Coding for Kids
Kids Strengthen Artistic Talent Through Tynker!
Technology gives us tools, like computer programming, to craft the projects we imagine in our minds. As kids work with technology to produce exciting products, they need to figure out how to design things in creative ways. Not only can this fusion of creativity and technology make for some fun projects kids can do, it’s also essential that they learn how to seamlessly sync design skills and technological ability as they prepare to make future career choices. According to Bridget Goodbody, an art historian and critic and CEO of Artistic Intelligence, “Technology and design are the heart of the new creative economy. Students need a solid education on both fronts to compete.”
At Tynker, we’re excited to be part of the growing movement that’s encouraging kids to integrate their tech abilities and creative tendencies. In Tynker, you can upload hand-drawn art or photos from your tablet into your Tynker project. You can also use the Paint Editor and Vector Drawing Tool in Tynker to create art directly in your project without having to upload it.
Another great way that kids can tap into their artistic abilities using Tynker is by creating Minecraft resources! Using Tynker’s Minecraft resource editing tools, your child can make mobs and mods, design skins, and create other customized game elements. With simple publishing tools from Tynker, kids can easily bring their Minecraft creations to life—in 3D ! The Tynker user community is a great place to see creations from other kids, get inspired with ideas, and even remix others’ projects, thus engaging in collaborative art-making!
We’ve seen several of our Featured Makers use tech and art to make some awesome projects, which goes to show that being creative and being techy can easily go hand in hand!
Take for example 13-year-old Kira, who’s demonstrated her artistic abilities since she was three years old. Kira loves Harry Potter; her favorite project is a Harry Potter animation where a potion-making experience goes horribly wrong! During our interview, Kira’s mom Julie told us how coding merges with Kira’s artistic abilities and suggested that talent doesn’t need to be restricted to either art or technology: “It’s her thing. She’s artsy, she’s techy, she’s just talented.” Kira likes that she can draw her own characters and themes in Tynker, and she loves to use coding to extend her drawing skills.
12-year-old Abby is a fantastic anime-style artist and coder! Two of her coding projects feature her original anime art. One of those projects allows the player to choose features like hair style and skin color for the character. Another project features Yuri, a girl drawn anime-style who gives brief responses (via drawn speech bubbles) to respond to a player’s input. For example, if you answer “no” to the question “Do you like anime?” Yuri will respond with a petulant “Aw, then why are you playing this game?” and give a disappointed facial expression to match. Abby says it’s easy to just make the drawings in Tynker with her fingers. When she grows up, she wants to work for Pixar or be a 3D modeler and work on special effects for movies.
13-year-old Dareli loves painting pictures of animals! She wants to grow up to be a children’s book illustrator and was excited when she figured out how to make cartoons in Tynker! She likes to experiment with art styles, so sometimes while drawing in Tynker she’ll create something “cartoon-y.” Dareli likes the fact that she can shrink the size of the lines while drawing in Tynker, which makes for cleaner work when drawing and erasing the lines. Eventually she wants to be just as good at creating visual art as she is drawing on paper! Dareli’s mom Maira told us that Dareli has been “drawing since she was really little, so I want her to enhance her abilities with her drawing.”
While a lot of our Makers like to create original art to upload in Tynker or make art directly in Tynker, others like to upload photographs to enhance their digital creations. One of these Makers is Julian. Julian took advantage of the ability in Tynker to upload photos and edit them using Tynker’s image editing software! He created an artistic, detailed game called “The Flying Penguin Game,” featuring a lost penguin who needs to get home!
Julian’s “The Flying Penguin Game” works best when you open it through the Tynker app on a mobile device. Not all features are supported on computers.
How will your encourage your child to use art to create amazing projects in Tynker? Will they upload original artwork? Draw using tools in Tynker? Upload photos and use our image editing software? Whatever artistic media your child prefers, we’re excited for them to develop and share their talents!
