In the past few years, millions of children have been introduced to coding through various avenues such as Hour-of-Code events, coding clubs, hackathons, online tutorials, one-off coding courses, and summer camps. However, despite these efforts, very few children successfully learn to code in the long term. 

The underlying reason for this is the lack of consistent and spaced repetition in their learning process. Revisiting learned material at periodic intervals is essential for long-term skill development and retention; without this consistent reinforcement, retention is significantly diminished.

Understanding the “Forgetting Curve”

Below is a graph on the “Forgetting Curve”, which illustrates how information retention decreases over time if not reinforced. 

“Forgetting Curves” from article Spaced Repetition: The Most Effective Way to Learn, by Josette Akresh-Gonzales, published in NEJM Knowledge+

1. If you learn something once, your chance of remembering it after 60 days is less than 5%.
2. If you revisit your learning even once, your chance of remembering jumps up to 50%.
3. If you revisit three times, your chance of remembering jumps to 90%. And that is what we want.

This highlights the critical importance of revisiting learned material at periodic intervals to ensure long-term retention.

The Pitfall of One-Off Coding Activities

One-off coding classes or camps often fail to instill lasting coding skills in students. For instance, a child who attends a summer coding camp is likely to forget 95% of the material by the time winter break comes around. The initial excitement and exposure are valuable, but without consistent practice and reinforcement, the acquired knowledge quickly fades away.

This is echoed in the article “Learning Loss: A Summer Problem” by Caitlin Munro. This article discusses the phenomenon of summer learning loss, which occurs during lengthy summer breaks when students lose academic knowledge and skills. This loss is particularly pronounced in math and literacy. During the summer, students often forget significant portions of what they learned during the school year, leading to a need for teachers to re-teach material when students return. This recurring loss can result in widening achievement gaps each year, as students fall further behind in these critical subject areas.

If you really want your child to learn to code, you should consider a year-round coding program.

The Necessity of Year-Round Coding Programs

To truly learn to code, children need a year-round coding program that incorporates consistent and spaced repetition. Such a program does not require a significant time commitment; spending just a couple of hours a week can make a substantial difference. 

For example, students in the CodeWizardsHQ program spend less than three hours per week coding—one hour in a weekly class and about two hours on practice projects. This manageable schedule ensures that students regularly revisit and apply their coding skills, leading to better retention and skill development.

Another key factor in the success of the CodeWizardsHQ program is the structured schedule of classes with live instructors. Having classes at a set time, with a live instructor, ensures that coding becomes a regular part of the student’s routine. This consistency is crucial for maintaining continuous learning.

The Importance of Auto-Enroll: Ensuring Continuous Learning

To support consistent learning, CodeWizardsHQ offers “auto-enroll” for students. This feature allows students to be automatically enrolled into the next course in our program, ensuring your child’s consistent progress and helping develop better knowledge retention (by up to 90%). Our research shows that students using auto-enroll have a 50% increase in course progression (i.e amount of courses completed) and an 8% increase in successfully completing each course on the first attempt. By continuously attending courses, students build on their recently acquired skills, which fosters this improved skill development and retention.

Conclusion

As you evaluate extracurricular activities for your child this school year, consider the importance of consistent and spaced repetition in learning to code. One-off coding events may spark interest, but a year-round commitment is essential for true skill acquisition. The auto-enroll feature at CodeWizardsHQ is designed to support continuous learning, ensuring that your child steadily progresses and excels in their coding journey. By supporting continuous learning, you can provide your child with the best opportunity to develop and retain their coding skills effectively. 

References 

Akresh-Gonzales, Josette (2017). Spaced Repetition: The Most Effective Way to Learn. NEJM Knowledge+. https://knowledgeplus.nejm.org/blog/spaced-repetition-the-most-effective-way-to-learn/

Munro, Caitlin (2022). Learning Loss: A Summer Problem. BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=summer+slide&id=EJ1350843

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Hey there, young explorers! Ready to learn how to make a jumping game on Scratch? We’re building a Rocket Jump game where you’ll zoom through space going from platform to platform. Before we start building our game, let’s talk about Scratch. Scratch is a super cool place where you can make your own stories, games, and animations — like a digital LEGO set that’s all about your ideas!

