Coding for Kids
Shaan Prepares for the Future with Code!
Featured Maker Shaan is 11 years old and lives in San Diego, California! He loves baseball and his favorite team is the LA Dodgers. When he’s not in school, he likes to play baseball and code with Tynker. When he grows up, he might want to be the CEO of a technology company. His favorite subject in school is math, because he likes to see how numbers fit together! We were lucky to have the chance to talk with Shaan and his mom, Anita, to learn more about the exciting things Shaan is doing with code.
How did you get started with Tynker, and how long have you been coding? I’ve been coding for about 5 or 6 years now. When I was starting out with Tynker, I looked closely at the blocks and studied how they worked. I didn’t use any particular tutorials or courses to help me learn; I just figured it out all by myself.
What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? The iPhone X Simulator. It’s the most creative project I’ve ever made. I got the idea because I love using Apple phones. I once saw a phone simulator; it had 3 apps on it. I looked at it and thought, How can I make this much better? How can I improve this? The one I made has about 30 apps on it and you can set it up for Wi-fi.
Where do you get inspiration for your projects? I re-mix and design a lot of new projects.
Why do you like to code? Coding is really fascinating! You can put together a bunch of commands and you can actually do something.
‘Iphone X simulator’
Do you have a favorite code block? You can’t do anything without the ‘on start’ block.
What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? I publish it. If I spent a lot of effort on it, it makes me feel happy to see others enjoying it too. The iPhone X Simulator has about 60k views and 2k likes, which shows that others are finding joy in using it!
What’s the best thing about Tynker? I really like Tynker, I like what I can make with it. I enjoy making games and coding drones, especially.
How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future? Coding is a really good skill for the future and the world. If I go into the coding business, it’ll be really helpful. I’d like to make robots someday, robots that actually act like humans. I’d like to code robots to help someone who is sick.
Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes, every kid in the world should try coding! In the future, robots are going to be used a lot. Robots may do much of our work. If you don’t know how to code, you won’t be able to control how they work.
What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker? Play with it; develop games; study how other people made a project, and then make your own.
We asked Shaan’s mom, Anita, what she thinks about her son learning to code. She told us: “Shaan’s been very precocious with devices from an early age, whether at home or school. He just understands devices and programming languages intuitively; he’s a rapid learner. We’re very proud of him!”
Learning to code with Tynker has also helped Shaan build non-technical skills: “Resilience, grit, character—these are some of the strongest things we’ve noticed. He’s been humble about getting so many ‘likes’; he carries composure, character, and modesty. Not everyone would handle it that way. He’s creative and good at math—these combined abilities can be powerful. It’s a unique skill set.”
Anita feels that learning to code is not only advantageous for Shaan now but will be in the future, as well: “When he gets older, he’ll get to pick and choose what he wants to do, because he has this gifted technical skill set at an early age. ”
We’re sure that there’s a bright future ahead for Shaan. Thank you, Shaan and Anita, for inspiring us with how coding can be used for good in the world!
