Children often enjoy being creative. There are a number of programming languages that are extremely suitable for children, and which they can enjoy themselves with. It's fun, but also educational and a good introduction to programming. With these 3 languages you can teach your children to program
Many children like to make things. That's why they love drawing, clay, and building sandcastles at a young age. Once they are a little older, programming languages suitable for children can provide a good, educational outlet for their creativity. Moreover, it is not a bad idea to prepare children for the computer science classes they will receive at school, or to prepare them for a possible career as a programmer. If they are already familiar with programming, they may soon have a little head start in school and in the job market.
scratch
With Scratch, kids can create games, music, interactive animations, and artwork that can be shared as a project so you can learn from others.
Scratch works with blocks in a visual interface that you can stack on top of each other. Blocks can only be combined with each other if they are compatible. You can combine different programming components such as actions, events and operators to generate commands.
Scratch is free and well supported, making it a nice introduction. There is a large online community that many people join who can help. The language is suitable for children between the ages of 8 and 16.
System Requirements: A computer running on macOS, Windows, or Linux.
Blockly
Blockly is an open source project from Google that uses Scratch's block concept. In the Blockly environment, the blocks also make writing code easier, but with Blockly, the blocks allow you to generate JavaScript, Python, PHP, Lua, or Dart. In addition, it can be adapted to generate code in other programming languages. You can change the language of Blockly from English to Dutch.
With this environment, you can clearly see the differences between the syntax of different programming languages, allowing children to learn programming even better. However, Blockly is not yet as developed or as well supported as Scratch. That is why it is suitable for slightly older children, from about 10 years old.
System Requirements: A computer running on macOS, Windows, or Linux.
RoboMind
RoboMind is an educational programming environment in which a virtual robot has to be programmed and children learn about artificial intelligence with specific assignments.
The programming language used is ROBO, a specially designed language based on principles that are also used in most other programming languages.
There is also support for LEGO Mindstorms NXT and there are plenty of lessons and assignments available to keep you busy for a long time.
System Requirements: A computer running on macOS, Windows, or Linux.
