What coding really is (no screen required)
Your child already follows algorithms. Getting dressed, singing a song and telling a story are all sequences: steps that work only in a certain order1. Coding is the same idea pointed at a machine: commands, one at a time, in an order that gets the job done.
Ann Gadzikowski, who built pre-K coding courses at Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development, puts it plainly1:
A sequence of code is an algorithm.1
The thinking behind it, computational thinking, does not mean thinking like a computer. It means breaking a big problem into smaller pieces, and people can learn it without a computer1. Paper, a pencil and a willing grown-up are enough.
A set of step-by-step instructions for doing a task1.
Say it: “What are the steps for brushing your teeth, in order?”The order things happen in, one after another1.
Say it: “What happens if we put the socks on after the shoes?”A part of the code that repeats the same steps1.
Say it: “Is there a part we keep saying again and again?”A mistake in the code. Debugging is the careful way of finding and fixing it1.
Say it: “Where did the robot stop doing what we wanted?”Game 1: Program the parent robot
Your child is the programmer. You are the robot. In Gadzikowski's robot Simon Says, the adult uses the word "command" every time1. Then flip it: your child writes the code and you follow it exactly.
Her arrow map is a strip of just 8 squares. The first time, fill only 2 or 3 of them, and read left to right1. Children often like writing arrows for the adult more than following them, and she describes the child getting the satisfaction of1:
having the power to tell an adult what to do.1
Program the parent robot
- A strip of paper folded into 8 squares
- A marker or crayon
- A stuffed animal to be the goal
- A clear stretch of floor
- Agree on 3 symbols: a straight arrow is one step forward, a curved arrow is a quarter turn, a star means "pick it up".
- Set the stuffed animal 3 steps away. Your child draws the code, starting in the top left square.
- Your child points to each square and reads it. You do exactly that command, nothing more.
- Robot rule: if the code is wrong, the robot still follows it.
- Move the goal so it needs a turn. Then swap roles.
Game 2: The arrow-card maze
Now make a grid. Gadzikowski draws a big chalk checkerboard outdoors, each square big enough to stand in1. Painter's tape on the floor works indoors. One player lays arrow cards in a row; the other steps square by square following them1.
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01Make the grid.
A 4 by 4 grid is plenty.
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02Make the cards.
Index cards with one big arrow each. Gadzikowski's rule for arrow cards: one arrow per card, the bigger the better1.
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03Place a start and a treasure.
Start in a corner. Put a sock at the treasure square and a pillow as a wall.
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04Write the code first.
The programmer lays out every card before the robot moves. No changing cards mid-walk.
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05Run it.
The robot reads one card, does one move, and says "next". Did the robot reach the treasure?
| Card | Command | Where the robot ends up |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forward | One square up |
| 2 | Forward | Two squares up |
| 3 | Turn (this way) | Same square, now facing the side |
| 4 | Forward | One square over |
| 5 | Forward | On the treasure |
Loops: say it once, do it many times
Soon a maze needs "forward, forward, forward, forward" and your child tires of drawing arrows. That is when a loop makes sense. A loop is a structure that repeats a sequence of instructions, and a "repeat" command is an example of looping1.
Programmers go further with functions: a stored set of steps called by one name1. On one floor robot Gadzikowski describes, a fourteen-command route fits in five blocks this way. Programmers call code like that "elegant"1.
- Forward
- Forward
- Forward
- Forward
- Turn
- Forward
- Forward
- Forward
- Forward
- Repeat 4 times: Forward
- Turn
- Repeat 4 times: Forward
At home, write a number on a "repeat" card. Set it before an arrow and the robot does that move that many times.
Gadzikowski's shape code is another screen-free program: a triangle means clap, a circle means blow a kiss, read left to right. A red shape can mean fast and a blue one slow1.
Debugging: find the bug, change one thing
Debugging is a systematic way of solving a problem or correcting an error1. Researchers Douglas Clark and Pratim Sengupta describe a bug as the gap between what a model was meant to do and what it actually did, and contrast debugging with random trial and error2. They wrote about 4th and 5th grade science models, so the home version below is our adaptation.
Tell your child what Gadzikowski tells her students: programmers and engineers make mistakes all the time and keep improving their code1.
Spot the bug
- The arrow cards and grid from Game 2
- A small toy to be the robot
- Lay out a code that almost works. Swap one card so the robot ends one square short or bumps a wall.
- Ask: "Where should the robot end up?" Run it. Ask: "What happened?"
- Walk the toy through the code one card at a time, with a finger on each card.
- Stop at the first card where the robot goes the wrong way. That card is the bug.
- Change only that card and run it again.
Myths and what to expect by age
Kids need a screen or an app to learn coding.
Computational thinking can be learned without a computer1.
You have to know how to code to teach it.
Gadzikowski writes that teaching robotics to young children takes a disposition, not a credential: readiness to solve problems together1.
A buggy program means your child is bad at this.
Programmers and engineers continually make mistakes and improve their code1.
Can: Follow and write codes of 2 or 3 arrows, act out shape codes read left to right, and say "this way" instead of right and left1.
Try: Program the parent robot with a short strip, then let them be the robot.
Can: Write longer maze codes, spot a bug by stepping through cards, and use repeat cards.
Try: Add an if card: "If the pillow is in the way, then turn". Conditions use if and then1.
Gadzikowski wrote mainly for preschool and kindergarten, so the 8-10 ideas are our extensions of her activities.
- Paper strip folded into 8 squares
- Index cards for arrows and repeat cards
- Painter's tape or sidewalk chalk
- A sock or stuffed animal as treasure
- A grown-up willing to be the robot
If you want a kit for this
Tape and index cards are all you need. If you would rather build mazes on the table, our Magnetic Travel Tiles can be laid out as a grid, and the cars can be the robot that follows your child's arrow code.
Build it with / Ages 5-7Magnetic Travel Tiles with CarsFlat shapes that stand up into roads and garages.$41.99GoP Toys sells the kit mentioned above. None of the sources cited tested our products.