly workshops) or head over to the course description page for more details.
