11-Year-Old Reagan Gives Great Advice to Future Coders!

Eleven-year-old Reagan is in 6th grade and lives in San Antonio, Texas. Her hobbies include gaming, biking, drawing, reading, and coding. The Pokemon project she created with her friend Ian really impressed us, so we wanted to learn how she started coding and what she likes about it.

What is your favorite subject in school? Probably English or Social Studies.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be an actor. I take theater class, but we’re not doing plays. We’re doing monologues and improvisation.

How did you get introduced to Tynker? Well, one day in PE we weren’t exercising – instead we went to this place called the Lions Center and they showed us coding stuff. I was looking at that and I thought it was really cool. Our technical leader got a drone out and started flying it around, and I thought it was neat. I was like “Oooh, that’s really cool, maybe I should try it!” Then a couple months later, I started experimenting when my friend taught me a couple things. I really like Pokemon, so I wanted to make a Pokemon game, and it turned out really well. Coding is just really fun.

What is your favorite thing you’ve made? The Pokemon game I made with my friend Ian from theater class. Our teacher had a catch-up day, so we got to do what we wanted. I asked him to help me with a project and he helped me with it.

Where do you get ideas for what to make? I just look at what’s popular. A lot of people like Pokemon right now, a lot of people like Minecraft right now – I just get ideas off of that.

Do you look at the Tynker community projects? Yes. I like that a lot of them are really unique, and how a lot of people can see them

What’s your favorite feature in Tynker? The coding games you can play if you don’t really know how to code that well. They teach you how to do it. My favorite is Dragon Journey.

Is there anything you’re working on currently? Yes. It’s going well. It’s kind of like Temple Run, but it’s a Pokemon version of Temple Run. I’m trying to make it by myself this time.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? First of all, I look at it to make sure there are no problems with it. Then I show it to my friends to make sure they like it and that they think a lot more people would like it. After that I publish it and wait until the next day to see if it’s published and how many views and likes it got.

Why do you like to code? Because, say I am in not in the mood to draw or read or bike or anything like that – coding is something that’s another pastime for me. It’s really fun.

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes. I think schools should at least show it to students so they’d know what it is and what you can do with it.

What advice would you give for kids starting out with Tynker? If you don’t know how to code you should ask one of your friends, but don’t give up because you can make a lot of really cool projects.

Reagan’s mom Kimberley thinks it’s fantastic that Reagan is learning to code! She told us Reagan is “very artsy and very creative, really into drawing, and she’s got some phenomenal ideas,” and that being able to code “makes the possibilities even more endless.” Speaking of the benefits of coding for all kids, Kimberley said, “I think it expands their minds. This generation is so computer oriented, and I think it just expands them to more possibilities for them to be creative.”

We couldn’t have said it better! We’re excited that coding is new a new way for Reagan to express her creativity. Thanks for speaking with us, Reagan and Kimberley. We are really impressed with your projects, Reagan, and can’t wait to see what you come up with next!