[Download] Printable Scratch Coding Tutorials Get 2 printable Scratch tutorials, Rocket Landing and Flying Space Cat, to code your own games step by step. Download Now

It’s like learning to speak the language of computers! And the best part? You don’t have to type any words or numbers. Instead, you snap together colorful blocks that look a bit like puzzle pieces. Each block is a command that tells your characters and objects what to do.

In our elementary school curriculum, students start their coding journey with Scratch. As kids build games and animations with Scratch, they’re laying the groundwork for computational thinking—a vital skill set for coding with actual code. 

Let’s start our coding journey together!

Complete this tutorial to create a jumping game on Scratch.

Play and remix the Rocket Jump game now.

What you need:

• Scratch account: Create a free Scratch account

No coding experience is necessary for the Rocket Jump tutorial. Beginner-friendly for kids ages 8 and up. Give it a try!

Steps to make a jumping game in Scratch:

• Step 1: Setup the scratch project
• Step 2: Make the rocket move with keyboard keys
• Step 3: Add “gravity” to make the rocket fall.
• Step 4: Add the platform
• Step 5: Make the rocket jump when touching the platform.
• Step 6: Change platform position everytime rocket touches it.
• Step 7: Add scores in the game.
• Bonus 1: Change costumes of the Rocketship sprite
• Bonus 2: Increase difficulty as the game progresses

In this game, players guide a rocketship through the starry cosmos using the arrow keys to navigate left and right. The rocket automatically falls due to gravity, but upon touching the platform, it jumps upwards to earn points. Each successful landing on the platform boosts the rocket higher and changes the platform’s position, making each jump a new challenge. The aim is to keep the rocket aloft as long as possible while racking up jumps for a high score.

Step 1: Setup the Scratch project

Create a New Scratch Project

• Open Scratch, and you’ll see a button that says “Create”. Click it, and you’re on your way!
• At the top, you’ll find the name “Untitled”. Click on it and type in “Rocket Jump” to name your game.

Set the Stage

• Every game needs a background. Look at the bottom-right corner for a little picture that looks like mountains. That’s the backdrop. Click it!
• Choose a backdrop with stars to make it look like outer space. You can pick one or even draw your own.

• Next, click on the picture of the cat to select a sprite. You can pick a rocket from the ones they have. 

• Set its size as per your need. For rocket sprite, a size of 40 works the best.

After we have both backdrop and sprite setup, you should have something like below in the game preview area:

Step 2: Make the rocket move with keyboard keys

Moving Right

• Let’s get our rocket moving. Click on the Events category, and you’ll find a block that says “when space key pressed”. Drag it out.
• We want to move right when we press the right arrow, so click on the little dropdown arrow on that block and choose the “right arrow”.
• Now, click on the Motion category (it’s the blue one), and find “change x by 10”. Drag that and snap it right under the “when the right arrow key pressed”.

Moving Left

• Our rocket should move left too! Let’s duplicate the blocks you just made. Right-click on them and choose “duplicate”.

• Change “right arrow” to “left arrow” and “10” to “-10”. Now, when you press the left arrow, your rocket will move left!

Step 3: Add “gravity” to make the rocket fall.

Setting the Fall

• In space, things float down slowly. We’ll make our rocket do that. Find the Events category again and use the “when green flag clicked” block.
• We need to tell the rocket where to start. Go to Motion, find “go to x: y:” and fill in “x: -144” and “y: 123”.
• To make it keep falling, go to Control (the orange category), find “forever,” and drag it under your “go to” block.
• Inside “forever,” go back to Motion and find “change y by”. Put “-4” in it to make our rocket fall.

Step 4: Add the Platform

Creating the Platform

• Our rocket needs a platform to jump from. Click the paintbrush to make a new sprite.
• The click the square icon and draw a rectangle at the center of the screen. This is your platform. It can be any color you like!

