How to teach kids to code without programming languages

I’m a programmer by profession. As a lot of you know, outside of running Smartsie I also lead the development team at a digital agency on the Gold Coast. But teaching kids to code doesn’t mean you need to know any programming languages.

We all know we’re on a crazy exponential ride of technology. Everyone, including my 2 year old son, is able to operate a smartphone and their favourite apps. Everyone's technical IQ has dramatically increased since we were kids.

Coding is a concept that will be part of all of our children's lives. Whether it’s as on-the-nose as becoming a programmer, or simply by using natural-language with AI to solve problems to whatever challenges they face in their field.

“Programming” is simply instructing a computer to perform a task, it’s not in itself, the complicated languages we learn to do so. There’s an assumption that AI will replace programmers, but I completely disagree. It will change the landscape of HOW we all code. “Learning programming languages”, and “learning to code” are two very different concepts.

Learning to code is simply learning to analyize problems, predict outcomes and create rules so a desired result can be achieved. We call this Logic.

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." - Albert Einstein

Luckily, a child’s brain is designed for this. It’s how they understand the world around them. And we can use that to our advantage NOW, so when the time comes to learn languages, or interact with AI, they have the planning and linear thinking skills to learn them with ease.

There are four fundamentals that we can teach to help children get started with programming.

Logic

“If this happens, do that.” 

Planning and Linear Thinking

“I need to do this, then that, then that.”

Prototyping

“Let’s try this. If it works, let’s add that!”

Problem Solving

“How do I get from here to there?”

Gamification of these fundamentals

How you implement these fundamentals into play is limited by your imagination, but here's a great game to try. Cut out squares of paper and draw directions on each of them. “Step forward”, “Turn left” etc. Imagine you’re a robot and your child needs to “write the code” for you to execute. Let them enjoy bossing you around, creating paths and instructions for you to collect items from the house.

Don’t go easy on them! If their instructions crash you into a wall, let them “debug” and correct it.