Meet Mary, Artist and Coder Extraordinaire! 

This week’s Featured Maker is every teacher’s dream – twelve-year-old Mary loves to learn! In fact, one of the reasons she likes Tynker is that it’s a “very interesting way to learn.” Mary is a 7th grader from Wilmington, Delaware, who enjoys crafting and reading comic books. She even sculpts, making figurines out of clay! Mary’s projects really impressed us – she hasn’t been coding long, but she’s created great projects. We chatted with her to learn more about her and why she codes!

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a lawyer.

What’s your favorite subject in school? Art!

How did you get introduced to Tynker? My dad brought home an iPad he uses for his work, and the Tynker app was on it! I went on and just started coding around.

How did you learn how to use Tynker? Well, first I was looking at the games that are on it and then I realized that you could make your own games, so I started doing that.

How long have you been using Tynker? Probably about a month or so.

What is your favorite thing you’ve made? “Your Dog Olive.”

Do you look at the Tynker community projects? Yeah!

What’s your favorite feature in Tynker? I like that there’s a community where you can look around at other people’s games that they’ve made.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? First I show my family and let them play it, then if they have any comments for what could make it more interesting, they tell me. If they have any suggestions for what would be more interesting I put it in and then publish it.

What are you planning to make next? I’m working on another animal game, with a cat instead of a dog!

How do you think learning coding now will help you in the future? It might help me understand how apps or games I play work! Maybe I could create one later in life.

Why do you like to code? It’s a fun way to learn about games, and it’s a very interesting way to learn!

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes, definitely. Like I said before, it’s an interesting way to learn and not many people think coding might be fun, but if they try it for once, they might see that it is!

What advice would you give for kids starting out with Tynker? Check out the community’s other games, then start on your own, then see where it takes you!

Mary’s mother Chrissy is excited Mary is learning to code and that “she taught it to herself so quickly!” When asked what benefits coding has for kids, Chrissy said, “I think it definitely teaches them perseverance and concentration, and I’m sure there’s some math in there as well! It’s better than having them sit and play games mindlessly. If they’re on the screens, might as well have them do something meaningful!” Chrissy loves Tynker because “like Mary said, people think coding is boring, so it’s great that there’s something out there for kids at their level that makes it exciting for them. I don’t know how to code myself – maybe I should get on Tynker!”

It’s never too late to start, Chrissy! Thanks for your time and talent, Mary – we can’t wait to see what you come up with next.