Positioning the Platform

• Let’s put the platform in place. Under Events, use “when green flag clicked” again.
• In Motion, find “go to x: y:” and fill in “x: -154” and “y: -55”. That’s where the platform will wait for our rocket.

Step 5: Make the rocket jump when touching the platform.

The rocket jumps!

• We want our rocket to bounce when it touches the platform. Inside the rocket’s “forever” loop, add the “if then else” block from the Control category. 
• From the Sensing category (it’s the light blue one), grab “touching” and select the “Sprite1” (your platform sprite) from the dropdown.
• In the “else” part, move the “change y by -4” block you made before.
• For the “if” part, first, we make the rocket jump. Grab “repeat” from Control and type “15” in it.
• Inside “repeat,” add “change y by 4” from “Motion” and “wait 0.05 seconds” from Control after it. This makes the rocket go up for a bit, like it’s bouncing!

Step 6: Change the platform position every time the rocket touches it.

Moving the Platform

In the rocketship sprite

• We’ll make the platform move every time the rocket jumps. In the rocket’s code, in the “if” part, find Events and use “broadcast message1”.

In the platform sprite

• Wait for that broadcast message. Use “when I receive message1” from Events
• To change the spot, use “glide 1 secs to x: y:” from Motion.
  • Set the value of y with y position block from the Motion category. This will make sure the platform remains at the same height.
  • For x, add a random block from Operators category, and set the lower limit to -200 and upper limit to 200

This completes our game logic, we can now move our rocket to go left and right, and use the platform to stay afloat.

Step 7: Add scores in the game.

Keeping track of scores

A game is no fun without the scores. To set up scores, create a new variable named Scores.

• Click on the Variables category and choose “Make a Variable”
• Name it Scores, press ok, and you should see it appear in your variables list. Make sure it’s checked off so it shows in your game.

In your rocketship sprite, 

• Drag the set the value of Scores variable and position it below the “When flag clicked”. Set its value to 0.
• Inside the if condition, in the “forever” block, add the change value by 1 block. And select the Scores variable from the dropdown.

Your game is complete!

Bonus 1: Change costumes of the Rocketship sprite 

Change costume when jumping

To add the rotate effect in the rocket, we can change its costume when it goes up.

In the Rocketship sprite

• Drag the “next costume” block from the looks category, and place it inside the repeat 15 block, in the if condition.
• To reset the costume, drag the “switch costume to” block from the Looks category, and place it below the “when green flag clicked” block.
• Select the default costume value. For the rocketship sprite, the costume rocketship-e makes perfect sense, as it doesn’t have any ignition.

Bonus 2: Increase difficulty as the game progresses

Draw more costumes in platform sprite

To increase the difficulty of the game, add costumes to the platform sprite with a smaller size of platform.

• Select the platform sprite, and go to the Costumes tab.
• Right click on the Costume, and select duplicate.
• Decrease the size of the platform in the duplicated sprite.

In the Code tab of the platform sprite,

• Add the “if then” block from the Control category and place it below “when I receive message1” block.
• For the condition of the “if” block, use the > block from the Operators category.
• Inside > block, add scores variable on left side, and any value of scores when you want to change platform on right side. For example, we can use 15.
• Inside the “if” block, add the “Switch Costume” block from the Looks category, and select the costume with decreased size.
• Add another switch costume block and place it below the “when green flag clicked” block. 

Let’s play!

It’s time to test your game by pressing the green flag above your game’s screen. 

Compete with your friends and see who can score the most scores.

Download Free Printable Scratch Coding Tutorials PDF

Get the Rocketship Landing game and Flying Space Cat Scratch tutorials in a printable format.

Make More Games in Scratch

CodeWizardsHQ firmly believes that initiating the exploration of technology and programming during childhood can pave the way for future success. We have designed a structured program for elementary school coding, that leverages the power of Scratch to teach coding principles.

In the first course, Animation and Games with Scratch, students delve into essential programming concepts, including variables, loops, and conditionals. By the end of this course, they will possess the ability to create their own games and animations using Scratch. This prepares them for their journey toward a future in the ever-evolving world of technology.

