Best children programming books according to redditors
We found 54 Reddit comments discussing the best children programming books. We ranked the 20 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 54 Reddit comments discussing the best children programming books. We ranked the 20 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Honestly, it really depends on how interested he is in the concept. Sure, he's into modding minecraft, but most kids are, and unless he's writing the code himself he's really only downloading an placing files. Also, computer capable is very vague.
Personally, I'd discuss if he'd be interested in learning more about things like programming himself, and talk it over a lot before you decide to buy it. Although it's not a very expensive item, if he's not going to use it it's a bit silly to get.
Perhaps get a kid's book on programming(EDIT: This seems like a pretty good starting point), or look into how to make simple mods with him for minecraft with him to determine if it'd be a good fit.
If he's interested, or better yet, passionate about the concept, it could be pretty great. Also, I don't believe this is something you could be too young to be exposed to, my son's two and we discuss these sort of things, it's just a matter of the language you use and how you present it.
Personally, 10 year old me would have gone crazy(in excitement) for it.
Lauren Ipsum is a cs theory book masquerading as a children's book and it's quite funny.
They are starting them young these days: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0776JB5W1/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
There are definitely some completely beginner-friendly resources out there. Many of them have a series of lessons you can follow one at a time. Typical "beginner" tutorials will start you off with something very simple, like blinking an LED. Then you learn how to use a button press to toggle an LED on and off. This gets you familiar with the very basics of inputs and outputs, and then you can start doing more complicated projects.
Here are four YouTube channels with good tutorial videos (they were linked to from the official announcement of the Model B+, so you know they're legit):
If you don't mind spending money, I definitely recommend this book:
This book is written for kids, but it's just as useful to a novice adult:
I haven't looked through any of these in detail yet, but there are a bunch of resources on the official website (and ideally, since their original mission was K-12 education, these will be written for beginners):
http://www.raspberrypi.org/resources/learn/
Anyway - I'd probably recommend starting out with the "blink an LED, push a button" route, but it's up to you. Browse through the tutorials and see if there's something that really catches your eye. If you have trouble understanding something, feel free to message me (I work in science education so I'm used to explaining stuff like this), or just make a new post in this sub. Generally, if you've at least tried to figure it out on your own/have done your homework and can write an articulate post like you've done here, you'll get some helpful responses (as opposed to "hey guyz i don't understand/know what to do with a raspberry pi what should i do", in which case people will usually tell you to go Google it).
Parenting done right, my friend. Looks like your kiddo is a little young for it, but my 8 year-old daughter and I are going through [Carrie Ann Philbin's excellent book] (http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Raspberry-Carrie-Anne-Philbin/dp/1118751256)
The book is very approachable for the young ones and has a lot of solid hardware explanations. 10/10 would buy again.
One of my main motivations for homeschooling was my dissatisfaction with the state of math and CS education in the public schools. The thing that baffles me the most about public schooling is the whole philosophy of "teach them once, they either get it or they don't, and then we move on". In my opinion, if something is worth teaching, it's worth teaching until the students understand it.
Lots of great options for math. At elementary school level, check out: http://stern.buffalostate.edu/CSMPProgram/ For middle school and high school, check out https://artofproblemsolving.com/ and https://www.eimacs.com/. For CS, at middle school level there are options like bootstrapworld.com and https://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-Programming-Beginners/dp/1617290920. At high school level, there are a bunch of AP materials, or something like http://homedirs.ccs.neu.edu/matthias/HtDP2e/. Also, tons of great free coursera and edX college courses for both math and CS. Here's one good one: https://www.edx.org/course/how-code-simple-data-ubcx-htc1x
Homeschooling gives you the freedom to try different approaches and figure out what works for you.
I tried to help my nephew get into it a bit but only partially successful. I don't see him that often I'm afraid.
