10 Reasons Kids Should Learn to Code

When it comes to preparing your children for the future, there are few better ways to do so than to help them learn to code! Coding helps kids develop academic skills, build qualities like perseverance and organization, and gain valuable 21st century skills that can even translate into a career. From the Tynker blog, here are the top 10 reasons kids should learn to code:

Coding Improves Academic Performance

Math: Coding helps kids visualize abstract concepts, lets them apply math to real-world situations, and makes math fun and creative!

Writing: Kids who code understand the value of concision and planning, which results in better writing skills. Many kids even use Tynker as a medium for storytelling!

Creativity: Kids learn through experimentation and strengthen their brains when they code, allowing them to embrace their creativity.

Confidence: Parents enthusiastically report that they’ve noticed their kids’ confidence building as they learn to problem-solve through coding!

Coding Builds Soft Skills

Focus and Organization: As they write more complicated code, kids naturally develop better focus and organization.

Resilience: With coding comes debugging – and there’s no better way to build perseverance and resilience than working through challenges!

Communication: Coding teaches logical communication, strengthening both verbal and written skills. Think about it: learning code means learning a new language!

Coding Paves a Path to the Future

Empowerment: Kids are empowered to make a difference when they code – we’ve seen Tynkerers use the platform to spread messages of tolerance and kindness!

Life Skills: Coding is a basic literacy in the digital age, and it’s important for kids to understand – and be able to innovate with – the technology around them.

Career Preparation: There’s a high demand for workers in the tech industry; mastering coding at a young age allows kids to excel in any field they choose!

Nowadays, computers and technology are a large part of society and education. We experience using computers everyday but it is not enough to just know how to use them. Knowing how to create and personalize applications with the computer is a necessary skill in today’s world.

Computer science represents the fastest growing section of jobs in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Students can be prepared early by learning how to code and learning how a computer programmer thinks. This mindset is useful for any problem solving whether it is STEM based or in everyday life.

In this program, students will advance from being computer users, to creators. We start by learning the basics of programming and the mindset needed to clearly see the steps to problem solving. We move on to using basic programming tools to introduce the student to programming language. Eventually the student will complete a project in the form of an application that he/she created themselves.

This is a great way to see if you have a genuine interest and future in computer science and even if not, the skills learned will be useful for future problem solving.