Our coding classes for kids allow children to nurture their skills, unleash their imaginations, and experience the joy of learning!

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Every parent imagines a happy future for their child. While happiness is a multifaceted concept and the idea of a “better” future is subjective, there is no denying that financial stability is a contributing factor. Research indicates that income does indeed influence happiness.¹

The Role of Higher Education

In this ever-changing economic landscape, guiding your child toward a financially stable future is crucial. Higher education is the most reliable way to ensure their stability. Statistics² from the Federal Reserve reveal a stark contrast in earnings based on educational levels. Those with a high school diploma earn a median income of $34,320, while individuals with a bachelor’s degree earn significantly more, starting at $52,000, marking a 50% increase.

Recommended: Python Classes for Kids and Teens

Selecting the Right Degree

Not all degrees are created equal–or rather, are valued equally in the eyes of the job market. Computer science stands out in several fields. Graduates in computer science make significantly higher earnings, with a median starting salary of $73,000–a staggering 40% higher than the average bachelor’s degree. Even mid-career, computer science professionals still outperform their peers, sustaining an average of $30,000 more in income.

Notably, computer science graduates are also 50% less likely to be underemployed, underscoring the high level of demand for their skills in the job market. We do not recommend that your child pursue computer science solely because it pays well. First and foremost, computer science should be an area of interest for your child for it to be worth considering. 

Importance of College Selection

While selecting the right degree is a vital step, choosing an institution at which to pursue it can further influence your child’s earnings trajectory. Graduates from the top 10 computer science colleges earn $130,000, which is a significant $57,000 more compared to the average income of those with a bachelor’s in computer science. This compares the top 10 versus all colleges for a bachelor’s in computer science degree. However, it’s important to note that the focus should not solely be on prestigious institutions. College fit, which encompasses a student’s interests and values, should be the primary consideration when choosing a school. The most befitting environment will foster learning and personal growth, enhancing your child’s college experience.

Recommended: Computer Science Classes for Kids

Beyond the Numbers

However, it’s not all about the income. A happy future is shaped by one’s attitude and approach to life. Happiness and fulfillment stem from passion and purpose. Being a supportive parent means embracing your child’s passions and helping them explore. Parents should assess if computer science is an area of interest for their children by introducing it to them. The earlier they are familiarized, the better– particularly for girls who remain underrepresented in the field. Even if they pursue a different career, a foundation in coding will make your child an asset in any field.

These realizations motivated me to introduce computer science to my daughter. Unable to find a high-quality program for her, I started CodeWizardsHQ. Read our full origin story here. 

1. A study by Nobel Prize Winner, Daniel Kahneman and fellow researchers suggests that happiness steadily increases with income plateauing at $500,000 – https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2208661120. A more accessible article about this research is available here – https://www.cbsnews.com/news/money-happiness-study-daniel-kahneman-500000-versus-75000/. ︎
2. Federal Reserve of New York research on the labor market for recent college graduates including median wage early career, median wage mid-career, unemployment rate, unemployment rate by major-https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market#–explore:wages. ︎

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From choosing what you want for lunch to deciding which career path to follow, your life is shaped by a series of decisions. Even small decisions can have a lasting impact. That’s why teaching kids the decision-making process is essential.

In our coding classes, kids make a number of decisions that will impact the look and functionality of their programs. They practice making difficult decisions in a risk-free way. The ability to make a choice gives them confidence and fosters creative problem-solving.

In this article, we’ll discuss the principles of decision-making, why it matters for kids, and how to teach kids to make good decisions.

What Is Decision-Making? 

Decision-making is the act of making a choice when there are multiple choices or courses of action available. 

This can encompass small choices, like what to wear to school and what flavor of soda to drink to larger choices, such as deciding what college to go to.

Both types of choices involve choosing from a large variety of options (all the clothes they own and all of the colleges they could attend) and considering many complex factors before reaching a final decision. 

Making a decision is a process that can look dramatically different from child to child. Generally speaking, there are two main types of decision-making.

