How to teach my 8 years old son programming

1 points by trusko 14y ago ↗ HN

Hi,

I would like to introduce my son to programming. He keeps asking me what I do at work and when I started talking he was very interested.

Are there any programming tools, languages etc that would help me to introduce him to programming. I am talking about simple stuff like program robot to walk couple of steps, turn right, pick up box walk, turn left, drop the box. You get the picture.

Thanks a lot,

6 comments

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cpfohl 14y ago ↗

Try Scratch, it's made by MIT aimed specifically at kids. The "Language" is visual, but it is turing complete.

zhemao 14y ago ↗

Perhaps Lego Mindstorms? I've never used it, but from what I know of it, it seems to fit the use case you have in mind.

bgraves 14y ago ↗

http://pythonturtle.org/

Make a little turtle icon move in any direction you choose!

trusko 14y ago ↗

This is great! I like Python. Thanks.

hoodoof 14y ago ↗

Games Factory

http://www.clickteam.com/website/usa/the-games-factory-2.htm...

appendix_a 14y ago ↗

trusko,

i think a graphical programming 'language' would be best for introducing the core concepts without getting bogged down by syntax.

have you found something yet? i'm interested to know.

-p