Coding for Kids
CS Education Week is December 6-12th, 2021. Celebrate with our FREE activities!
It’s that time of year again! Join us for the world’s biggest celebration of learning to code. Hour of Code kicks off during Computer Science Education Week each year when teachers around the globe choose fun activities to get students excited about computer programming. Tynker makes it easy to get started.
Don’t just have an Hour of Code this year – have a NASA Hour of Code with Tynker! Learn more about all the fun activities we have in store for you:
We’ve integrated NASA’s latest Artemis Program into our newest coding projects, which aim to be as accessible as ever! From K-12, Tynker/NASA projects can be made in Tynker Blocks, Javascript, Python, and more!
Have questions? Click here to read more about what we have planned.
Hour of Code is Easy to Set Up
No Tynker Account? No Problem! Here’s How to Get Started:
There are three ways to set up your students and classrooms with Tynker.
- Use Google Classroom. This is the quickest and simplest approach.
- Simply log in at Tynker.com through your school Google Account.
- Then just link your classroom.
- Use Student Email Addresses: If you do not use Google Classroom or Google Accounts, you can use your student’s email.
- Sign up as a teacher using an email address.
- Then just add your students with student emails.
- Manually create student user accounts.
- Sign up as a teacher using an email address.
- Manually generate student user accounts.
Now you’re ready to have your students log in!
- Point them to your Classroom in the Tynker Dashboard.
- Have them click on the Tynker Hour of Code activities
Would you like your entire school/district to participate? You can!
You have the ability to affect so many students’ lives during CS Education Week. Kudos to you! Just request temporary administrator access by emailing our Educator Support team and we’ll help you right away
Would you like to use iPads or Chromebooks? You can!
Tynker has Hour of Code activities for all kinds of devices, and we partner with Apple and Google for Edu to ensure both iPad and Chromebook experiences work seamlessly.
For iPads, download the Tynker App and look for the folder called Hour of Code.
For Chromebooks, just go to Hour of Code Teacher and follow the above steps for adding Google Classrooms and rosters.
Prepare Your School Community With 2 Amazing Webinars!
Webinar #1: Get Ready for the Hour of Code
Tynker’s Educator Support Team continues to shine by offering the most amazing live professional development. This year, for the entire month of November, you and your educator colleagues can join: Get Ready for the Hour of Code with Tynker. This one-hour session will give you everything you need to make your Hour of Code a success.
We cover how to:
- Sign up, create your classes, and quickly access the HoC activities.
- Inspire your students with all of our HoC activities from NASA, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and over 30 more.
- Reward your students with Tynker certificates and badges.
- Extend the Hour of Code excitement to the entire school year.
Audience: All K12 Educators
Event Dates: November 8th through December 3rd
Event times: Numerous
Webinar #2: Return to the Moon with a NASA Hour of Code!
This year, NASA joins us for a wonderful promotional event! Join the Tynker for Schools Team and special guest, NASA Education Specialist, Alicia Baturoni-Cortez. We’ll preview the Tynker Hour of Code NASA-themed coding and STEM projects for K12 students and educators! In just 30 minutes, we’ll cover NASA’s “Return to the Moon, open and preview the Tynker Hour of Code projects, and share all resources, events, and learning opportunities, leading up to Computer Science Education Week. Finally, preview Tynker’s LIVE web show: CodeLab, featuring NASA engineers and designers!
Audience: All K12 Educators
Event Dates: November 4th or November 10th.
Time: 4pm ET / 1pm PT
Here Are Our Newest NASA Hour of Code Activities!
Tynker has participated in Hour of Code since its inception, but we are the only coding platform to have collaborated with NASA for authentic Artemis-based coding activities. This year our NASA coding projects total 11 activities, including 4 NEW activities:
1. Earth as Art: In this coding tutorial, you’ll browse through the complete gallery of Earth as Art photographs and choose your favorite. Learn how you can apply color tinting and explore advanced image processing effects like a Pointillism filter. Python and Processing.py.