Two Types of Decision Making

1. Emotional Decision Making

In other words, “following your gut”. Emotional decision-making can be impulsive and spur-of-the-moment but also allow for creative flexibility and passion. These are often decisions made with little deliberation when you’re feeling happy, sad, or mad. 

1. Positive examples: Deciding to write a thank you letter when you are feeling gratitude. Making a big purchase simply because it makes you happy. 

2. Logical Decision Making

When your choices are rooted in logical reasoning. Logical decision-making usually takes longer to deliberate and involves considering all of the available information thoroughly before making a final choice. 

1. Positive examples: Making a good investment thanks to solid research, choosing a good class to satisfy course requirements, deciding which extracurricular to pursue

These two types of decision-making are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the best decisions stem from a combination of both.

Being able to make a choice that’s both emotionally satisfying and logically sound will naturally produce the best outcome and less regret. 

Younger children may need more practice with logical decision-making since they are more impulsive and less thoughtful. Older children and teens will be making more difficult decisions that require time and consideration. 

At all stages, it’s important for kids to practice and feel comfortable with the decision-making process.

Importance Of Decision-Making For Kids

Why is decision-making for kids such an important life skill?

Understanding the consequences of their choices empowers kids to be responsible on a day-to-day basis. Rather than follow their impulses, they become more proactive in working toward their goals. Plus, knowing how to weigh the pros and cons is key to strengthening long-term planning ability.

The capacity to make healthy decisions is a cornerstone for living a well-rounded life. Just as good decisions can have a positive impact, bad decisions can produce negative or even devastating outcomes.

Without practice, kids can suffer from decision paralysis or the lack of ability to decide out of fear of making the wrong choice. They can also develop anxiety and be overwhelmed by difficult decisions. 

So, it’s important to practice decision-making skills early, starting in a safe environment.

Good decision-making skills can help your child:

• Achieve their goals. Accomplishing goals is never a one-time effort. Choosing the right options in life consistently is what will serve as stepping stones toward success.
• Strengthen relationships. Relationships need to be cultivated. Solid decision-making skills can help with choosing the right relationships to proactively nurture.
• Improve physical and emotional health. Prioritizing physical and emotional health is an indicator of strong decision-making skills. You’ll need to choose long-term growth over instant gratification in order to drive a healthier life.

On the other hand, bad decision-making skills can result in:

• Poor health. Choosing junk food over nutritious sustenance is a recipe for long-term health issues. Similarly, neglecting emotional health leads to poor mental health in the long run.
• Poor finances. Pick the wrong things to spend money on and you’ll find that you’re running low on resources.
• Worse relationships. Whether friends or partners, you need to choose the people in your life wisely. Being a bad judge of character can sap your energy and worsen your mental health.

What Are The Steps of Decision-Making? 

The next time your child has a decision to make, don’t let them rush into it. Teaching decision-making skills for kids can help them slow down, process their thoughts, and understand how to make smart decisions.

You can start with these 5 basic steps of decision-making.

1. Set a goal. Knowing where you want to end up can guide your choices along the way. When possible, encourage your kids to think of long-term solutions over short-term fixes.

2. Gather pertinent information. Context is necessary for better decision-making. Your kids should understand how to collect relevant knowledge to the problem at hand, whether it’s through asking questions, doing research online or at the library, or even asking for help to broaden your options.

3. Consider the consequences. Without understanding the possible impact of each decision, you can’t truly weigh the pros and cons of your options. What’s the best-case scenario for each choice? The worst-case scenario? How will you feel after you’ve made this decision? What are the consequences or benefits in each scenario? How might this affect other people around you?

4. Decide. No matter how long you deliberate, you’ll eventually have to reach a decision. Committing to a choice can be stressful for some kids (and adults), but it’s important that your kid is decisive once they have sufficient information on hand so they don’t miss out on opportunities in the future.

5. Reflect on your decision. Hindsight is 20/20, and decisions are no different. The outcome of a situation will shed light on your choices and you’ll get a chance not only to assess what you could’ve done better but actively try to adjust your situation based on the outcome. Staying proactive in the face of decisions is crucial since that’s how a bad scenario can turn good, and a good situation becomes even better.

