Madi Codes To Express Herself

Madi is in 4th grade and just turned 10! She lives in Suamico, Wisconsin, and loves to write stories and draw – sometimes she combines the two and creates books! We spoke with her to learn more about why she loves coding with Tynker!

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be either an author, or a teacher. I would teach elementary school.

How did you get introduced to Tynker? My class has iPads and our teacher showed us the app and that’s when I started working on it. It was lots of fun. It is lots of fun. Sometimes we do projects as a class, but most of the time I’d be working on it on my own and at home.

How long have you been using Tynker? We just started using it this school year, so since September.

What is your favorite thing you’ve made?  My favorite project that I’ve made is “The Pizzeria.”

Do you look at the Tynker community projects? I do. Those are actually my favorite because I like to see what everybody else likes.

What’s your favorite feature in Tynker? I really like how you can draw your own characters and draw the backgrounds.

Is there anything you wish was different about Tynker? Not really. Out of all the coding apps I’ve used – I’ve used quite a few of them – Tynker is my favorite.

Why do you like to code? I like to code because it makes me feel good and it’s a good way to express myself.

Do you think other kids should try coding? Absolutely. It’s so much fun, and once you get into it, you can really make anything that you want.

What advice would you give for kids starting out with Tynker? Stick to the simpler blocks on your first project, and as you make more projects, you can keep trying different blocks and see how to use them.

Beth, Madi’s mom, is very proud of her daughter for learning to code! She said, “it’s really exciting to see her start and have a completed project and not have a clue what went on behind the scenes – but she knows!” Beth told us she likes what coding teaches Madi, saying, “Madi gives the computer a command, and then there’s the follow-through so she can see the effect of the follow-through. It’s linear thinking, logical thinking. For Madi, she gets to connect some of that more linear thinking with creativity, so she gets to combine her storytelling ability with science.”

We agree – coding and creativity go hand in hand. Thanks for chatting with us, Madi and Beth! We’re glad you love coding, Madi. Keep Tynkering!