Coding for Kids
Jada Tells a Story with Code!
Featured Maker Jada is a natural storyteller, loves to help others, and is an artist at heart! Jada is seven years old and in second grade. Her favorite subjects are art and reading. She loves to draw pictures, read books, and of course code!
Jada is from California and wants to become an author or a doctor when she grows up! When she’s not coding on Tynker, she likes to play with dolls, Roblox, and do karate. Jada treated us to an interview to tell us why she likes coding!
How did you get introduced to Tynker and how long have you been coding? One day at the library I got a few coding books and went to study Scratch. That’s how I’m almost an expert on Scratch.
How did you learn how to use Tynker when you were first starting out? I already knew how to use Scratch, I knew because I usually go to the community thing and I look at other people’s projects first, it usually gives me ideas or something to come up with.
What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? One of my recent projects: “Which Superhero are you?” It just picks a random superhero, it doesn’t pick what’s about you. Just your name, and if you’re a boy or girl. And one of the actors says what you are but in words.
Where did you get the idea for your favorite project and how long did it take you to make? Took me, I think one minute or two. At first, you’re supposed to hide the words, then you have to show them, but I forgot the show block, so it took me kind of a while to figure out what was wrong. You have to put the show block.
How do you get inspiration for your projects? Superhero girl comics.
“Spelling Test”
Why do you like to code? Because I like video games and I don’t have to play video games, I can make video games! Making them is learning more than playing them!
What is your favorite way to use code? I like to use it for making videos! I made videos about North America, one regular video, and one that has to do with the summer coding thing. The week of the “Change the World” week. My suggestion for changing the world is, I would take care of the animals!
“Bouncing Dogs”
What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? I show it and then I publish it right away.
What are you planning to make next? Well, I was working on something but it didn’t turn out what it was going to be like so I deleted the project. I’m thinking of making a video game this time! I’m thinking of making a maze game!
What’s the best thing about Tynker? The best thing about Tynker is getting to make your own video games and seeing other people’s stuff. First off I have to see what they’re what making so I might get inspired and make something else! Sometimes I’m so inspired, I press remix and look at the code because I try to make another video game, but it didn’t work as well, so I made the project into something else because I had something else in my mind, a cat playing piano, so I made that one instead. So, I looked at someone’s project to make the ball jump, and I looked at it, then put it in my favorite section so if I forget the blocks, I can look at that.
How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future? I just like to do it for fun, not really for the future, but in the future I really want to be a popular coder!
Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes! Everyone should code instead of playing video games! You could play video games once in a while, but making the video game is better!
What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker? You can make your own video games instead of playing video games! Keep working at it!
Jonathan, Jada’s father, loves the idea of her coding and believes she will excel at it when she gets it down. Jonathan said, “I’m already into coding! I’m actually a networker, so I’m happy with it! Sometimes I give her advice, but I let her figure it out on her own.” Jonathan loves that Jada perseveres through coding challenges: “She has learned to be a lot more patient and she has learned that if she fails at something or something of that nature, she should just try again and not just give up on it.” He added, “It’s making her a better coder! She’s understanding everything now, like she said, we had talked about her coding, and we went to the library, and she saw two ‘coding for kids’ books, and I promised her that, if she read them and can explain to me what coding is and what it does, then I would give her Tynker and everything else. So that’s what I did!”
Jonathan knows that whatever Jada wants to do when she grows older, she will be able to apply coding to almost anything. When we asked him if he thinks Jada’s better prepared for the future, he told us, “Most definitely! She wants to be a doctor and author, but this is a really good thing to use as either to switch to another career or use as a fallback.”
We want to thank Jada and Jonathan for taking time out of their day to sit with us and talk about their experience with coding and with Tynker! Thanks again Jada and Jonathan, and happy coding!
