3 Coding Activities You Can Do Without a Computer
When teaching children to code, you need to find a way to do it with and without a PC. Whilst coding is naturally something that you need to do on a computer, it has drawbacks. For one, it’s not healthy to be at the PC all day. Two, you want your children to receive education from more than one source. When it comes to coding, though, working out what that might be is quite tough.
In a bid to help you out, here are three fantastic ideas for coding activities that you can do without a computer.
Used right, these activities can augment and improve the rate at which your children will learn to code.
Coding for Kids: Coding Activities You Can Do Without a Computer
Deconstructing
A major part of coding is breaking a large task into many smaller mini-tasks. This can be done very easily as a coding mini-task. Simply ask your child to show you how they would break down any given task. Do this for 10-20 different tasks, and show them the benefit of showing working. So, one great way of doing this is baking cookies; the recipe deconstructs the task – you could try Eksemel’s Cookie Recipe. It’s an easy way to help get your kid into a more analytical mindset. The more natural it is to them to break things down in this manner, the more likely it is to stick.
Without that kind of mentality, it’s nigh-impossible to code. Trying to manage a code in one singular move is very stressful. This helps to remove that problem and make step-by-step problem solving natural to your child.
Problem Solving
This one might take a bit of prep on your end, but is great fun. You want to help get your child into the mindset of breaking down problems. Coding needs you to be able to see things from many perspectives, not only one. So, sit with your child and go through 5-10 different problem scenarios (you can usually find great ideas online).
Start off by asking them what caused the problem in the first place, and what can be done to solve the problem. The aim is to see your child come up with as many different reasons and avenues to correct the problem as is possible. This is great for all-round improvement of their analytical skills, but it has a knock-on effect on their coding skills, too!
Spotting the Pattern
This last game is all about helping your child spot irregularities in a regular pattern. That happens all the time in coding, and can cause the entire code to fall down. By helping your child get used to spotting irregularities, they can become much more adept at solving mistakes.
One simple experience here is to get a calendar for the month. Get your child to color in the days on which they have Mathematics, and when they have English. Check their own school schedule and make sure it lines up. If it does not, go back over it with them and help them spot when/where the pattern does not add up.
These games are all basic, but the secret is that they have nothing to do with coding. They improve general life skills that we need if we want to be a success in life. As such, your child can enjoy a huge amount of benefits learning like this. Get them away from the computer and thinking about coding skills without mentioning coding.
With the sheer variety of skills needed to be a good coder, this makes obvious sense. The more you can help them to improve without mentioning coding for kids, the better they’ll become at coding long-term!
