Coding for Kids
We’re excited to announce the release of a new instructional format for do-it-yourself projects. The new format makes DIY projects more intuitive and accessible for younger children by only giving them the blocks they need until they are ready to figure out for themselves which blocks to use.
Table of Contents
What’s Different?
Draggable Blocks
When creating DIY projects, students can drag code blocks right out of the instructions. When kids first start out with Tynker, it is more intuitive to drag straight from the instructions instead of searching a separate palette for the block they need.
As students advance through Tynker lessons, we wean them off draggable blocks and they learn to navigate the code palette. When they get to more open-ended projects, they search the code palette to find appropriate blocks and they experiment with different ways of implementing projects.
Improved Instructions
We have rewritten all of the instructions for the DIY projects for home, school, and after-school courses. The new instructions are much easier to follow. They encourage students to come up with creative solutions and customize their projects beyond what the project requires.
Automatic Switching Between Actors
Each step within a do-it-yourself project is now linked to an Actor in the project. If the first step asks the student to program the ball to bounce, they will automatically be directed to the ball’s code. For younger kids, this improvement will make the do-it-yourself projects much more accessible.
New Palette View
When blocks are given in the instructions, students no longer see the full code palette next to the instructions. When they need to search the code palette to find blocks, the instructions appear at half height and the blocks are visible below that. Kids can also minimize the instructions at any time and use the full code palette to search for blocks. Advanced Tynkerers can use the minimization option to view a short description of what they should be adding while coding independently.
The new palette view allows students to focus on the task at hand instead of being distracted by a palette of blocks they don’t need. And when they want to add something extra, they can easily access the full palette by minimizing the instructions.
Half-Height Instructions
Minimized Instructions
How Can I Access the New DIY Projects?
Students automatically get the new instructions when they open a DIY project. However, previously opened projects will continue to display their original instructions.
Can I Make My Own DIY Projects?
As before, you can continue to make do-it-yourself projects. We’ll highlight how to use all the new features in another blog post.
Teachers, check out the newly improved DIY projects and assign them to your students. We can’t wait to see what they’ll create!
