Kayra Explores Tynker With His Dad!

Meet Kayra, a 3rd grader from Turkey who enjoys robotics and playing basketball. In fact, he aspires to be a basketball player when he grows up! We were lucky enough to speak with nine-year-old Kayra about his projects and how he uses Tynker. He chatted with us in English, which he’s currently learning, and we were very impressed!

All the iPads at Kayra’s school have Tynker, so he’s getting a head start on coding. According to his dad, Mustafa, “He’s already learning, which is great because he’s only 9 years old! When I was introduced to computers I was already in high school.” Kayra was really fun to talk to – he even prepared for the interview by donning a Batman shirt and cape! Read on to learn more about him and his awesome projects.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A basketball player!

What’s your favorite subject in school? I like robotics and science.

How did you feel when you found out your project had been featured? It was fun and exciting!

How did you get introduced to Tynker? Our school management installed several useful apps on our tablets, so I simply found Tynker on my tablet. I have been coding with my father for 2 years.

How did you learn how to use Tynker? We played around and learned it!

Mustafa added, “We found the software on the iPad. He liked it, and I also liked it. There are lots of things we can do together. It’s fun for me and it’s fun for him, so it’s a good activity we can do together.”

Have you played through any Tynker courses? Yes.

Mustafa told us, “We checked out two courses. I checked out some physics courses, which were also fun. The courses are great – we like the way you play with them.”

How do you get inspiration for your projects? From daily life problems.

Mustafa noted that “for the multiplication game we were playing a game to teach him multiplication. He asked if we could make a game with it, so we tried it! We played around and found a project in the community page that was a kind of calculator. We improved that one and developed a unique one.”

How do creativity and coding fit together for you? I can imagine my project then work on it.

Why do you like to code? Because it’s fun!

What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? My multiplication game.

“multiplication game”

What are you planning to make next? A solar system project, then a basketball game.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? First I test it, then I publish it.

What’s your favorite feature in Tynker? What’s one feature you wish Tynker had? I can dream something and apply it so easily! Changing the gravity upside down or decreasing is fun – that’s something you can’t do in the real world.

Do you look at the Tynker community projects? Yes, there are some really interesting ones!

How do you think learning coding now might help you in the future? We will need coding everywhere! It will make my life easier.

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes! It’s fun and it’s like a game.

What advice would you give for kids starting out with Tynker? They should check the courses and play around.

Kayra’s dad is so excited that his son is learning to code – he loves coding with Kayra! Mustafa also has some computer science experience himself, and he gave us a great observation about the creative possibilities of coding: “With Tynker, he can do things that he cannot do in the physical world.”

“For example,” he continued, “he’s been playing with gravity and dinosaurs, which is something he cannot do in the real world. With coding he gets into another world, something he cannot find in the physical world. On the other hand, playing games on a tablet wastes a lot of the kids’ time and we have to limit use. When it comes to coding, it is a win-win for us and for Kayra. Coding with Tynker is a good way to spend time with tablets.”

Mustafa made a great point about coding to prepare for the future, saying, “the world is going somewhere where coding will be more important day by day. It will come to our houses with things like self-driving cars, so it will be a great opportunity.”

We couldn’t have said it better – learning to code opens doors to the future. Thanks for chatting with us, Kayra and Mustafa! We’re so impressed with what you’ve accomplished so far and can’t wait to see where coding with Tynker takes you. We’ll be keeping an eye out for what you create next!