Summary of the workshop on introducing programming to children

Benefits of introducing children to Programmation

• Coding is simply another language.
  This allows them to: strengthen verbal and written skills. Exposing them to different languages at an early age helps them to better understand the world around them. Teaching them the basics of coding at an early age gives them the opportunity to better understand how new technologies work.
• Coding fosters creativity.
  Computer programming invites children to experiment, test, make mistakes, try again, and therefore be creative.
• Coding helps to ‘love’ maths.
  By coding, children develop their maths skills without even realizing it. And it’s all in fun. They become familiar with addition, subtraction and multiplication. They learn to recognize different geometric shapes. And they learn about logic through fun exercises.
• Develop other soft skills:
  When a child learns to code early on, it helps them develop soft skills that will be useful throughout their lives: learning to solve problems, thinking in teams, and developing critical thinking skills.

Resources to introduce children to programming:

• Hopscotch (iPhone/Ipad): an application to create your own games and discover programming by dragging and dropping code blocks.ActivePuzzle is a new and original offer to discover robotics. Imagine building a robot with puzzle pieces!
• Scratch is a graphical programming language and an online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations. It’s the language behind many learning solutions and is available for children aged 8 to 16.
• Cood is a digital education platform, for example, you can create your own video game!
  Artie 3000, a funny robot to code and draw!
• LEGO Boost, the new kit to start with robotics and programming, or with the new Lego robot Mindstorms Robot Inventor (from 10 years old)
• Winky, a new robot made in France to discover programming
• Microsoft MakeCode is a free open-source platform for learning and progressing in the world of programming.
• Small Basic is designed to bridge the gap between block coding languages like Scratch and typed programming languages like Python.