6 min readMar 31, 2020

TOP MOBILE APPLICATIONS THAT CAN MAKE YOUR KIDS LIKE PROGRAMMING.

We are living in a digital era where gadgets from computers, smartphone to tablets have become an essential part of our lives. Even kids these days pick up any gadgets and figure it out easily. With kids becoming more techs savvy as time goes on, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t learn the basics behind their favorite technology. There’s no reason why you can’t teach your kids programming from a young age. As young as 4 years old, a kids can learn sequence and logic ,hence why not teach programming at that age?

Software developers understand that when teaching kids anything you have to think about what kids like doing best. Kids like playing games, hence a game based approach.

Instead of text based programming, they developed block-based programming to imbibe the logical and computational thinking in kids and to save kids from writing long (boring 🥺) Codes.

This block based programming is also called drag and drop programming since you have to drag and snap blocks together. Underneath the block are text based programming. When kids are comfortable with block based they can then move to text based.

To be a great software developer, you have to have a solid knowledge on algorithm and fundamental of programming.

Fundamentals like:

Loop
Variables
Conditions
Event handlers
Operators
Data types etc

Most block -based software contains all the fundamentals especially Scratch by MiT . Scratch is the pioneer in block based programming and it open source (anyone can have it😄).

I will be sharing with us some other application (android) that we can use to learn programming.

1. Scratch Jr.

ScratchJr is an introductory programming language that enables young children (ages 5 and up) to create their own interactive stories and games. Children snap together graphical programming blocks to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. Children can modify characters in the paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, even insert photos of themselves -- then use the programming blocks to make their characters come to life.

2. BeBlockly.

BeBlocky is a gamified app to teach kids the very basics of programming, a very essential skill in today's world. BeBlocky aims to teach the basics of computer science in a fun and interactive way.

BeBlocky starts off with BlockyBot, a friendly programmable robot, wandering around kids playground waiting to be programmed. It uses toy-brick like graphical programming blocks to make the learning process very intuitive and easy. By dragging and dropping these blocks, kids can free their imagination and program BlockyBot to have different actions, such as controlling BlockyBot’s emotions, changing it’s movements and many more.

3.CodeMonkey

CodeMonkey Jr. is a pre-coding game for ages 4-6 to learn coding basics.

In a world filled with captivating creatures and bright colors, 4-6 year olds will join a monkey on a mission to collect bananas and unlock treasure chests. All the while, kids will explore and learn the basics of code as they use blocks to program a monkey’s journey through the world.

4.Coding games for kids.

Kidlo Coding for Kids is a fun coding game to teach kids the very basics of programming, a very essential skill in today's world. It teaches coding with fun games like firefighting and playing a dentist. Kidlo Coding helps kids improve their problem-solving skills, boosts memory and increases logical thinking skills.

Kidlo Coding is a winner of:
* 2018 Academics' Choice Smart Media Award
* Tillywig Brain Child Award
* Mom’s Choice Gold Award.

5. Sprite box

SpriteBox is a unique puzzle-platformer; a mix of exploration and learning to code.

By giving Sprite programs of instructions to follow, you can advance through unique worlds and help free Sprite's bottled-up friends.

During your adventure, you'll learn to sequence commands, change parameters, debug faulty logic, and use simple to complex loops to solve problems

6. Think and learn:Code-a-pillar

Its for preschoolers and its helps

Planning & sequencing - preschoolers learn to follow multi-step plans to achieve a goal.

Problem Solving - generate and execute a solution to any problem.
Number Recognition - understand and recognize numbers in Code-a-pillar’s™ world.
Counting in Order - gain knowledge about numbers and how they go in order to form a sequence

7.Programming Hero

Build your own game 🎮. Learn to code, programming🔥, coding, and coding games.

Here, programming just got fun 🎉🎊.
Build your own game 🎮 while learning to code:
👉 Quick Action: Apply programming concepts immediately after learning.
👉 Brag Right: Publish your code and show off your work.
👉 Practice Anywhere: Practice coding (Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.).
👉 Instant Help: Get your questions answered instantly.
👉 Smart Learning: Jump into advanced Data Structures, Algorithms, OOP, Database, etc

8. Tommy the turtle

Tommy the turtle helps young kids learn the basics of coding. It’s the perfect, super-fun and highly beneficial kids coding app that makes learning programming fun and easy.

At its core, Tommy the Turtle, Learn to Code: Kids Coding is another fun, interactive, educational coding for kids app to help young children learn the basics of coding.

9.Run Marco

Play an adventure game and have fun while learning to code i.e. program computers. Use visual instructions to guide Marco or Sophia through a series of levels as they try to discover themsevles. In this journey you will learn how to think as a software developer one step at a time! Instructions are in the form of the standard visual programming language "Blockly", which is the same used by the official Hour of Code tutorials.