Do you know what is common among all the well-known developers? They all started at a young age like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Bill Gates ….. They had an interest in Custom Software Development from a young age. It is a profound saying that it is never too early to start learning how to code.
In this growing technological era, Programming’s importance is only going to grow since coding is
predicted to become an integral part of the future professions and an inseparable part of our
everyday life.
One more important thing is how to build a website. Even if a kid opts to become an artist, a writer
or a doctor all these skills won’t go in vain. Many professionals all around the globe would
benefit from these web development skills.
At an early age, all these activities can be for leisure and fun and later they can prefer a career in this
field. But the question that arises here is “How can kids learn web development?” Let’s find out some of the best ways:
WEBSITE BUILDERS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS
Initially starting a website doesn’t necessarily require technical knowledge. There are many website builders that a kid can try for free. For Example Wix, Tilda and WordPress allow creating websites within a few hours without any technical knowledge.
WIX
Wix is one of the most famous drag and drop website builders that allows customization, provides
free templates and a built-in image editor. It provides both free and paid versions with a
starting cost of $4.5per month.
TILDA
It is an intuitive website builder which is mostly used for building landing pages, which provides
a whole library of ready to use blocks and elements. It has a free and a paid version starting
from $10 per month.
WordPress
You all might be knowing about WordPress, which is a well-known and popular website builder mostly used for personal and professional work. It has a free and a paid version starting from $4 per month.
To make the website interesting kids can start making the website about themselves, their families, hobbies, toys etc. In this way, they will have fun and learn how the internet and websites work. This will also help in developing an entrepreneurial mindset as kids develop creativity, logical thinking and problem-solving skills.
These website builders allow creating a website from ready-made adaptive blocks that can be dragged and dropped on the web page. With the help of a visual editor, kids can add content; upload images that they want and other media files to the created web pages.
Kids can create simple websites and add unique functionalities with the help of complementary plugins and themes. For Example, the Woo Commerce plugin allows the user to turn a WordPress website into an E-Commerce store within a few hours.
They are designed for adults but their drag down approach makes them user friendly for even kids. There are various videos for your help too.
Website builders are a great experience but kids can get bored with it easily with its free versions and limited capabilities. Online coding classes can be a rescue for it.
There are various resources available for you like:
Code Monkey: It has a series of fun games that introduce kids to the basics of coding. It teaches them in a gamified version and a step-by-step approach. It has a starting price of $4.95 per month.
Code Spark: It is a Coding Academy that teaches in a gamified way based on a research-backed curriculum from MIT and Princeton. It teaches coding to kids from 5 to 9 years and ignites a spark for science, technology, mathematics and engineering. Anyone can use it as it does not have a charge.
Scratch Coding: It is a free coding platform that helps in developing creativity, logical thinking and coding skills in kids by creating games and cartoons.
Code Babies: It provides a series of books for kids to learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Dash: It provides free and fun courses on how kids can build websites with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
You can choose the course that your kid wants to learn. Your kid can even learn through various videos available on YouTube on web development in a simple language.
HTML AND CSS
Online Courses for kids on Web Development usually teaches the kids how to use HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). To create a website with HTML and CSS real coding skills are required, unlike web builders.
These two are the core technologies that are required for web pages:
By using these two kids can build simple and complex websites. Kids can even see the results of all the changes made to the code which helps them to understand in a better way, it makes them understand how changes to HTML impact the layout of web pages and how CSS changes create different visual effects.
THROUGH GAMIFICATION
It is very difficult to retain a child’s interest in something for a long time. They easily lose interest in everything they do. But they all love games so gamification of the various processes they are involved in would be the best way to retain their interest.
The majority of the online courses for kids like Code Monkey and Code Spark are based on gamification principles. For these courses, kids need to pass a level to get a reward or build a game. Gamification keeps their interest alive and makes them study day after day.
CONCLUSION:
In this world of digitalization having an online presence is important for businesses and individuals.
So, learning the basics of web development is very important for kids as in the future it will
help them in their school and adult life.
Web development provides an insight into how the internet works.
As being a parent or a guardian you should also not force your kids to learn something that they
are not interested in. Find what brings joy to your kid and then head in that direction. Remember
that Web Development is only one route to getting your kid into coding. There are multiple routes for coding too.
Some tips to remember:
Find out what excites your kid.
Identify the courses and online resources that will help your kid learn to code.
Provide your kid with multiple tasks that challenge their skills and knowledge.
You can also provide a mentor to your kid if you are unable to help him/her.
Keep the learning process fun and engaging.
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