Coding for Kids
Our Featured Maker Emil has joined us all the way from Norway to talk about his experience coding with Tynker! A fourth grader, Emil is ten years old and has a passion for handball, ice skating and, especially, geology! It’s his favorite subject in school because he loves to understand the way the earth moves and works. With a wealth of minerals in his collection already, it’s fair to say that Emil really rocks.
This is what Emil had to say about his experience with Tynker.
How did you get introduced to Tynker and how long have you been coding? I discovered Tynker at school because we all have iPads that we use for Tynker. I’ve been coding for about a year now!
How have your coding skills improved since you started using Tynker? When I started out, I didn’t understand much of it, but I just tried some blocks and put them together to see what they did. Then, I just went from there and now I know different sets of code!
How did you feel when you found out your project had been featured? I felt really good! I told everyone, all my friends and parents. My friends at school thought it was super cool!
What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? I really like the project that you featured and then there’s one that I’m making right now. These are the two I’m most proud of. I like them because I can actually play them!
Where did you get the idea for your favorite project? My featured game was inspired by Moo Moo.io and it took me about a week!
Moo Moo.io HARD
How do you get inspiration for your projects? I get inspired by various games that I have. I start from there and I get ideas for what I want to accomplish, like what functions that I would want to put in there.
Why do you like to code? Because it’s fun to make things happen, to code something and make it happen! It’s fun to just drag all the pieces together and see that it becomes something!
What is your favorite way to use code? I like the different variable blocks and “when I receive.”
What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? I work through all the bugs and make it work the way I want, and then I show it to my parents and my friends, then I publish it!
What are you planning to make next? “Ballmasters.”
What’s the best thing about Tynker? It’s very fun and you can make your own stuff!
Is there anything we should change about or add to Tynker? I think it’s very good as it is!
How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future? I want to keep coding when I get older, and maybe I can use it for whatever job that I’m going to have! Even Geology!
Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes, I think they should try it because a lot of my schoolmates haven’t tried it that much and they think it’s boring, but I think that they should give it a real shot because it’s really fun!
What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker? I think they should just put a few basic blocks together to figure out how it works and start building from there to try a few new blocks and see what happens!
Emil’s dad, Arne, spoke about how he feels about Emil coding. “We are really impressed because we haven’t really been involved at all,” said Arne. “He’s figured this out mostly by himself! Suddenly, he has this big project going and that is really impressive. I think it’s really nice and it shows that if you put all your efforts into something, then there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.”
Arne is very proud of his soon — and supportive too. He may not be an expert in coding himself, but he’s made a point to help his son out… and he’s learned a bit along the way too! “Well, like in the project that you featured, I helped him out with one function, we had to find a piece that was missing, so we worked together on that,” he said. “I don’t have much experience coding myself, but I did code a little bit on a calculator back in the day. So, I kind of know the basics of it, but I’m not familiar with Tynker, so he has to show me the problem, then I can help him a little. He can teach me!”
Arne sees other benefits from Emil using Tynker. “Well, I think you get a better understanding of all those things you see and have around you, you can understand the kind of effort it takes to code and to make these things work. And of course, working with code, it improves your logical thinking. I think it’s really healthy for developing your mind and it’s also a great feeling of accomplishment when they code something.”
We can’t thank Arne and Emil enough for taking the time to speak with us. We look forward to Emil’s future projects! Happy coding!
