Lin Gets Inspiration from the Tynker Community

Lin is our newest Featured Maker from Oregon who loves to hike, swim, read, camp, and just run around. She is ten years old and has aspirations of becoming a world-traveling photographer who uses film instead of digital cameras!

Lin’s favorite subject in school is science: She loves the group activities that students can do together and the cool science terminology they can use. Lin gets inspiration from the Tynker community as she looks at other users’ projects and code. We had the chance to speak with Lin and her dad, Emerson, to learn more about why she loves to code with Tynker!

How did you get introduced to Tynker and how long have you been coding? Some people in my class were doing it and I wanted to check it out. So, I started playing it and thought, ‘Ohh, this is cool!’ And I’ve been coding for maybe 7 or 8 months.

How did you learn how to use Tynker when you were first starting out? I looked at other projects on the community board and saw their code. That helped me make my own code.

How have your coding skills improved since you started using Tynker? At first, I only knew the simple commands, like ‘say this, do that, move here.’ But now I can actually add stuff and make it drag, so I think I’ve really improved.

How did you feel when you found out your project had been featured? I felt like, ‘Whoa, this is my first featured project and I’m only a few months in! Am I allowed to be featured yet?’ My dad was super excited!

What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? I like my project that got featured best because I put a bunch of effort into it. I had fun with the art, but also had fun making all the code and putting it together. I was really excited when it got featured!

‘DressUpContest’

Where did you get the idea for your favorite project and how long did it take you to make? I started making it as Persona Dress-Up because that’s what it is. Then, I saw somebody’s game challenge, so I started putting more effort into it. I said, ‘Yes, let’s do this!’ I guess it took me a few hours to make and it was super fun.

How do you get inspiration for your projects? There are a few Tynker makers that I think are really cool, so I use their code a little bit and mix it with my own to make my games. I get some inspiration from the courses, like the ‘Feed Your Pet’ one.

Why do you like to code? It’s fun and there are a lot of nice people encouraging me. I like to see my projects get likes and views. I also like how you can make your own games and see them work after you’re done!

What is your favorite way to use code? I like the command where you can drag stuff around. It looks like some of those official games that you see on your apps or something. I also like the change costume one because you can animate stuff and make it change.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? I look at it, then leave it for about a day. Then I come back and look at it again, then usually something’s wrong, so I fix that and then publish it. Sometimes I have my dad test it out as well as my friends, but usually I test it out and then publish it.

What’s the best thing about Tynker? I love the fact that you can actually make games yourself and modify them.

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yeah, they totally should!

What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker? Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!

Emerson, Lin’s dad, shared with us what he thinks about Lin learning to code: “I was amazed when she was playing with Tynker one day. I looked at it like, ‘Whoa, that’s a visual coding tool! You’re doing something really complicated!’” He added, “She picked it up by herself and it was amazing, the kind of stuff that she was already learning for developing a game, like the event model and object collision.”

Emerson appreciates the ability to ‘look behind the scenes’ in Tynker, as he explained: “One of the things that really helps me help her is we can go to your website and actually look at the JavaScript behind the scenes, so I can understand exactly what’s happening inside of the code blocks.” He continued: “We’ll discuss things like control structure, because before when I would be writing something on an IDE, the kids would say, ‘Ohh, pretty colors,’ but now we can actually talk about some of the core concepts of the programming language that’s behind it and how it applies to the blocks.”

We want to thank Lin and Emerson for taking the time to speak with us about Lin’s coding experiences. We’re excited to hear that she gets inspiration from the Tynker community and can’t wait to see how she, in turn, inspires other users with her projects!