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<div data-offset-key="dqd96-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span style="font-family: inherit;">A friend of mine recently asked me "how can I introduce my 7 year old to coding?"</span><br>
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<div data-offset-key="4latm-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="4latm-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I told him that I would not teach traditional (textual) coding to kids 7 yrs old. I mean I've tried, and like 20% of the kids get it..
but abstract concepts such as variables, functions/classes, objects, etc combined with lack of keyboarding skills takes far too much time, and don't always "stick". Some will get it, but some will not and will be frustrated as their first intro to coding.
Not good.</span></div>
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<div data-offset-key="9fi9g-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="9fi9g-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Instead.. there are tons of other options.. Here's the info I gave him for his 7yr old:</span></div>
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<div data-offset-key="dslf7-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="dslf7-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">-----------</span></div>
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<div data-offset-key="a9mft-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="a9mft-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Sure.. there are many puzzle/mechanics/thinking games on Google Play. At 7, my middle son really liked "Cut the Rope" and other similar
logic, sequential thought games.. but at around 9-10 he started off programming Android game apps using a mechanical programming system called "Bloxels": http://home.bloxelsbuilder.com/</span></div>
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<div data-offset-key="3h9s1-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="3h9s1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">He really loved Bloxels.. and is now 11 and for Xmas got a "PIPER" RaspberryPi kit that teaches coding and electronics via minecraft
running on a RaspberryPi that they build and breadboard themselves: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqAEOhJNjqY" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk104508" previewremoved="true">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqAEOhJNjqY</a> </span><br>
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<div data-offset-key="1rid6-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span style="font-family: inherit;">(which I highly recommend for 4-14 yr olds)</span><br>
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<div data-offset-key="a91ds-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="a91ds-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Now he's 11 and is asking me to install python + PyGame:</span></div>
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<div data-offset-key="akgaj-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.pygame.org/news" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk324346" previewremoved="true">https://www.pygame.org/news</a>
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<div data-offset-key="241s1-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="241s1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">BTW.. there tons of other top coding/educational games that are reaching younger and younger audiences. See here:</span></div>
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<div data-offset-key="aa0fk-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-coding-apps-kids-learn-programming/" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk82415" previewremoved="true">https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-coding-apps-kids-learn-programming/</a>
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<div data-offset-key="1m47n-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="1m47n-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">as well as Scratch Jr (for tablets):</span></div>
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<div data-offset-key="dlpl-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.scratchjr.org/" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk443549" previewremoved="true">https://www.scratchjr.org/</a>
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<div data-offset-key="6407b-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span data-offset-key="6407b-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And this cute little robot called "mBot" I've been following:</span></div>
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<div data-offset-key="d64qm-0-0" class="_1mf _1mj" style=""><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.makeblock.com/steam-kits/mbot" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk21988" previewremoved="true">https://www.makeblock.com/steam-kits/mbot</a>
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T.Weeks<br>
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