Coding for Kids
Meet our newest Featured Maker, 6th grader Timothy from Kentucky! He likes to draw comics and write about his favorite game, Minecraft! Timothy recently talked with us about his experience coding with Tynker:
How did you get introduced to Tynker?
One of my friends told me about it, so I downloaded it! About a month ago I started!
How did you learn to use Tynker?
I did some of the workshops!
Have your coding skills improved since you started using Tynker?
Probably a lot because I haven’t really coded before! I would use the community board a lot to see other people’s projects!
How did it feel to have your project featured?
I felt so good! I never thought it would ever be featured!
What is the favorite project you’ve made?
It’s called Maze Craze, and I like it because I’ve never made a maze game before!
How did you get the idea for your project?
I saw that those kinds of projects were trending, so I wanted to try it out myself!
How do you get inspiration for your projects?
I would say from other people’s projects, like on the community board!
Why do you like to code?
I get to try out new blocks every time I try a new tutorial, and it’s just really fun!
What is your favorite way to use code?
The broadcast block really helped me with the cat creator project!
What do you do with your projects when you’re done?
First of all, I play it a few times to see if it works and then I’ll decide to publish it!
What’s the best thing about Tynker?
The blocks and the categories, and each time I update my iPad, the block’s color changes which is really cool!
How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future?
Well if I can’t be an artist then I could become a coder, and I also really like coding because it’s fun!
Do you think other kids should try coding?
Yes! I’ve told my other friends about it!
What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker?
I would tell them to try out the workshops and check out other people’s code on the community board!
What do you want to be when you grow up?
An artist.
What’s your favorite subject in school?
Science, because of all the things that it applies to in the world!
Timothy’s father, Wei, spoke about his son coding with Tynker:
I’m a developer myself, so I feel like programming is a critical skill no matter what you study, so, the way Tynker works is so you have programming like graphic-based programming, like language and you can create things like minigames. I think those are great. And they really got him interested in coding.
How do you support your child’s coding endeavors?
I try to teach him some other stuff, but this app really got him interested in coding and he is also kind of artistic, so you can draw stuff that makes it easier for him to create more games and projects. I think that it’s really great.
What benefits do you think coding has for Timothy?
Programming, like, while the really important aspect is the reasoning and doing the logic, I think long term it will help him mature. I think maybe it’s improved his math skill too because there is a mathematical concept in creating variables.
Do you feel that he’s better prepared for the future?
Yep, sure, programming is critical for any job right now. At universities, no matter which major you study you have to do some data, like analyzing data requires coding. You have a basic understanding of the coding and how it works, and it’s very beneficial.
Thank you!
We want to thank Timothy and his dad for taking the time to speak with us about coding with Tynker. We can’t wait to see what Timothy creates next – HAPPY CODING!
