Coding is an innovative activity for kids. The little ones simply enjoy making characters, playing music, or publishing a website. As a parent, with an aim to make your child technically creative from now, you have got to get your child started with coding at home.

For proper guidance, you might have got some small books and have found some interesting online resources. Despite making these efforts, have you suddenly found that your kid is losing interest in coding? So, what would you do now?

6 Tips To Maintain The Interest Of Your Kid In Coding

The fact is that it is actually easy to get kids started with programming, but challenging to sustain their interest. Here are five tips to help you overcome this challenge effectively:

Stay Away From Mundane Programs

Is your kid still going through those age-old “Hello World” or “Good Morning” programs that teach how to print these words on the computer screen? Believe it or not; this is truly boring and tedious for them. This could be one of the main reasons why your kid suddenly loses interest in coding.

Thus, it is essential to make coding fun for your kid. Rather than on too academic curricula, it is suggested to focus on engaging, fun-filled courses that boost your child’s interest in coding. For this, you need to find out what is interesting for your child.

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A few kids love to design a car for best-selling arcade games, while some are interested in creating a personal webpage. Recognize these interests and accordingly help in finding the relevant resources. These resources should be such that your child comes out with flying colors via optimal interactivity and fun while learning.

For example, if your kid loves to create some characters, the drag-and-drop interface of Scratch as a block-based platform could be quite engaging. After all, any kid will be much interested in a program that helps them learn as per the prevalent curiosity and desire.

Stop Micromanaging Your Kid

It has become common for parents to keep telling their kids what to learn, what not to learn, how much to study, and which resources to consider. Well, kids consider this as verbal hammering, which could be another big reason why kids no longer want to continue coding. Kids simply do not like the so-called guidance. After all, nobody likes any unasked advice.

Rather, it is recommended to do what a good leader will do for the team; set small objectives and ensure that all in the team are made aware of the rewards and punishments. Your kid something similar.

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Measure the progress of your kid and help them set interesting goals. Once done, ensure that your child comprehends the benefits of achieving those goals and punishments for not achieving them.

Well, you need to find a way to punish such that the kid is encouraged to overcome the failure the next time. For example, the punishment could be not allowing the kid to learn a new Python concept of her or his interest until this goal is achieved. It is just like automatically not going to the next Mario level until the existing level is passed.

However, do not punish your child for being unwise or lazy. Your punishment should be encouraging enough to accomplish the goals while overcoming weaknesses.

Instead of You, Let Your Kid Code!

Do you often take control over the mouse and keyboard to code? Your intention may be good to demonstrate something good but it is deterring your kid from learning at the same time. Sharing knowledge is interesting, especially by demonstrating to someone what you already know.

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However, you need to understand that the skill of coding is mastered only with hands-on practice. Thus, let your kid take full control over the keyboard and mouse even if it means making errors. Overcome the temptation to type while being with your kid, even if it is for a few minutes.

If your kid needs to click a menu item, point to the screen rather than you clicking it. If there are a few coding lines to be typed, allow your kid to do so. Yes, you may do this more quickly but your learner needs the typing experience more than you.

Make Learning Conversational

You may choose to let your kid start with light learning, such as learning the basics via a short video. No matter what this resource is, encourage your kid to talk with a family member, friend, or teacher about coding just by sharing some learned facts.

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With a friend, the child can talk about the role of coding in making a video game. She or he can easily ask a computer teacher how coding helps in making bots. This gives a golden opportunity to your kid to recall what is learned while possibly learning more by listening.

Set Up a Network of Coding Friends

Kids become good coders if they are encouraged to code as a team. As they are learning, it is wise to have them in a network of friends or peers who are also interested in coding. This is an effective way to keep them engaged.

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Learning to code in a group promotes teamwork and allows kids to learn from each other. You may choose to have your kid participate in a virtual online program where kids from across the globe are also learning, or find someone as a mentor to give the group a challenge to get started.

Avoid Insistence

It is okay to know that your kid is not interested in coding. However, it is not okay to insist on the little one code. The best strategy here would be to give some time during which you can engage your child in a puzzle-based activity that fosters analogous skills, including problem-solving. After some time, you can try to measure your kid’s interest in coding or try different coding endeavors to know what she or he enjoys.

Conclusion

It is essential to find out why your kid is losing interest in coding if you do not want the little one to give up. Once the cause is known, find the solution; the above tips will certainly help you here. Check out the programming courses for kids on LearningBix today!