Teaching decision-making skills to kids will equip your children with the tools they need to grapple with tough scenarios.

Tips to Teach Responsible Decision-Making 

Learning responsible decision-making is easier said than done. 

After all, kids tend to be naturally impulsive when it comes to picking between options. How can you steer them in the right direction of making good decisions?

While you can demonstrate the decision-making process to kids, they will eventually have to do it on their own.

Practice, practice, practice!

Practice makes perfect and good decision-making doesn’t happen overnight. Allow your child the freedom to practice making choices in low-stakes scenarios, such as:

• How to solve a petty argument between friends
• Planning their own parties
• Choose-your-own adventure books
• Picking what to wear to school

Enabling your kids to choose what they want and take responsibility for the outcome is a great way to empower them in making choices, whether good or bad. The more they practice, the more they’ll be able to hone their critical thinking skills along every step of the decision-making process.

Encourage listening and learning

You can’t make good decisions without context. Opening your child’s mind to the outside world and other people’s perspectives grants them a holistic view of life that will enable them to make better decisions. 

Active listening will help them understand other people’s motivations, expand their empathy, and understand the impact of their actions on others. 

Proactive learning provides kids with insight into the world at large, gives them context to real-world problems, and keeps them up-to-date on new information that could change their thinking on various issues.

Modeling listening and learning in your own life can help your kids pick up on positive lifelong habits. That will enable them to make better decisions in the long run. 

Be Patient 

When confronted with a choice, kids rarely have the insight to stay patient. However, impulse control is a crucial element of the decision-making process for kids. Encourage them to

• Slow down
• Think about the consequences
• Be mindful

Cultivating patience and mindfulness when faced with a decision will help your kids choose long-term satisfaction over short-term gratification in the future. 

Reflect on mistakes

Failures are an opportunity to learn. Let your kids grieve their mistakes, but also encourage them to reflect on what they could’ve done better. Ask them:

• What went wrong?
• Could this have been prevented? How?
• What would you do differently next time?

Always remind your kids that it’s okay to mess up, as long as you learn from your mistakes and try to do better next time. Making decisions isn’t just about getting it right one time, it’s about making sure your kids make more good decisions than bad ones in the long run.

Activities That Teach Good Decision-Making

The best way to learn any skill is through hands-on practice. There are plenty of fun activities out there that can strengthen decision-making skills for kids. Here are a few to try:

Role-Playing Games

Tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and other collaborative storytelling games can be a great setting to practice decision-making. At any given point in the narrative kids will get the opportunity to make choices: which way should you go? Should you fight or negotiate? How do you help these NPCs (non-player characters)?

Being able to see the choices they make play out in a fictional setting is a great way to gain wisdom from hindsight without suffering through real-life consequences. Plus, it gives kids the chance to practice making decisions in a group, which is an important skill in its own right. 

Strategic Board Games

From Settlers of Catan to Risk, strategic board games encourage clever, in-the-moment tactical thinking to achieve victory. 

Each decision to make a move can be strategic, so kids are trained to consider their approach carefully both on the level of individual moves and on the level of overarching strategy. Honing their skills in strategic decision-making helps kids think about larger-scale problems with the future in mind. For example, if you sacrifice a piece now but are able to take ten pieces from your opponent down the road, you are far more likely to win the game.

Coding 

Programming puts the decision-making process for kids into practice. Kids have to make practical decisions each step of the way during a coding project in order to build a website or any user interface. 

At CodeWizardsHQ, coding classes for kids deliver a structured curriculum designed for iterative success. Kids learn the knowledge they need in interactive live classes, before putting it to the test in project-based learning supported by highly qualified teachers. Having the ability to make their own decisions, receive feedback on their work, and improve upon it with better choices is key to how kids make good decisions down the road. 

The post Teach Kids the Decision-Making Process appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

Being able to express yourself clearly is an important life skill. But it’s no easy task: plenty of adults struggle with speaking and writing. What’s the value of teaching communication skills to kids?

