Creative Coder Danae Gets Inspiration From Her Cat!

Eleven-year-old Danae is in 6th grade, and is homeschooled. She’s from Penticton, BC, and likes to draw. She told us she also loves coding with Tynker and playing Minecraft! Danae’s built some incredible projects, so we wanted to speak with her and learn more about why she codes.

What’s your favorite subject in school? Tynker! Well, science.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A programmer! A coder! I just like doing it.

How did you get introduced to Tynker? I started with a program on the computer, but my mom didn’t like it because it had chats, so we switched to Tynker.

How long have you been using Tynker? For the past month. It’s great.

Do you look at the Tynker community projects? Honestly, other people’s projects give me ideas – that’s what I love about it.

What’s your favorite feature in Tynker? I love that you can upload photos from your photo album and use those as actors and backgrounds.

What is your favorite thing you’ve made? There are two projects. One is called My Pet Kitty. It’s this actor that’s a cat and you can feed it and give it a bath and everything. There’s another one called Cookie Maker and you tap the cookie dough and it pours into the bowl, then you make cookies and put it into the oven. It makes this slap sound like a cartoon punch and it’s awesome. Those are the two that have 24,000 views and 150 likes.

Where do you get ideas for your games? The tutorials, other people, and my cat! Her name is Miss Kitty.

Is there anything you’re working on currently? Yes, but I can’t remember what it’s called! Have you seen my one called Spiral Art? It goes on forever making these huge spirals.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? Save it and publish it. I also show my parents and my older brother.

Why do you like to code? I don’t know why, I just love it!

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes. We don’t have very many craft supplies because we just moved, so I can’t do crafts. Another reason I love Tynker is because Tynker is kind of a substitute for that.

What advice would you give for kids starting out with Tynker? I suggest using the tutorials.

Danae’s mom Shauna thinks it’s great Danae is learning to code, and has even incorporated coding into her home schooling curriculum! She first downloaded Tynker on the iPad because she’s “always on the lookout for more educational apps.” Her kids began using another coding platform before returning to Tynker. Shauna told us, “I really do prefer Tynker’s interface and everything. I really love that the videos and creations are monitored so closely, it’s really cool.”

Shauna began incorporating coding into the curriculum because she thought Danae’s brother would love it, but Danae has taken it up instead! According to Shauna, coding is “right up [Danae’s] ally. She’s the type of learner who’s kind of insatiable. She has so much creativity and so many ideas, it’s the perfect outlet for her. She’s kind of just jumped on there and taught herself.” We loved what Shauna said about Danae’s love of coding – “She has so much creativity, she’s bursting at the seams at all times and always needs something to keep her attention. It’s not work to her – it’s fun to her.”

We’re so glad coding fosters Danae’s creativity! Thank you so much for speaking with us, Danae and Shauna. Danae – you’ve really impressed us with your projects so far, and we can’t wait to see what fun and interactive project you come up with next. Keep coding!