Did it ever occur to you to ask a preschooler: What is programming?
What does it mean programming for preschoolers, at the beginning?
You would be surprised how many answers and examples could provide the first programming workshop for preschoolers:
In class with kids - source
You make an appointment to see the doctor, you make an appointment for karate lessons, you make an appointment with a hairdresser for a new haircut. Or, why not, you can make a reservation at a playground area where you can invite your friends. But what will you do when none of the answer options offered by the little ones has a reference to software development/coding?
Well, simple! You give them the opportunity to access a free programming lesson.
Thinking that there are parents who want to offer their children a bit clearer notion about programming, I responded to the initiative of the CodeWeek. In partnership with FasTracKids we managed to give children the opportunity to enter the interactive and playful world of block programming languages. For this purpose, we used the platform code.org.
The first contact of preschoolers with programming
Of course, at the beginning, shyness has appeared but accompanied us for a short period of time. The children quickly befriended the platform and they were very glad to rediscover the characters of Angry Birds.
The children discovered the function blocks one after another. They used the function blocks to solve different situations encountered during the two hours we spent together: "move left", "move right", "go ahead" and "repeat" are some of the blocks they used.
We really need to mention that knowledge and proper use of the blocks are not sufficient to solve interactive puzzles. Children used their imagination, creativity, logic and sense of observation to help the bird reach the pig.
At the end of the two hours, "programming" has acquired a new meaning in the eyes of children, a meaning successfully sketched through their own activity. So, along with the classic appointment to see a doctor from the beginning of the course, children can now associate programming with the ability to "build" your own game!
PS: Even you can help your kid open the gate to the world of programming! code.org platform is free at your disposal, so Code Week can be every day.
I think what you did is neat. Teaching children like that can give them skills they can transfer to most any task where they must be creative. This sort of thing is, in my opinion, second only to teaching them not only adequacy but also mastery of their native language, spoken and written.
I agree. I am a supporter of teaching programming in primary school as a logic/problem solving component of mathematics.
Thank you guys, @charleys & @proskynneo, for your suport! For sure also creativity, problem solving and math are two of the skills that are grown by programming. But these are not the only reasons. Here you can find top 8 reasons https://steemit.com/story/@djvidov/8-reasons-to-learn-programming.
@charleys and also children should learn at least one international language like English. :)
Well said. Logic and creativity is something that they will use to learn all the others after that.
Yep. Almost everything. :)