Coding for Kids
Meet our newest Featured Maker, Travis! A 10-year-old from Pennsylvania, Travis loves to play Fortnite, ride around on his bike and, of course, code on Tynker! Travis’ favorite subject in school is math, partly because his teacher takes what can be a really difficult subject for some, and makes it fun to learn.
These teaching skills that Travis admires are something he’s really taken to heart, because he’s started teaching coding himself! Travis holds lessons for other kids wanting to learn coding through Tynker at school during recess, and he teaches his four siblings how to code when he can too! That’s pretty incredible!
Let’s sit down with Travis now and see if he can teach us a thing or two about what it’s like to code with Tynker.
How did you get introduced to Tynker and how long have you been coding? They use it in school, so I just learned by looking at other people’s projects and remixing it.
How have your coding skills improved since you started using Tynker? They’ve improved a lot! Now I know how to do just about everything. People think it’s so complicated, but Tynker makes it really easy! You just have to tell the computer what you want to do and type it in.
How did you feel when you found out your project had been featured? I was so happy! I thought it was crazy, because I thought I had so many glitches in the game, but I didn’t know people were just going to love the game! I told all my friends and family!
What is your favorite project you’ve made so far and what do you like about it? It’s called Crazy Simulator! I worked so hard on it. It’s a game where you tap and you get pets and pets give you more taps. There’s a rebirth system where you get double everything. So, it’s called Crazy Simulator!
Where did you get the idea for your favorite project and how long did it take you to make? You know Roblox and all these coding games like Pet Simulator? That’s where, but I did not know a name to call it, so I said ‘Crazy’ because it was crazy!
Crazy Simulator
How do you get inspiration for your projects? My friends at school, because they ask me to make games!
Why do you like to code? It’s fun! It’s satisfying just to make games and it’s pretty cool!
Do you have a favorite code block? Probably pick random because for like a pet, if you’re going to buy a pet, there’s eggs and a crate. Tap it and that takes a random number and whatever number you get, that’s a pet that you get!
What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? First, I test it out before I add new stuff and then, if it’s all good, I’ll publish it!
What are you planning to make next? It’s like a fighting game, like an RPG that I have made on my school iPad. I’m working on the button so it doesn’t glitch out a lot because it lags if you tap too much, so I’m trying to fix that!
What’s the best thing about Tynker? Coding! That’s the best, I love coding!
How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future? Being an engineer, my dad says there’s a lot of coding stuff. So it’s probably going to help me understand what to do in being an engineer on a computer!
Do you think other kids should try coding? Yeah, that’s why I teach everybody! I asked my teacher at recess, “Does anybody want to learn coding?” I just tell my friends and they always come up into the corner of the classroom by my teacher to learn to code.
What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker? I would probably say to check out other people’s projects and look at what they do and try to understand that, instead of just keep trying to do the same thing.
Travis’ mom, Kylie, joined the conversation and expressed how she felt about him learning how to code, saying that he is much better than her on a computer! Kylie supports Travis in any way that she can. “I really don’t mind that he is on his iPad when he’s doing this kind of stuff,” Kylie said. “I mean, he’s still young, and I love that he’s doing all that. I love that he’s doing what he’s doing. So I’m all for it!”
Kylie sees the benefits it has for Travis, saying that the intricate work of coding teaches him patience. “I would say to sit and code a game, one would have to have patience and that’s always a good thing.”
As far as the future goes, Kylie is confident in Travis’ ability. “I feel like for the computer stuff, if that comes easy to you, then that’s more than half the battle.”
We want to thank Travis and Kylie for taking the time to speak with us about their experience with Tynker! We’re looking forward to more of Travis’ projects in the future!
