Summer Project 101: How To Code

Although I don’t have the fortune of mothering a child yet, I do have a brother who is 9 years younger than me. He is going to be a freshman in high school this Fall. I stress myself a lot when summer time rolls around. He is not attending school, therefore barely has any confrontation with the outside world. Kids nowadays are not getting enough Vitamins D, thanks to all the video games parents spoil them with.

This summer, I want to do fun projects with him so he can get away from the TV screen. I thought I’d share that with all of the parents reading this…

As schools are embracing technology more and more I thought I’d get ahead and teach my brother how to code this summer! I am new to it as well so it’d be a fun project to learn together.

Here are some programs I found from Forbes:
1. Dash and Dot from Wonder Workshop

2. Sphero

3. LEGO Mindstorms

4. CodeSpark

5. The Foos

6. Scratch and Scratch Jr.

7. Code.org

8. Code Avengers

9. Kano Computer Kit 

Clearly, this is an indoor project. But I thought it is most appropriate in taking baby steps before bringing out the big gun. The point here is to interact with the kid, getting him away from his video games, and get his creative juices flowing.

To add a little background about my brother, he is not a straight A students but he is taking taking Algebra this Fall and take interest in creating things. So if that sounds like your kid, this would be a perfect project for the summer!

P.S I am personally really excited for the last two… comment below if you have tried any!