2. Martian Weather Station: In this data-driven project, you’ll explore real-life data from sensors aboard Perseverance, a NASA rover that’s been exploring Mars since 2020. The rover’s data is collected by an instrument called the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), and you’ll perform statistical calculations and create charts using Python to interpret its observations, just like a NASA scientist.
3. Terrain Generator: Try your hand in this tutorial that has you creating your own original digital artwork, in the style of Earth as Art. Can you simulate a nearby geological feature, like a river or mountain range? JavaScript and p5.js.
4. Design a Mission Patch in Spanish (Diseña un Parche de Misión): Using Tynker, students will combine their artistic skills with coding to design a mission patch for a mission to the Moon. Students are provided a tutorial to help guide their creative process as they complete the project.
There are 7 more NASA-themed projects, as part of Tynker’s Hour of Code. Check them out
CodeLab LIVE: Two Amazing Events!
#1 Join us for CodeLab: LIVE with NASA Experts!
During the entire Computer Science Education Week (Dec. 6th- 10th), we’ll be joined daily by NASA subject matter experts for CodeLab: LIVE! Our amazing NASA guests will get us up to speed on “Return to the Moon” and the Artemis Program, and help us navigate our awesome new NASA-themed Hour of Code Projects. Check out last year’s shows here, and register below to add all of the events to your calendar!
Here’s the format for CodeLab Live:
- Meet a real NASA Expert. Find out how their skills fit into some of the major NASA projects, like Artemis and others.
- Build a Tynker NASA Project. A Tynker Specialist will walk through a project with a NASA guest offering design tips.
- Q&A: We’ll take your questions. In fact, ask your questions now! gotyn.kr/codelabq
Just have your students join at the times below, and we’ll run your Hour of Code for you. Students will even be able to ask questions to the NASA experts and get coding help on our moderated chat.
Live sessions are at 1 PM EST / 10 AM PST / 6 PM GMT
| Monday, December 6th | Design a Mission Patch | Tynker Blocks/Beginner |
| Tuesday, December 7th | Search and Scan the Lunar Landscape | Tynker Blocks/Beginner |
| Tuesday, December 7th | Diseña un Parche de Misión | Tynker Blocks/Beginner |
| Wednesday, December 8th | Build a Lunar Habitat with NASA | Tynker Blocks/Beginner |
| Thursday, December 9th | NEW Project: Martian Weather Station. | Python/ Advanced |
| Friday, December 10th | NEW Project: Earth as Art | P5.js and PY (Processing) / Advanced |
This is a can’t miss event for your students! Just RSVP to add these dates to your calendar and have your students join. Recordings will be available after the session if you can’t join live.
#2 Join us for CodeLab: LIVE (en español): Design a Mission Patch with NASA / Diseña un Parche de Misión
Added bonus! This year, we’re doing something very special! We’re bringing a Spanish-speaking NASA expert for our Mission Patch Project, completely designed for Spanish-speaking, ELL, or Dual Language students. We’ll follow the same format as CodeLab: Live, but the whole show will be in Spanish.
In the Mission Patch Project:
Using Tynker, students will combine their artistic skills with coding to design a mission patch for a mission to the moon. Students are provided a tutorial to help guide their creative process as they complete the project.
En español: Nuestras sesiones de CodeLab de la Hora del Código serán EN VIVO en YouTube y un experto de la NASA presentará cada actividad de codificación con información actualizada sobre la ciencia y la ingeniería.
What Else Can You Do with a Tynker Hour of Code?
But wait, there’s more! Here are more ideas for participating in Hour of Code.
- Join Veteran Tynker Teachers for Weekly Facebook Live Events: Tips for Having a Great Hour of Code
- Go Beyond NASA with Tynker’s additional 40+ Hour of Code Activities!
- Download some fun Tynker-themed Zoom backgrounds for your school!
- Want to learn more about Tynker? Take the next steps and get Tynker Certified!
Have an amazing Hour of Code and Computer Science Education Week!
