Eli’s Goal: Make Each Project Better Than The Last!

Meet Featured Maker Eli from Utah! He’s almost nine years old and loves playing lacrosse, video games, and Minecraft. He’s only in third grade but already has an idea of what he wants to be when he grows up – ”What my dad does – coding! Or a YouTuber.”

He discovered Tynker because he wanted to learn how to mod Minecraft, and he’s been on a coding journey ever since! He loves a challenge, so he’s constantly pushing himself to make something better than what he made last. We got the chance to speak with Eli about what he’s been making with Tynker!

What’s your favorite subject in school? I really like science. We do really cool experiments!

How did you feel when you found out your project had been featured? It was weird! I was surprised!

How did you get introduced to Tynker? My dad’s job is coding, so I just found coding and I was interested in it. I asked my dad if he could help me make a Minecraft mod!

How did you learn how to use Tynker? My dad taught me a lot, and then I started understanding how it works. I did a lot of tutorials first!

How do you get inspiration for your projects? I just think of them!

How do creativity and coding fit together for you? I like creating stuff because I like a challenge!

Why do you like to code? Normal Minecraft is really cool, but I like it even more when it’s modded!

What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? My featured one! I like it because it asks questions not many people might know.

Banana Clicker

What are you planning to make next? I just barely published a new quiz, and I’m working on another one called rock paper scissors.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? I just publish it! I show it to my mom and dad and my family and then I publish it.

Do you look at the Tynker community projects? I like them a lot! I saw this clicker game where you’re supposed to click something and make money. I really wanted to do that, so I’m going to work on that soon.

How do you think learning coding now might help you in the future? I think I want to code games, so it’ll help me.

Do you think other kids should try coding? I think they should!

Eli’s mom Mckell and his dad Dan think it’s great that he’s learning to code! According to Dan, “It’s good to see him try to put logic together, to try to really think through to solve it, to see it as a puzzle.”

Eli’s mom noted that Eli was drawn to coding by the prospect of customizing his Minecraft experience. “When he asked us to help him learn to code, we looked at a lot of sites,” she said. “We liked Tynker’s Minecraft element; that got him really excited about coding. Once he got started with the Minecraft mods, he got excited about other aspects of coding.” As Dan said, “Minecraft is what hooked him.”

Dan thinks that coding builds “analytical skills and creativity. Creativity is something that’s missing from a lot of the traditional coding world.” He continued, saying that when he hires developers, creativity is “something I’m looking for that’s hard to get.”

Mckell loves to watch Eli problem-solve his way to success! She told us, “He’ll find a tutorial and figure out how to do it – he’s just figuring it out how to do it on his own! The problem solving is really valuable.” It’s pretty fantastic that Eli is using and building his problem-solving skills!

Eli is lucky to have truly supportive parents on his side. His dad told us that in his eyes, it’s most important that Eli pursues what he finds interesting. “What’s important for me is that whatever he is doing, he goes for it and is passionate.”

Thank you for speaking with us, Eli, Mckell, and Dan! We can’t wait to see what you come up with next, Eli. Happy coding!