Raynor Excels with Code!

8-year-old Raynor, who lives in Norway, loves to play with friends and code with Tynker! When he grows up, he’d like to be a football player and maybe a programmer as well. His favorite subject is mathematics because it’s fun! Raynor is a great cook–he’s made fish soup and even cake! His dad, Raju, also told us that Raynor has a special skill for making friends–other kids love playing with Raynor, and he helps them learn how to code, too! Raynor says that sometimes making games in Tynker is hard, but he likes being challenged.

We had the chance to speak with Raynor and Raju about how Raynor excels, and expresses his creativity, with code!

How did you get introduced to Tynker? It appeared in my iPad and I checked it out. It was really fun because I did Scratch before Tynker so I had a little bit of experience. I tried to program some games.

How did you learn how to use Tynker? I used some of the tutorials from the beginner projects, and I worked my way up higher and higher, to a higher level of difficulty.  I figured it out on my own, during autumn holiday. And when school started we had Tynker practice time, where we learned how to use Tynker and how to program.

How have your coding skills improved since you started using Tynker? I have improved to take the right order and use more blocks and improve the games.

What was your first project? The first game I made by myself is “Bigfoot Hunting.”

“Bigfoot Hunting”

Where did you get inspiration for that game? I took a little bit of real life and fantasy. Hunting is in the real life, and Bigfoot is a fantasy, and I brought them together to make a game.

How long did it take you to make? Probably 4 or 5 weeks on and off.

Why do you like to code? My dad inspired me to code and I began to code. I coded every week, then I think it was really fun. Then I coded more and more and more, and I like it very much.

Do you have a favorite code block? I like the broadcast code and some of the variables.

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it?  I show it to some of my friends and if it’s cool then they probably try to search for it. I find out if it can be improved before I publish it.

  “Dragonball Z Arcade”

What are you planning to make next?  I’m making a project now. My friends and I made a game in real life, and I thought, why can’t we make it in Tynker?

What’s your favorite thing about Tynker? How we can search for others’ projects. Sometimes I get ideas for projects by looking at others’ projects.

How do you think coding will prepare you for the future? It’s good to be important for the future, to make things like more robots, or more games, to help the life.

Do you think other kids should learn to code? Yes, they don’t need to like it, but I hope they will try to code. I try to help other kids [at school].

What advice would you give to kids just starting out with Tynker? They could check out the tutorials of Tynker and learn how to code before they get started. And when you progress a little bit more you can make games by yourself.

Raju’s encouraged Raynor all along his coding journey, and when Raynor started using Tynker, Raju was pleased with the progress he was making: “He even talked about variables and I was surprised by that. I didn’t expect he’d learn so fast and well.” When it comes to coding, Raju explained that Raynor likes to think big: “He’s so curious. Like with Fortnite, he asks, can we do something like that? You can think about such difficult games, that might not be easy but it’s not impossible. He likes challenges, he’s very curious. He asks, ‘Could that be done in different ways to make it better?’ with different projects.”

Coding has helped Raynor develop other skills, besides just coding itself. Raju said it helps Raynor “[b]e creative, create ideas. He’s curious, trying to figure out; [he’ll ask] ‘Can we do this with coding?’ He needs to be patient–you need to debug and it takes time to solve it. That helps him to be more patient. That attitude helps with coding.” Coding helps Raynor have options:

“Everyone needs to learn coding at this time. That will be very much helpful in a future career, even if he becomes a football player.” And Raju likes the collaborative aspect of Tynker: “I find it quite good for the kids to share their ideas and projects and to learn from others’ projects.”

Thanks, Raynor and Raju, for taking the time to interview with us! We can’t wait to see what you come up with next, Raynor!