Kodu for the PC is available to download for free. Join the community, and discover games created by others and share your game at. Anyone can use Kodu to make a game, young children as well as adults with no design or programming skills. Kodu can be used to teach creativity, problem solving, storytelling, as well as programming. The visual nature of the language allows for rapid design iteration using only an Xbox game controller for input (mouse/keyboard input is also supported). It is designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone. If you can’t check out the book I listed below-Python for Kids by Jason Riggs-try to find another Python book that features project-based learning.Kodu is a new visual programming language made specifically for creating games. There are online tutorials and examples, but I find that a good old fashioned book does the job best. It would behoove you to get a book for sample projects (my favorite is listed above). The installation is pretty straight forward, and I find that no further IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) are needed. It can be used for developing games, mathematics, delivering web content, and it is one of the fastest growing programming languages in popularity. It uses simple English for commands, and is relatable to most of the major programming languages-Java, C++, C#, Javascript, etc.
If you’re looking for a programming language where you actually have to write code line by line (as opposed to the graphical programming languages mentioned previously) Python is the way to go. Snap! uses Scratch’s graphical interface, but throws in the ability to do objective programming (like Java, C++, etc.) Snap! allows for more advanced programming and games/animations however, it is still limited to a 2D environment. Snap! is a more advanced version of Scratch developed by University of California - Berkeley.
If you are wary of creating an account and working online, they offer an offline editor. Accounts are free, but require an e-mail address. By creating an account, you are able to save your work and remix the work of others. *Note for parents - Scratch does not require an account, but does encourage it. Scratch also features a community of projects from which you can copy source code and make ‘remixes.’ It is a great way to learn the basics of programming and develop 2D games. There are plenty of tutorials and sample projects on the website as well. It features a graphical coding interface with color-coded blocks. Scratch is a project of the the MIT Media Lab and is the foremost educational coding language for kids. The benefits are that the graphics are great, and kids get immediate gratification in seeing their code rendered in a 3D environment. After about 10 - 20 hours of play time, I have found most kids feel they have exhausted what the program has to offer (myself included). In my opinion, the only downside is that Kodu has limited replay value. I personally really enjoy making games in Kodu. There are also a lot of sample projects on YouTube and on Microsoft’s Kodu website. It features point and click graphical programming and sample projects that users can modify.
It is free to download from Microsoft’s website, but requires installation (PC only, no Mac sadly). Kodu game lab was developed by Microsoft as a 3D game development sandbox for kids.
So, without further ado, here are a few great library books and free software that will get you started. Need more convincing that coding is important for kids? Check out this article from Rasmussen on the benefits of kids coding. Seeing a child’s face light up after their first line of code is rendered is simply priceless. At my home branch, Clarendon, we offer arduino classes, HTML and CSS workshops, Raspberry Pi workshops, Scratch workshops, and python workshops too. The library already offers coding classes for kids. Interested in getting with the latest trend and teaching your kids to code? We’ve got your back.