Love to Code? Want to Learn to Code?  Check out these awesome online resources!

Code Monster from Crunchzilla– “Code Monster is simple but mostly effective as a self-led journey of programming discovery. The hands-on manipulation and immediate feedback can give kids satisfaction and joy in discovering how what they’re writing changes what they’re seeing. It should also help them understand how the different pieces of code work. This can be a fun exercise, even for kids who wouldn’t normally be excited about computer programming.” – Common Sense Media

CodeMonkey—“A great introduction to coding with solid teacher support that gets kids using a real programming language and digging into some meatier concepts than other early coding tools.”  – Graphite.org

More Advanced?

Alice— Alice is a desktop app developed by Carnegie Mellon. More advanced than other programming tools for kids, Alice teaches the fundamentals of programming in a 3D setting. This makes it ideal for teens. While working in the app, students can see the code behind the projects they create on the screen. Programming concepts are learned while students create animated movies and basic video games that they can then share on the internet. Note: Java runtime is needed for Alice.

MIT App Inventor—App Inventor is a cloud-based tool maintained by MIT. Much like the popular coding app Scratch, App Inventor has drag-and-drop coding blocks. However, App Inventor includes all methods, functions, and coding elements that a student would need to create an Android app. This makes it ideal for middle school kids and up. Students can build apps right in their web browser. The website offers support, but there are no step-by-step instructions to guide students, another reason the tool is best for older students.

Codecademy—Codecademy is an interactive online tool that teaches coding fundamentals, Ruby, PHP, jQuery, Python, JavaScript, and more. The tool is set up on a split screen so students get to see the code and the changes as they happen at the same time. The sophistication and scope of this online tool makes it better suited for older students, middle grade and up.

Khan Academy—Khan Academy Khan Academy is an interactive online tool better suited for middle grade students and above. Khan Academy teaches coding fundamentals using JavaScript and ProcessingJS. Students will learn how to create animation, games, and drawings through programming. They’ll learn how to make web pages using HTML and CSS. Students can then share their creations with other students and learn from each other.