Have you ever tried to impart a good skill to your children but noticed that the effort it takes to get them interested is a lot? And while trying to do this, they eventually lost interest due to the level of difficulty? Well, programming activities too can become one of those things if children do not like doing it or think that isn’t fun enough.
5 Fun Programming Activities For Kids
Hence, it is important to introduce coding for kids as a fun programming activities before diving deep and actually teaching it to them. Here’s how you can do it with the utmost ease:
1. Treat it as an activity for refreshment
Most parents, when starting an educational activity with their kids will label it as one meant for learning and education. This might be the very thing that will put off the children. This is justified too, since most children are already studying more than they want to, and adding other educational programming activities for them can be a bit daunting.
Instead, approaching coding as if it is a game or a puzzle will actually help your child grasp the concepts in a much better way since they are now enjoying the activity and look forward to learning it.
2. Let them figure things out on their own
While coding, especially while learning a new language, like java for kids or something like that, your children will find themselves stuck in a lot of places and they will come across a lot of hurdles. The best way to tackle this is to let them solve any issues they are facing or hurdles they are stumbling upon on their own.
By doing this and allowing them to solve their own problems, you are letting them be more independent and the fact that they came up with the solution on their own will make them like the activity more since they do not think the task is beyond them. It is challenging and doable at the same time if they put in the effort required.
3. Invite their friends
The best way to get a child interested in something and have fun while doing it is by letting them know that their friends and peers too are doing the same. Having someone their own age do it will really help them see the activity as something fun, something they can look forward to.
So, just like playing, children think they can do something like this with their friends as well. Parents tend to organize playdates where children meet and do things they like together, thus contributing to each other’s development.
4. Do the activity with them
This is one way of supporting your children that will not only help them understand the programming activities better but also strengthen your bond. They now know that they can rely on you if they want to do something new and that you will always accompany them in doing so.
This support, however, has to be just that– support. You do not have to do the things they are meant to do on their own. Over involving yourself can also make them overly dependent on you, and this has its own negative implications. Instead, just do the activity separately while having a good time with your children, thus making the whole experience fun.
5. Include a reward at the end
This is one of the best and most direct incentives to ensure that children look at coding as good and fun programming activities. Having a reward not only makes them feel appreciated and valued but also helps in building their interest in the work.
The reward is a push to start developing interest and once that is done, you will find that the children no longer require the incentive to even start doing the programming activities. They have now inculcated a habit of doing it and hence, they do it irrespective of a reward.
Conclusion
Finally, it can be easy to make programming activities such as this fun for your children. At the same time, if you do not put in enough effort, it can get equally monotonous for them since programming can be tedious and frustrating sometimes. It is upon you to decide how you want your children to perceive programming, and accordingly, you can take the steps required.
The most important thing is to listen to them and be attentive to their needs so that you can make changes in the way you teach them things accordingly. A platform such as Learningbix can be an excellent way for you to get started.
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