You can start early (about 8yrs) with Scratch. https://scratch.mit.edu/ It's got quite the community. I got this book and was pretty impressed: https://www.amazon.com/Help-Your-Kids-Computer-Coding/dp/146541956X It also deals with Python in the second part.
There are also plenty of games that help get into coding like Lightbot: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightbot.lightbothoc&hl=en
and Lego Mindstorms fix factory: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lego.mindstorms.fixthefactory&hl=en
You could also get Lego Mindstorms itself of course. They have another new thing down the pipeline called Lego Boost for a younger audience: https://www.lego.com/en-us/boost
And have you ever heard of coderdojo?
https://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076
https://www.amazon.com/Invent-Your-Computer-Games-Python/dp/1593277954/
I thought you were kidding.
Coincidentally, there's a book called Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming
Lauren Ipsum by Carlos Bueno was also a fun read.
Here are a few books you might enjoy! Check your local libraries and book stores. These are geared towards beginners. I know you don't qualify as a "kid" but these books will give you an easier introduction than most.
It's really hard to tell people how to learn, especially since everyone learns differently - so if this doesn't work for you don't get discouraged! A large portion of programming is pushing through these barriers (seriously every few weeks I hit another new thing, feel similar, eventually push through, repeat).
That said, I've given the book Python for Kids to quite a few people (all adults) and they seemed to really engage with it. I read it myself (though this was long after I had been programming) and enjoyed how it built on the concepts in a clear way after both introducing new concepts and applying them.
I'm currently reading and learning off of, "Python for Kids" (Book). The section of code that is listed above is what I was guiding myself with so I may better grasp on how importing different modules worked.
I've been using this with my 9 yr old: http://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076
It's been a solid start...
Python for Kids
Edit: Turtle Logo is good too. Key things to remember short lessons that finish on something neat and fun. Update this post if/when you start and let us know what you used and how it went.
I thought you were joking at first but holy shit..
Definitely Python. My friend actually did this and his son is doing really well. He is now 12 years old and is already way ahead of the curve in comparison with his peers, though his parents do not compare him with others as such. Also, teach one or two non-native languages. Need not be French/German/Spanish, Indian languages are a lot useful. Pick any language of the neighbouring state, that should do it.
edit: http://www.amazon.in/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076
https://www.amazon.com/Neural-Networks-Babies-Baby-University/dp/1492671207
Maybe check out https://www.amazon.com/dp/1617290920/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_qg7aBbT33WTDJ
I'll check when Im not on mobile.
Edit: For Learning Ruby I actually started with this kids book.
I also used Ruby Koans, Ruby Monk (which is now down apparently) and the Pickaxe Book'. I also used this but didn't work all the way through. I mostly went through the bash portions.
As far as associations go, understanding these and trying to manually create them is helpful in getting a solid understanding of how models interact.
For learning SQL, I think SQLite is an easy database to begin learning and experimenting with. I don't know which SQL resources I used but there are plenty out there.
Once you understand associations and SQL you can combine the two topics and create an ORM. This isn't totally necessary, but you end up with a good understanding of what Active Record is doing. I think it's good to be able to look under the hood when things go wrong.
Sinatra is a simple framework that uses Active Record.
After that, something like Rails Tutorial should make a lot of sense. Or possibly The Odin Project.
Hopefully, that will give you something to start with. As a side note, I used the Anki flash cards to help me remember a lot of stuff. Not everyone thinks memorizing that way is useful for programming, but I personally found it to be helpful.
Raspberry pi 3 official kit price is 98.33£ Ex taxes. (http://www.thepilocator.com/Product/Info/official-raspberry-pi-foundation-starter-kit-pi-3-mmp) The price is stable since July 2017 and never changed during this period.
