The world is increasingly digitized and it is increasingly difficult for us to imagine work environments that do not require at least one computer. The more specialized your computer skills are, the easier it will be in the workplace these future adults. Today's children have the great advantage of being able to grow up with digitization and not have to wait for adulthood to learn to code. To take advantage of this advantage, there are all kinds of learning programs and programming languages that are easy to understand and very intuitive for children. With the help of visuals and fun projects, children gradually learn the basics of programming..
Children often learn quickly and, with the right method, practically on their own. The best example of this is foreign languages and, by extension, the same is true of programming. In many respects, a programming language is a foreign language: among other things, these languages have vocabulary and a relatively complex syntax that must be respected so that the text can be understood and gives rise to the desired reaction (although in this case the reaction does not apply to people, but to computers). So there is no reason not to familiarize children with programming from an early age .
For children, learning a foreign language and learning a programming language are practically the same thing. Therefore, the first steps in one task can be started as soon as the other. Most courses and platforms online are intended for children ages seven and up , but there are also materials developed especially for children ages five to seven..
In addition, the early initiation into the world of programming foundations offers many advantages :
Children learn best by having a clear objective which can be reached by following rules playful, but also logical and understandable. If it is about programming, one possibility is to learn through a game, an app or a web page: the important thing is that the child has fun and does not feel overwhelmed . Meeting the goal should not take too long or be too complicated. For this reason, teaching materials and tools designed for children are often based on intuitive components that can be applied directly . In this way, children are achieving small successes that motivate them to continue.
The methods by which children can learn to program or expand their knowledge are varied: from toys, such as programmable robots, to YouTube tutorials , through app creation workshops and programming camps. Among them, online resources tailored for children and young people are especially effective. Through fun and easy-to-understand projects that adapt to the child's rhythm, they learn and internalize the basics of programming as a game, without any pressure for performance..
The best starter for kids (and, really, anyone who wants to learn programming without prior knowledge) is visual programming languages. Thanks to a very intuitive graphical representation and very simplified functional processes, understanding and operation are easier. However, while these simple projects can be implemented without difficulty, they also have limitations in their configuration and application . Therefore, when the child has already exhausted the possibilities of visual programming and has gained curiosity about carrying out more complex projects, it is time to move on to text-based programming .
Visual programming languages use graphically represented objects or building blocks , each of which contains the code segment that corresponds to a specific property, condition or action. By assembling these building blocks, they can create a program procedure. The different colors and shapes of the blocks also allow us to recognize which combinations are possible. Objects are usually combined by drag and drop , that is, dragging them with the mouse and dropping them in a certain order on a specific area. From this first step it is checked that the order is logical and the possible failures are highlighted graphically.
In this way, children come to understand programming and achieve their first successes quickly. At the same time, having acquired some practice, they internalize how to structure a programming code in a logical way, a knowledge that later will be very useful to learn text-based programming languages.
The best programming languages for kids are as follows:
When using text-based programming languages , all program parameters must be described in detail in the code with the appropriate predefined semantics and using the syntax of the language in question. To do this not only requires extensive knowledge of the subject, but also a strong capacity for abstract imagination and a lot of attention not to miss any mistakes. All this may sound complicated, but luckily there are also numerous tools that help children to approach text-based programming in a playful and entertaining way, transmitting complex concepts in a way adapted to their age.
All these platforms can be very useful for children to acquire knowledge about the most important programming languages and discover if they want to specialize in any branch of this field. In addition, if you want to learn more about a specific topic or improve your skills in a particular language, on the Internet you can find all kinds of more advanced courses, online tutorials , communication platforms with other users and specialized forums in any of the languages most used programming.
