Teaching python (programming) to children

[brueckd at tbye.com]

On 6 Nov 2001, Brian Elmegaard wrote:

> Paul Rubin <phr-n2001d at nightsong.com> writes:
>
> > Guido Stepken <stepken at little-idiot.de> writes:
> > > > the Logo language.  See the book Mindstorms, by Seymour Papert.  He
> > >
> > > I have had great success in making children (12-15) having fun programming
> > > python .... before the were only interested in playing gameboy...with
>
> > Yes, Python is probably a good choice at ages 12-15.  By "children" I
> > thought of the kids aged maybe 6-8.  Python wouldn't make any sense
> > at that age, but Logo apparently worked ok.
>
> And I thought about the ages inbetween, I guess. At 8 they don't have
> the reading and writing skills to program, at 10 I believe they
> do. I will look at pygame.

Hi Brian,

As with reading and writing, the age at which kids can start programming
will vary wildly. My 3 year old knows her letters and will probably be
reading long before 8. I was much more of a doofus, but still managed to
learn BASIC at 8 (it was "neat" enough to overcome lack of intelligence &
skills). Also, keep in mind that programming helps develop analytical
skills, so you don't necessarily need to wait until the kid can think
analytically to turn him or her loose on programming.

Woulda been fun to start out with Python...

-Dave