Ask Slashdot: Professionally Packaged Tools For Teaching Kids To Program?

Binestar writes: I've been doing IT consulting for years, but I'm not a programmer beyond bash scripting, perl scripts to make administration easier, and batch files to make Windows easier. I recently found an online course for modding Minecraft that my 9-year-old daughter is really enjoying (she built a custom sword that shoots lightning). Does anyone have any recommendations on online courses that would be age appropriate and worth the investment? It's been easy to get her interested in the Minecraft modding course because, as any parent with young children knows, Minecraft is kinda popular...

The course she's taking now is teaching her Eclipse and Gimp, and I'm sure there are other tools installed that they haven't had her open yet. What other vendors have stuff worth introducing her to? I've also started looking at things like the Kano and Learn to Mod, but as a non-programmer, I'm not really sure which are most useful for introduction and which are accomplishing what they claim vs. being a waste of money/time.

Anyone have experience or suggestions to help sort this out?

Comments

Kano.me

[wangstabill]

I recently bought my little sister, 9, a kano kit from kano.me. It's like a build your own computer kit, just a raspberry pi with a case and color coded cables. It comes with a colorful instruction booklet like a LEGO set. It has some code-blocks like programming environment that walks kids through how to write simple programs. The code she showed me had her making full blown for loops and such. Rather than run your code and print to stdout, it would generate a scene in Minecraft. She told me that she asked a boy in her class who liked Minecraft, "how long would it take you to build a castle in Minecraft" and he said "about a day." She replied "well, I could do it in about 5 minutes, because I know how to program." That right there made it well worth the cost.

Here comes a Karma hit....

[s.petry]

I'm guessing that your kids doing this level of programming are not in elementary school, this guys daughter is 9! Good Grief!

Personally I would not even consider trying to get a 9 year old kid into programming outside of school (boy or girl). If she want's to mod Minecraft good for her, but don't pressure her or even encourage her beyond this. 9 years old is an age where kids should be learning social skills and exercising their imaginations. Motor skill development at this age is also important. Teach her chess and play with her, make sure she has social activities with friends her own age, let her get involved in school plays and be in the band, baseball and soccer are other great activities. Sculpting, painting, drawing, reading, Tai Kwon Do, anything but encouraging her sitting in front of a computer for hours at a time.

A game like chess can develop logic skills and planning abilities without the isolation of programming (I.E. Don't dump her off on chess.com and leave her there). Encourage what she should be learning at 9, not what is the most convenient for you to have her learn at 9. Here is a consideration: If your daughter was one of those rare geniuses ready to graduate college when other kids her age are in the 7th grade, you would not be asking the question. She would have picked up C on her own and been programming already, without your assistance.