It is no secret that young people in the United States are enthralled with their video games. This doesn’t mean video games necessarily have to be a distraction, however. These games can be used as educational tools. Consider a recent article for Geek Dad titled “Hello Ruby: Adventures in Coding – Thinking Like a Programmer.”

Randy Slavey of Geek Dad writes, “Hello Ruby blew past its initial $10,000 goal on Kickstarter nearly two years ago to become one of the most anticipated children’s books to be launched on the crowdfunding platform. While there are dozens of excellent programming books available that are targeted specifically to kids, what makes Hello Ruby different from other coding books is its surprising lack of code. Any code. Hello Ruby contains no “Hello World” examples, no “Build a Working Calculator” project. There is no mention of language or syntax. In fact, unless you’re reading the eBook version, you don’t even need a computer. Instead, Hello Ruby approaches programming, not as a skill to be taught, but as a way of thinking about a problem. Written and illustrated by programmer Linda Liukas, formerly of Codecademy and 2013 Ruby Hero, Hello Ruby tells the story of a precocious little girl named Ruby who goes on an adventure to find five gems her father has hidden for her. Along the way, she meets a number of interesting characters that will probably seem a little familiar to those with programming or general computer backgrounds. Ruby has to learn to communicate with the penguins, who can be difficult to understand at times with their utterances of ‘grep!’, ‘ awk!’, and ‘bash!’, and the Snow Leopard, who lives on the mountain and prefers simplicity and purity. Throughout the book, Ruby is faced with problems that must be solved using basic principles of programming such as conditions and loops.”

While video games can do wonders for young children, at a certain age, they need human mentorship. This doesn’t have to be less fun or engaging. In fact, with CodeRev Kids, we emphasise having fun just as much as we emphasise coding concepts and languages. As a result, our students stay engaged and learn at the same time.

Furthermore, all of our lessons are customized to fit each students’ level of expertise. All of these lessons emphasise computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. Thus, they are just as thorough as they are fun.

For more, check out our fall classes and afterschool programs!