There are so many useful programming resources available for kids online that it isn't possible to squeeze them all into the project resources pages of this site. What follows is a eclectic mix of those resources that didn't make the editorial cut but which are worthy of a mention nonetheless.
The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts.
CHECK OUT THE HOUR OF CODE ACTIVITIES
CHECK OUT THE HOUR OF CODE ACTIVITIES
A YouTube web series for teenagers who want to be makers and creators of technology. Written and presented by Carrie Ann Philbin, a former ICT teacher, now Education Pioneer at the Raspberry Pi Foundation. She is also author of the book Adventures in Raspberry Pi, a computing book for kids aged 11-15 wanting to get started with Raspberry Pi and programming.
WATCH THE VIDEOS
WATCH THE VIDEOS
OHBOT
Ohbot is a talking robot head that is constructed and programmed by children. It has seven motors to provide a range of realistic movements. It is provided as a kit and comes with full instructions so that it can be built by children aged 7 and older. Ohbot can be programmed using a block programming environment based on the Scratch language that makes it surprisingly easy for children to generate programs quickly and encourages them to experiment and use their imagination.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OHBOT
LEARN MORE ABOUT OHBOT
Kodu Game LAB
Developed by Microsoft's FUSE Labs, Kodu is a 3D game building environment which lets kids create games on the PC and Xbox via a simple visual programming language. Kodu can be used to teach creativity, problem solving, storytelling, as well as programming.
GO TO KODU WEBSITE
GO TO KODU WEBSITE
PyGame
The Raspberry Pi comes installed with a set of Python games written using the Pygame library. One of the easiest and most effective ways of learning how Python & Pygame work is to look at these examples of working game code and challenge yourself to change aspects of the game to make it easier or harder to play. There is also a companion book that goes along with the example game code that you can read for free online.
READ THE PYGAME BOOK
READ THE PYGAME BOOK
HTML DOG
HTML Dog has been dishing out healthy code treats since 2003. It takes the somewhat dry and difficult to understand official specifications of the HTML, CSS & Javascript languages and presents them in a much more readable, easier to understand, fashion. The site also contains a selection of 'live' usage examples that you can play around with.
GO TO THE HTML DOG WEBSITE
GO TO THE HTML DOG WEBSITE
erase all kittens
An award-winning open source platform game that teaches kids to code. It does this in a rather unique way: by encouraging the kids to hack into the game levels in order to complete the game. The demo game covers the basic building blocks of HTML (tags).
PLAY THE ERASE ALL KITTENS DEMO
PLAY THE ERASE ALL KITTENS DEMO