5 Simple Computer Languages That Are Great for Kids

The use of computers and computer languages in education has been impressive in the last couple of years.  More and more school going kids use computers in the heart of all academic and personal development than ever. Such use has been phenomenal in helping improve classroom interactive learning, bettering student grades and improving competitiveness in a modern education setting, among others.

With the number of platforms used to promote learning, many different computer languages have been used to aid the growth and learning. Here are five of the top computer languages that can help kids to program in whatever function or capacity they want.

 

Computer Languages for Kids

1. Scratch computer language

This is one of the most impressive kids’ computer languages, designed and developed by the MIT Media Lab known as Scratch. Simply, this is a Visual Programming language kids aged above 6 can use for different computer projects. So far, more than 800,000 users have used the platform’s website as well as handle close to 2 million projects.

The platform is especially good for animations and games and offers much functionality for the students to share ideas and points with their friends. All done in a very simple to understand manner. This language is currently available for Mac and windows.

 

2. Alice

This is another top computer language, which enables kids to learn to program in a 3D environment. More specifically, this language makes it easy for students to learn event and object oriented programming with ease.

An interesting, more interactive variant of this language called Storytelling Alice is also available and allows students to animate and improve their programming language skills through social interactions. The biggest gain for this language is to increase the curiosity of kids towards programming, which has become one of the most dependable skills in the modern world.

 

3. Microsoft Excel

More than you’d like to admit it; Microsoft Excel is one of the most effective computer languages for children. Although this language has been around for a long time, very few people have come to appreciate its efficiency; in as far as mathematical modeling is concerned. Kids can use excel to discover how different mathematical models work, how to find mathematical solutions and how to start programming efficiently.

Kids can also use excel to visualize mathematical functions, illustrate math concepts which makes their learning a lot more interesting and beneficial to their advancing learning curve. With more and more useful applications being made, it’s become much easier for kids to practice their math with Microsoft Excel on the move.

 

4. Lego Mindstorms

Your kid has probably played a brick game with you, or at least you’ve heard him or her talk about it. The basis of the game is robotics, which is what this computer language is about – teaching kids to build robots. This language will definitely prove helpful to kids getting an introduction on programming as a unique niche.  It’s however, important to note that this language is commercial and can be bought for education purposes and for personal use.

 

5. Arduino

This is an open source computer language, which is built on a similar framework as the famous programming language, C++. As an electronic prototyping computer language, Arduino is not necessarily the easiest language for kids, but for the gifted ones this language sets them ahead of the pack in as far as programming efficiency is concerned.

The language’s Android compatibility is also slated to be a boost for students to program on the world’s most popular apps platform.

 

Overall, there are thousands of computer languages out there than can prove effective for kids. The secret to user success however, depends on the seamless choice of computer language with the mental abilities and passions of the child.

Is programming a skill you have introduced in your class? And do you think it should be taught in schools? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.

 

Feature image courtesy of Flickr, außerirdische sind gesund.

 

Guest post by Alex Petryck

Alex is a student who likes to help others with their writing skills and education. He is one of the writers at Best Essays com