Inspiration Strikes Natasha – Then She Codes!

Natasha is in 4th grade and lives in Canberra, Australia. She’s 9 years old and enjoys playing netball (which is a lot like basketball) and drawing. She told us she loves netball because “it’s a team sport and I love my team because they’re really friendly.” We chatted with her to find out what she thinks about coding!

What do you want to be when you grow up? I don’t know. I think one of the possibilities might be a writer. I like writing stories, and sometimes poems. Writing is one of the subjects at school, so sometimes I write at school, and occasionally I’ll write at home.

How did you get introduced to Tynker? My dad told me about it. I’ve been using it for about two years.

What is your favorite thing you’ve made? Well, I liked a few of my projects but I liked playing around with Peep. One was just about them dancing and stuff, using some of the funny music. I couldn’t stop humming it afterwards.

Do you look at the Tynker community projects? Yeah, I like it because some of the projects are pretty interesting, and I like looking at them.

What’s your favorite feature in Tynker? I like how you can easily put blocks together, and it’s not hard to make something work. I like some of the spots in the library, and the fact that you can make your own character. I also like the animated walk and the animated attack, all those nice costumes.

Are you working on anything currently? Some days I just turn on Tynker, think a bit, and then make it. Sometimes I go to bed and wake up with a good idea. It’s just kind of random.

Why do you like to code? I like coding because you can make your own stuff and there’s a bunch of different ways you can build it. You can start out with simple things, and then build onto any of the other programming language.

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes! Maybe some people haven’t gotten the opportunity or don’t know how to try.

What advice would you give for kids starting out with Tynker? I think maybe that they shouldn’t try hard stuff first – they should look around and see how Tynker works first.

Natasha’s dad David has been coding since he was a kid, so he thinks it’s great Natasha is learning to code. He likes that she’s found another outlet for her creativity, because she is “a crafty, storytelling kind of person, so she comes up with those kinds of projects.” David shared his perspective on the importance of coding, telling us, “It’s a different kind of thinking because it’s not just maths – they have to think things through in a different way and it’s really interesting. The ability to think and reason through problems, then use computers to help solve them – that’s a very useful skill everyone’s going to need.”

We couldn’t have said it better – we agree that coding helps foster creativity and logical thinking all at once! Thanks for chatting with us, David and Natasha, and thanks for using Tynker! We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

Don’t miss another of Natasha’s wonderfully creative projects, “Look after your cat!”