Alyanna Discovered Tynker on Her Own!

It’s always awesome to see kids discover and explore Tynker on their own. That’s how Alyanna, a 7th grader who lives in Manila, Philippines, furthered her interest in coding! She’s almost 13 years old and enjoys participating in lots of sports, including wall climbing, volleyball, and basketball! Alyanna blew us away with the quality of her projects – she’s only been coding with Tynker for a couple months but is already producing fantastic games. We chatted with her to learn a bit about her and understand why she likes to code!

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be an architect or an engineer.

What’s your favorite subject in school? Math! My favorite subject is math. I like it because I really like computing stuff and I just want to know more about it. We have a new subject called “drafting,” so drawing and math.

How did you get introduced to Tynker? I found it when I was looking through the app store one day! I already liked coding, and I saw the “for young coders” section, and I found Tynker! I pressed download and found that it’s very easy to use, so that’s why I liked it. When I was in grade 6 I went to this school competition and they introduced Scratch to us, but if I’m going to compare it, Tynker is easier.

What’s your favorite project that you’ve made? My favorite project has got to be the “Impossible Quiz.” I have to say, I’ve only made two games because it’s only been three months since I downloaded Tynker and I’m kind of busy. “The Impossible Quiz” is the best. I was so surprised – just in one day I got 1,000 views!

Do any of your friends use Tynker? No, I don’t think they are familiar with it. When my dad showed the email to my mom, that’s when they started hearing about it from my mom. My mom was bragging to them, actually, saying “Download this! Download that! My daughter got noticed from Tynker!” So, I think my classmates will get the app for sure.

Do you ever look at the Tynker community projects? Yes, a lot of the time! I get a lot of inspiration from them, and sometimes when I don’t know something, that’s where I search and that’s where I brainstorm. I get some of the ideas, and I change them sometimes.

How did you learn how to use Tynker? One day I just figured it out by myself. I just put it on Codey, the one who tells instructions, and I just started to know how to do it.

What’s your favorite feature in Tynker? I like the games and the community, so I can see other people’s projects.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? I arrange the blocks, then I test it several times to see if it’s working properly. When it’s working properly, I will publish it, and I will try to get many views.

What are you planning on making next? I’m creating a game where you can fight characters. It can be two players or one player, and I’m still working on it. I hope I can publish it by the end of this month.

How do you think learning to code now will help you in the future? It will be very helpful, for sure. Maybe in my free time, if I am an architect when I grow up, I will still code in my free time, and relieve stress. That’s what I will do.

Why do you like to code? I like to code because I can program my own things, and I can create the games that I want! It’s really hard to do it in other programs, but in Tynker I can do it! It’s easy!

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yeah, yeah, sure! They will use it in their lives, of course. It’s very easy and it’s very fun, and they can actually make money out of it! They can start on little things, and then who knows – they will get big things, and it matters! So it’s pretty cool. Just try to create your own games!

What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker? Just relax and search through the community and you can get a lot of ideas from that! Just keep trying, and don’t give up. In the beginning, it can be really hard if you don’t know how to do it, but if you keep trying and analyzing it, you will get it! Just keep trying, and enjoy Tynker!

We also spoke to Alyanna’s father Chris, who told us he was surprised and proud when he found out she was coding! In his words, “When she showed me that she had programmed that game, I was a bit surprised that she’s into it, but I was very proud of it! It’s good that she can find programs on the internet like Tynker that help her develop her skills in coding!”

Chris believes that “coding gives her creative thinking,” and he’s excited about the prospects of using coding to enact change. According to Chris, “She can solve problems, she can think of solutions to some problems that impact, sooner or later, the whole world. If she can develop advocacy, she could create a program that can help climate change or the environment. She will make an impact on the world.”

We can’t wait to see how Alyanna and all of our other makers change the world! Thanks for speaking with us, Alyanna and Chris – we’re so excited to see what you create next!