In the next following lines i wrote components of the kit and the price Excluding Taxes:
Raspberry Pi 3 B Computer Board - 26.66£ ( http://www.thepilocator.com/Product/Info/raspberry-pi-3---model-b-mmp )
8GB Micro-SD card with operating system - New Out Of Box Software (NOOBS) - Estimating 7.50£ (But this may depend, atm, with this price you can easily get 16GB MicroSdCard http://www.thepilocator.com/Product/Info/noobs-preinstalled-micro-sd-card-tph )
Official Raspberry Pi Red & White Case - 4.99£ ( http://www.thepilocator.com/Product/Info/official-raspberry-pi-3-case---whitered-tph )
Official Raspberry Pi USB Keyboard - Not available singularly in the market, Estimating 10£ using another keyboard available on the market
Official Raspberry Pi USB Mouse - Not available singularly in the market, Estimating 5£ using another mouse available on the market
Official Raspberry Pi HDMI Cable - 4.17£ ( http://www.thepilocator.com/Product/Info/official-raspberry-pi-hdmi-to-hdmi-cable-1m-black-mmp )
Official Raspberry Pi USB Power Supply - 5.83£ (http://www.thepilocator.com/Product/Info/official-raspberry-pi-3-universal-power-supply-tph)
Adventures in Raspberry Pi book by Carrie-Anne Philbin - 2.10£ (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adventures-Raspberry-Carrie-Anne-Philbin/dp/1118751256)
Total: 66.25£ Ex Tax.
So, if you buy things singularly you'll be able to save 32.08£ .
Note:
I don't have kids yet, but I have volunteered with different organisations teaching kids to code, so perhaps I can help a bit if you don't mind.
It very much depends on your kids what age would suit them, and of course you know them better than anyone! There are some great tools for teaching young kids to code:
I think by the time they hit 13+ they are usually capable of following the typical books for kids that age, Python for Kids is one that I've known to be very successful but there are plenty of similar books for other languages depending on what they're interested in.
That's by no means an exhaustive list of course! Just some things I have experience with myself that you might find useful. Also if there is a Coder Dojo or similar kids coding group near you they can be great for kids.
I recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-Programming-Beginners/dp/1617290920
Though Codeacademy might be enough depending on how complex the addon is.
You'll also have to learn some Kodi addon specific stuff: http://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on_development
Consider teaching Python. Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming https://www.amazon.com/dp/1593274076/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_CmesDbYGQY3RZ
I had great luck with my 5th grader using [PYTHON FOR KIDS] (https://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=python+for+kids&qid=1566683490&s=gateway&sr=8-3). He was in a programming class but it didn't suit his learning style. We worked our way through the book and then I got a teacher subscription to CodeCombat through Homeschool Buyers Coop. He was programming subroutines and writing mini-programs to earn privileges by the summer.
there's a book called Help Your Kids With Computer Coding - http://www.amazon.com/Help-Your-Kids-Computer-Coding/dp/146541956X/
It teaches Scratch and Python, what everyone here is recommending.
Ruby is a fine programming language, but there's more engaging resources for Python, scratch, and JavaScript at the moment.
If you have no previous programming experience, scratch is a whole lot of fun quickly. It's a bit "kiddy", but easy to learn the basics of programming and have fun doing it. I recommend picking up this book.
When you're through that, if you want more (or you've already done some basic programming sometime in the past) I'd move to python. This book is similarly engaging and will get your legs under you. By the time you're done, you'll be in a good position to know enough about python to what you want to learn next if anything.
After doing some of these books or other tutorials, it's important to find something you want to use that you can build. That's why I like these game based books: you get to learn how to make games that are fun to play for a bit anyway. Anyway, think about your other hobbies and try to come up with a useful program you can make for them. Programming is easier to stick with when there's an end goal beyond learning programming.
Autogenerated.
IAmA creator of logic puzzles and games that teach programming skills, and former homeschool dad and NASA researcher. AMA!
Hello Reddit!
My name is Mark Engelberg. I began my career as a virtual reality researcher at NASA, and then transitioned to the computer game industry. I designed and programmed adventure games, and helped develop compression algorithms that have been used in over 6000 video games.
