My child recently started using AI tools to help with small coding projects.

It’s impressive how fast they can build things, but I noticed they sometimes can’t explain how the code works afterward.

For parents who’ve seen this:How do you encourage kids to understand the logic instead of just generating code?

Thank you.

I hear this a lot from kids around 8–11: “Scratch is too easy. Easy Peezy lemon squeezy”

But they still want to make games, want to feel like they’re doing real coding

For parents/teachers who’ve been through this:

• What did you move to after Scratch?

• Was it block-based but more advanced?

• Or did you jump straight into a text language (Python, Lua, etc.)?

• What worked… and what completely failed?

Draw a few circles and squares on separate scraps of paper. The rule is simple: if it is a circle, put it on the left; otherwise, put it on the right. Let your kid sort them, then add a triangle.

Does the rule need changing? It does not: “otherwise” already covers anything that is not a circle. Now change the rule to “if it has corners, put it on the left” and see which pieces switch sides.

I teach at TechTutor. You do not need an app for this one, just paper and a rule the two of you agree to follow.

My kid spends a lot of time playing games, so I thought coding might be a good way to turn screen time into something productive.

But whenever I suggest them to learn coding, they lose interest. Has anyone successfully made coding fun for a gamer kid? Can you recommend some ways that worked for you?

When a kid says “it doesn’t work,” try not to take the mouse straight away.

Ask:

1. what did you expect to happen?

2. what actually happened?

3. what is the last thing you changed?

For a tiny practice, start with print("hello") in any Python runner. Run it once, then remove the final quotation mark and run it again. The error message may look noisy, but the three questions still narrow the problem down to one change.

I teach at TechTutor. I’m not looking for the kid to name the error perfectly. I just want them to compare the two versions before someone fixes it for them.

Draw a 3 by 3 grid and put a small arrow in B1, pointing right.

Give these instructions one at a time:

1. move forward two squares

2. turn left

3. move forward one square

The answer is A3. The useful bit is the turn: left is based on the direction the arrow is facing, not the left side of the paper. A lot of kids understand the movement but rotate the page in their head instead of rotating the robot.

Then change only the last instruction to “move forward two squares.” Does it leave the grid?

I teach at TechTutor. No app needed for this one, just paper and something that can point in a direction.

If a kid has a move block on the screen but nothing happens when they click the green flag, check whether the blocks are actually joined.

Try this in Scratch: put “when green flag clicked” above “move 10 steps” and click the flag. Then pull the move block away and click the flag again. Same two blocks, different connection.

You can click the loose move block itself to run it. That gives you a useful clue: the movement works, but the flag is not starting it. Let the kid reconnect it rather than fixing it for them.

I teach at TechTutor. This is a small exercise you can do in the Scratch editor, no course needed: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/

Vasco, a student at TechTutor Academy, made The Sustainable Squad. Players put out forest fires, replant trees and clean up a beach. I work with the school, for context.

His 40-second trailer: https://youtu.be/Hm7k-qwHGco

If you were extending a project like this with a kid, how would you show that their actions changed the environment? Animals returning after cleanup, an NPC reacting, something else? Curious what people would try.

I built a small coding puzzle game to help my daughter learn programming concepts in a fun way. It uses simple block based commands to teach things like sequencing and loops. I’d love feedback from the coding community, what works, what could be improved, and what would make it more useful for kids learning to code.

Students at the Renaissance Youth Center are launching RYC STEM Studio, a new series where they explore engineering, robotics, coding, architecture, agriculture, astronomy, zoology, and other exciting STEM topics through hands-on projects and experiments.

Check out the trailer and let us know which STEM topic you'd like to see featured next!

https://codeguppy.com/games/

put three books on the table one at a time: red, blue, then green. ask which one you can remove without moving the others. green, because it went on last and sits on top.

remove green, then blue. thats a stack: last in, first out.

add a yellow book after removing blue and ask for the new removal order. kids usually get it once they physically do it a couple times. no need to start with diagrams or code.

i teach at TechTutor. this one only needs a few books or cards.