Giving your kids the tools they need to learn proper communication early on is crucial to helping them solve problems in life, whether personal or professional. Communication is also a building block in forming healthy relationships with others. 

In this article, we’ll delve into how you can develop basic communication skills for kids, types of communication skills, and educational resources for further learning. 

What Is Communication For Kids And Why Is It Important? 

Put simply, communication is the ability to understand and offer up information in an easily comprehensible format.

Knowing how to communicate effectively is a form of social intelligence that enables your kids to socialize, collaborate, and form lasting relationships with other people, in addition to succeeding in the classroom. 

What’s more, strong communication skills can also strengthen critical thinking for kids and logical reasoning for kids. Communicating ideas with their peers is what helps a kid reinforce the foundation of critical analysis. While thinking through ideas on your own is helpful, open debate and discussion expose you to a diverse array of thoughts and opinions. In other words, communication is fundamental to developing an open mind. 

There are some great ways to improve communication skills for kids, such as practicing listening, collaborating on projects, and learning through feedback on projects. All of which kids can experience through learning to code. Coding is a unique practice that allows kids to learn and build on all types of communication skills and that’s just one of the reasons kids need to learn to code.

Types Of Communication Skills 

In order to teach communication skills to kids, we first need to understand the different categories of communication skills that exist.

Verbal Communication

Speaking, holding a conversation, giving an oral presentation. Talking to others is a form of communication that we practice every single day.

• What does strong verbal communication look like? Proactively asking questions, engaging a group in a conversation equally, making clear points with evidence, staying friendly (or professional, if the setting calls for it).
• Examples of verbal communication: Giving a speech, talking to a friend on the phone, debating someone in the classroom, explaining a work project.

Nonverbal Communication

Even during a spoken conversation, there are many nonverbal elements that will affect how your communication is perceived.

• What does strong nonverbal communication look like? Strong, even eye contact, confident posture, and appropriate volume of voice can all be effective types of nonverbal communication.
• Examples of nonverbal communication: Gesturing for emphasis while performing, altering your tone in the middle of a conversation to show sarcasm, and raising your voice to show more emotion during a speech.

Visual Communication

Sometimes, explaining things in words simply isn’t enough. Visual aids can be used to add context and help listeners visualize certain concepts.

• What does strong visual communication look like? Clearly formatted graphics, visually appealing typography, and anything else that contributes positively to the visual experience of communication.
• Examples of visual communication: Graphs, charts, tables, infographics, data visualizations, illustrations, or photos.

Written Communication

Communicating ideas through written text is often important in academic and professional contexts.

• What does strong written communication look like? Good writing should have a solid grasp of grammar, appropriate tone, structural clarity, and (ideally) a gripping voice. 
• Examples of written communication: Emails, texts, reports, academic essays, and proposals. 

Each of these forms of communication is used across every area of life. In order to teach good communication skills to kids, they need to be well-educated in each aspect of communication. 

There are many ways kids can practice all of these skills. One of the best ways to hone communication skills is to learn how to code, especially in a structured, project-based learning environment. 

For example, my brother’s high school robotics team used coding to build functional, working robots. Learning robotics as a team, they practiced verbal communication to collaborate on their code and build, but also planned each step of programming a robot through consistent planning (written communication) and collaborative sketches (visual communication). Finally, when they took their robots to compete against other robotics teams they needed to explain their work with a compelling presentation (verbal and nonverbal communication) to earn approval from the judges. 

While their technical skills are what assisted them in visualizing the optimal code and building, ultimately it was their communication skills that helped them bring home the prize.

How To Improve Your Child’s Communication Skills 

So now that we know what communication skills are important for kids, what’s the best way of improving communication skills for kids? Here are some strategies that parents can teach their kids in order to improve their communication skills.

Strategies for Parents

• Talk things out. Solve your problems through discussion or debate. Whether you’re having issues with friends or need an extension on a paper due to extenuating circumstances, you should communicate directly and honestly when it’s appropriate.