I am now an award-winning logic puzzle designer with three new ThinkFun programming board games at Target!
My preferred programming language is Clojure and I use it to create tools that help me invent new puzzles. I am passionate about math and computer science education and have taught students at every level.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KeybaseProofs/comments/6oyua7/my_keybase_proof_redditenigmisto/
https://www.facebook.com/ThinkFunGames/photos/a.125775831476.130179.104029271476/10155657855076477/?type=3&theater
https://twitter.com/ThinkFun/status/898257651888517121
NOTE: Shortly into the AMA, a Reddit moderator mistakenly deleted the AMA post. I eventually got the post reinstated, but during the critical period of time for which ThinkFun had advertised the AMA, it was unavailable. For that reason, I'm going to leave the AMA post open for a couple of days, and respond to any further questions as time permits.
-----------------------------------------------------------
blurfocus :
What heuristics do you code into your tools for generating good puzzles? How
do you automatically evaluate the difficulty level and how enjoyable the puzzle
would be to solve?
: enigmisto :
:
: That's a great question. I talked about this in-depth in my recent podcast
: interview on Programming Throwdown
: http://www.programmingthrowdown.com/2017/08/episode-69-puzzle-games-with-
: mark.html starting at the 42:00 mark.
:
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SaturnineDenial :
What makes your logic puzzles stand out in the industry?
: enigmisto :
:
: One key difference is that each of my three new logic puzzle games is rooted
: in a key computer science principle, so that playing the games also immerses
: the player in computational thinking. Also, they are "unplugged" games,
: whereas most programming games are costly electronic/robotic toys or online.
: There's no other company that's doing anything quite like this right now.
:
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mikejlay :
I homeschool my 11 year old son, how do you feel about the state of American
public schooling? What are some ways to get math and computer science
integrated into a home school experience? Thank you!
: enigmisto :
:
: One of my main motivations for homeschooling was my dissatisfaction with the
: state of math and CS education in the public schools. The thing that baffles
: me the most about public schooling is the whole philosophy of "teach them
: once, they either get it or they don't, and then we move on". In my opinion,
: if something is worth teaching, it's worth teaching until the students
: understand it. Lots of great options for math. At elementary school level,
: check out: http://stern.buffalostate.edu/CSMPProgram/ For middle school and
: high school, check out https://artofproblemsolving.com/ and
: https://www.eimacs.com/. For CS, at middle school level there are options
: like bootstrapworld.com and https://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-
: Programming-Beginners/dp/1617290920. At high school level, there are a bunch
: of AP materials, or something like
: http://homedirs.ccs.neu.edu/matthias/HtDP2e/. Also, tons of great free
: coursera and edX college courses for both math and CS. Here's one good one:
: https://www.edx.org/course/how-code-simple-data-ubcx-htc1x Homeschooling
: gives you the freedom to try different approaches and figure out what works
: for you.
:
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knopitynope :
Between the three games, which is your favorite? Also, can you tell us more
about your virtual reality experience at NASA?
: enigmisto :
:
: That's like asking me to pick a favorite child! Honestly, each one was my
: favorite as I was working on it. But I will admit that Robot Repair has
: special meaning to me, in that it's my "love letter" to some of the key
: influences in my life with respect to logic, programming and puzzles: Imacs
: (imacs.org), Knuth (author of Art of Computer Programming), and Raymond
: Smullyan (master of logic puzzles). I worked at NASA in the early 90s when
: it took two $500k machines to render a VR scene, one for each eye. I built
: VR simulations for the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. We were among
: the first to prove that VR was actually useful for something, because people
: retained memories of the procedures as if they had stepped through them
: themselves, not just memorized them from the book.
:
:: porcupinewhy :
::
:: If NASA said it needed you as an astronaut, would you do it?
