Code for Real: Teach kids to program with drag and drop blocks(code-for-real.pages.dev) |
Code for Real: Teach kids to program with drag and drop blocks(code-for-real.pages.dev) |
I built Code for Real for my 9-year-old daughter, who wants to learn to program (mostly for a middle school entrance exam). She had been using Scratch (a free block-based coding app by MIT) for a couple of years, but there is a big gap between Scratch and traditional programming. This app is meant to help her (and others) make that jump while still being fun and approachable.
Download: https://code-for-real.pages.dev/get
Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/code-for-real
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language)
Code for Real uses blocks of real HTML, CSS, and Javascript. You set IDs and Classes on each block and can assign styling to them. The same way you would build an actual website or app. The challenge that kids run into (and adults) when trying to program is understanding how the blocks fit together, how they fit together, and what attributes apply to each element. The tutorials walk them through step-by-step how to create a working application explaining what each piece means. It can still be a lot for some students, but there are tutorials of varying complexity, so hopefully it will be beneficial for everyone.