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Ask HN: How do I help my 6yr old learn robotics and coding?

34 points by EvanKRob ↗ HN
My kid is fairly advanced for his age, he reads at a 3rd grade level and has been very interested and repeatedly asked me if he can build a robot that he can code to do stuff. I’m not a developer like most of you all around here so I’m hoping for some guidance if anyone has any experience. I know there are plenty of ‘coding robot’ kits but I’m not sure any of them are any good. For code, at one point I did the little flex box frog game to learn, are there any recommendations for things like that for young kids to learn programming?

15 comments

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teovall
Get him involved in FIRST LEGO League <https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll>. In FIRST LEGO League, he'll learn robotics and programming, but he'll also learn teamwork, engineering, project and time management, sportsmanship, researching, presenting, and all sorts of other useful soft and hard skills.

FIRST has robotics programs for kids from age 4 all the way up to 18 with increasing levels of difficulty, complexity, and competition. So, if he enjoys it, this could be something he does all the way through high school.

EvanKRob
This is great thanks. He’s into lego and I was thinking about the technic/advanced sets but I’m definitely going to explore this. Looks to be a few in my area too.
saluki
If you can't find a team to join. You can form and coach your own team. FIRST was a great experience.
elliekelly
If you have an iPad Apple has “Swift Playgrounds” — I think there are three “levels” — and they’re more or less a game that teaches you the basics of programming. Things like variables and for loops and objects and properties. It’s cute and simple and definitely geared towards kids but a surprisingly comprehensive introduction to coding.
hackerbabz
I tried that with my 10 year old and it wasn’t very fun or instructive. It teaches them about loops and functions, but it’s a lot easier to just brute force the mazes and there’s no incentive not to.
kukanani
I have a PhD in robotics. Got my start with Lego Mindstorms and highly recommend them.

Another commenter mentioned FIRST LEGO League, which is a great idea. However, it does require that you have a nearby league, and the experience is probably going to depend a lot on the quality of that league (funding, coaches, etc.) So if you have the funds (but not the time), starting out with the kits just at home could be a great first step.

DoreenMichele
LEGO Mindstorms was also the recommended thing in gifted homeschooling circles back when I was active in such.
jstrebel
Hmm, see this: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-5y... At 6 years old, I was learning to read and write, to count and calculate. I started playing the flute. I also had my first exposure to TV.

Your plans to make him code seems a bit overambitious to me...

EvanKRob
It’s not my plans. He’s actively asking me to build robots and to code. School has given him some Minecraft coding games but he’s maxed them out or just bored with them. I’m just trying to foster his interest.
seangp
My son started learning to code at 6 years old. We started by playing fun games at bedtime where he would give me instructions for various things such as how to leave his bedroom and I would follow them literally - resulting in my bashing into walls, falling over etc. He soon got the hang of being accurate with his instructions. He then moved on to building simple games using Scratch but got bored with that pretty quickly. He started to spend a lot of time playing Minecraft and would watch YouTube videos showing him how to make redstone circuits etc. He wanted to make his own games and so he gave Unity a try but the learning material wasn’t quite accessible to a (then) 8 year old. About a year ago he started playing Roblox and within weeks had downloaded Roblox Studio (Roblox’s development environment) and had begun making his own games. I think Minecraft helped him a lot with his ability to create 3D environments within Roblox but they also have a library of free, pre-rigged and pre-scripted models which removes any barrier to entry. He started making his first games entirely out of free models. He learned to script in Lua by watching other kids Roblox scripting videos on YouTube. He’s just turned 10 now and has a firm grasp of fundamental programming concepts, released several games and has begun releasing his own coding tutorials on YouTube. He still has a lot to learn but he’s intrinsically motivated.
giantg2
"We started by playing fun games at bedtime where he would give me instructions for various things such as how to leave his bedroom and I would follow them literally - resulting in my bashing into walls, falling over etc. He soon got the hang of being accurate with his instructions."

Very nice

puzzlepursuer
Great job, it's obvious you're happy to see him succeed and sounds like he's enjoying the process.

A reminder to think about spending time playing basketball or soccer with him and enrolling him in a league for a couple years, in case you aren't and if he isn't already playing. Two or three youth seasons participating in a team sport that involves constant decision making will benefit him in the future, even if he decides he doesn't like the sport.

giantg2
For that age, Lego Mindstorm might be best. It's pretty simple and is easy to "code".
[dead] subtra3t
I don't know about robotics, but there are plenty of coding resources aimed at children.

If you have an iOS device lying around, there's this really amazing app to learn Swift (the programming language used to develop iOS apps called "Swift Playgrounds". The language is really easy to learn, and promotes many programming paradigms.

There are also a couple of websites for little kids, like [Happy Coding](https://happycoding.io/). If your kid is into graphics and stuff like that, Processing or Python (with the turtle library) might be of interest to them.

Lastly, there's also Scratch, which incidentally enough supports controlling robots.

tmaly
Start your child out with ScratchJr. It is free and designed specifically for kids aged 5-7. I just finished teaching a lower elementary class a series of 5 lessons on it. Here was an Earth Day activity I created for them https://youtu.be/-w7NxdQJGLM