::
::: enigmisto :
:::
::: I am renowned for my asteroid-exploding prowess, so I am certain they
::: will be calling me someday. Saving humanity is what I do.
:::
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GGharjan :
Do you feel as if home schooling takes away a lot of the social aspect of
public school?
: enigmisto :
:
: Living in an urban area like Seattle, there was no shortage of opportunities
: for social interactions between homeschooling kids and families. We'd have
: park days weekly, for example, where the parents would hang out on picnic
: blankets in one part of the park while the kids played in the playground and
: the athletic field. It was the norm to see kids of different ages playing
: with one another, which doesn't happen a whole lot at schools. And because
: the parents were always "around", the kids had role models to help teach them
: to treat each other positively and work out their differences in a mature
: manner. My daughter chose to attend public school for her high school, and
: yes, it was thrilling for her to be around thousands of other kids every day,
: but there were a lot of downsides to the social aspects of public school, too
: (a lot of peer pressure and potentially toxic relationships that needed to be
: carefully navigated). I think her rich social interactions earlier in life
: as a homeschooler helped her navigate those high school social challenges
: successfully. So as long as you find a good homeschool community to be part
: of, I don't feel there is a social downside to homeschooling. Your mileage
: may vary, of course, depending on where you live, your kids' personalities,
: etc.
:
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IamAbot_v01. Alpha version. Under care of /u/oppon.
Comment 1 of 2
Updated at 2017-08-18 14:40:19.406219
This is the final update to this thread
Super Scratch Programming Adventure is what I used with my middle school daughter in homeschool - great fun!
Send her something neutral; a simple book on coding or a related topic etc that is relevant to her age with a note to her parents: "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith. This is something I send to all my students who show aptitude blah blah blah."
https://www.amazon.com/How-Code-Step-Step-Computer/dp/1454921773/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1518311925&sr=8-3&keywords=coding+for+kids
GET PYTHON FOR KIDS
Books like this one seem to target that age range somewhat successfully:
http://www.amazon.com/DK-Workbooks-Computer-Coding/dp/146542685X
TinkerCAD is also cool, has more than just block coding resources (electrical engineering, computer-aided design, etc.).
Try out GameJams (using game development software like Godot or Unity), too. That might get them to learn to love how fun and cool coding can be rather than just the idea of coding.
MIT AppInventor2 might be good for the older kid, after he/she has had some experience with scratch and the other resources that have been recommended.
If it were regular school, I'd say the older kid should take a "scratch course" one year and then the next take the "MIT AppInventor 2" course.
Useful books for MITAppInventor2 (these were used in my community college intro to computer science class):
It is really much more important for them to learn the conceptual ideas about how programming works, rather than just a coding language. After they learn the basics, it's also important for them to create stuff on their own WITHOUT guided directions, like those in the Codecademy lessons and Scratch activities.
In terms of hardware, for app development you can either go android or apple, which means either getting an android mobile device or apple mobile device. I'd recommend android, that's all I've had experience with and it's pretty great. Windows or Linux are great for coding. Personally, I don't like coding on laptops, but I have before with my school laptop, and it's an HP. So...HP? If you're gonna buy a laptop please make sure it has GOOD memory (8gb or 16 gb should be enough, but the more the better, especially for game development!). Just for the sake of getting the most modern hardware, the central processing unit should be a corei7. Good memory and a good CPU will make the laptop really fast, efficient, and perfect for heavy tasks like compiling/running code or testing a game.
For written programming languages, like Python and C++, you'll need a program to write code on. This type of software is called an IDE, which stands for Integrated Development Environment. Within this software, there are tools used to run code like the "interpreter", "console", "source code editor", and the "debugger."
It's a bit technical, so if you're going to be teaching them then I'd suggest learning the basics about how programming works in general, too.
By the way, coding camps are very expensive but they're useful. Check out CodedByKids, TechGirlz, iD Tech, and maybe FIRST (robotics competition).
I was watching Derek Banas Python tutorials and he recommended some books he consider are useful, and amongst them was this book. Being beginner my self I give it a go and it really is a good one.
I mean, dude is a pro, and he finds it great, so why not to try.
And you can check his tutorials as well on links below.
you tube
personal site
Good luck, and don't give up!
I picked up a copy of Lauren Ipsum in a Humble Book bundle way back when, and I enjoyed it immensely.
The preface explicitly states that there are no computers or programming in the book - rather, it's a simple story using metaphors for common algorithms and patterns.
It's pretty simple, but you should be able to breeze through it in a day or two, and it may help you visualise some common algorithms.
Even if it doesn't, it's not a bad story!
I highly recommend Hello World!: Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners. I started my son at 6 years old with it and he was off and running within 2 days.
I second using Scratch. Also get this book to teach gamemaking. Using this book is the most successful thing I have done and I have been teaching Scratch for years.
https://www.amazon.com/Code-Teens-Awesome-Beginners-Programming/dp/1684019605
​
Code for Teens was really helpful for me. I'm not a teen at all but the author assumes no knowledge in programming.
Not a joke: check out Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction To Programming.
Javascript for kids. It has been written for kids after 10 yo. I'm nearly 30 yo and I'm learning so many things. It starts from 0, you will learn the basics and how to make games like snakes. https://www.amazon.fr/JavaScript-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274084
Book recommendations:
https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Programming-Design-Computer-Science/dp/0134801156/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=tony+gaddis+logic&qid=1568820550&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Cheaper older editions of this book would be just as good, basically the same content. It's a college book so they just make small insignificant changes to keep charging top price (hint: google older edition PDFs). The book is good though.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07SZPTZ1K/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1568820681&sr=8-1-spons
This book would help you in writing flowcharts and then translating to an actual programming language (python) back and forth. I highly recommend it. There are tons of examples, practice problems, quizzes, etc. with answer keys all on the guy's website.
The authors are a married couple who used to work in software engineering and now are actual CS high school teachers. In other words they actually use teaching theory in their instruction which is rare in tech books, the spiral approach to be exact (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_approach).
Unity is probably too advanced, certainly the programming parts. If you're interested, I made a tutorial for absolute beginners with very little code:
http://unity.grogansoft.com/complete-unity-pong-clone-tutorial-for-beginners/
You could do the tutorial yourself and see if you think the kid can handle it (it's really easy, but the tiny amount of code could still confuse a kid).
I also wrote this book, which is a more detailed version of that tutorial: https://www.amazon.com/Build-your-First-Unity-Game/dp/1519091818/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&qid=1485856010&sr=8-30&keywords=unity+game
I think the big issue with Unity is that without some understanding of the code (which will be difficult for any child) everything might seem out of grasp. I think it would be better if your nephew could understand something very simplistic 100% than understand 50% of a more complex game engine. But kids develop at different rates. I definitely recommend the path of understanding the basics thoroughly before moving to more advanced stuff.
I've heard about National Geographic Puzzle Explorer, which seems to be a game that also lets you build your own puzzles to learn basic game and puzzle design (it isn't available in my country, so I can't try it out):
http://www.nationalgeographicpuzzleexplorer.com/
I haven't tried GameMaker in a while, but I don't think it's particularly easier than Unity. It still requires some scripting.
I've seen a 'For Dummies' book for teaching kids to code:
https://www.amazon.com/Coding-Kids-Dummies-Camille-McCue/dp/1118940326/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485855632&sr=8-1&keywords=coding+kids+dummies
Looks about the right age target.
Also on the topics of books related to this topic...I absolutely love this book. It's basically Alice in Wonderland (written by a mathematician) but with Computer Science encounters. There are tons and tons of nerdy references in here, but it's just written as a fun kids story.
https://www.amazon.com/Lauren-Ipsum-Computer-Science-Improbable-ebook/dp/B00QL616IC