• Active listening. Don’t listen to respond, listen for the sake of understanding what the other person is really saying. Give the person you’re communicating with your undivided attention in the moment. When you do respond, try to address the core of what they are saying rather than just communicating your own ideas or emotions.
  • Showing that you’re paying attention through more than just your verbal or written communication. If you’re speaking to someone in person, use your body language to focus on the other person (e.g. direct eye contact, nodding to show understanding, etc.). 

• Think before you communicate. Speaking up impulsively, especially in emotional moments, can lead to trouble. Whether it’s feedback from a supervisor or troublesome news from a friend, consider slowing down and taking the time to think before responding. Always be deliberate in what you say. 

• Be respectful. When in doubt, be kind. Address others the way you would like to be addressed, and never take your emotions out on people when they don’t deserve it. Whether you’re communicating with a teacher or a customer service agent, be nice.
  • “Thank you” and “please” go a long way!

• Keep things clear and concise. Get to the point and be clear about what you’re trying to say. Overcommunicating with too many words or unnecessary graphics can overwhelm your message, leading to a confused audience.

While teaching kids about these strategies is useful, the best way for them to hone their skills in communication is to practice them on their own time. Check out these activities that will help them practice communication!

Activities to Try

• Reading books. Studying how other people narrate stories is crucial in helping any young writer form their own voice.

• Show and tell. Especially for younger kids, this game is a great way for them to share something they are excited about and learn more about other people’s interests. Aside from practicing verbal communication, they can also practice emoting through empathy.

• Roleplaying. Putting yourself into someone else’s shoes can help children (especially young children) empathize with other people.

• Pictionary. This is a game where one person draws a picture and others have to guess what they’re drawing. The act of collaborating and guessing together helps kids communicate better both visually and verbally.

• Theater. Joining a community or school theater group is a great way to not just get involved in the arts but also improve nonverbal communication: tone of voice, volume, and emotional expression. 

• Creative writing. What better way to learn storytelling than to encourage your kids to come up with their own story? Give your kid a fun prompt or just let their imagination run wild!

• Debate. Debate is another fun classroom or club activity for kids to socialize and learn how to communicate an argument succinctly.

The above are just a few examples of how to improve communication skills for kids. There are endless options for activities and games that are both fun and educational that will build communication skills kids and parents alike can appreciate.

Develop Communication Skills By Coding

Is there an activity that develops communication skills in kids across every category? 

Let’s talk about coding.

When you learn to program, you hone all your communication skills:

• Verbal. Programming is a collaborative process. Discussing and breaking down problems with your fellow coders is a great way to practice communication skills for kids.
• Nonverbal. While developing coding projects, you’ll often have to give presentations or explain your work. This is an opportunity for you to practice the nonverbal skills that make a presentation stronger.
• Visual. Whether you’re developing code for a robot or redesigning a website, visual communication is essential to programming work. In both physical and virtual spaces, your aim as a coder should be to make a visually pleasing and easy-to-use experience.
• Written. Apart from the act of writing code itself, drafting proposals and communicating with a team over email or text is a critical way to hone written communication skills for kids.

However, not just any classroom can help kids develop both their coding and their communication skills. CodeWizardsHQ offers coding classes for kids designed for fun and effective online learning. Live instructors teach hands-on programming projects that also build on their communication skills. Students will be able to add a full portfolio of working web pages to show off their skills by the time they’ve finished their courses at CodeWizardsHQ.

What are you waiting for? Enroll today!

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How do you succeed in a rapidly changing world?

For today’s parents, this is the million-dollar, anxiety-inducing question. What kind of skills do kids need to not just survive but thrive in a world of constant technological innovation?

Two words: critical thinking. 

Prepare your child for success: If you are looking for your child to learn to code, explore our live, teacher-led coding classes. View Programs.

Critical thinking for kids is the skill that keeps on giving. Proper critical thinking won’t just empower them with insight into a few useful topics or specific areas of inquiry, but teach kids the importance of continuing to grow, no matter what state of life they’re in. 

With the foundation of critical thinking skills, kids can better learn future-ready skills like coding that they need to succeed in the 21st century.

So, why does critical thinking matter? What’s the best way for kids to develop critical thinking? Read on to learn more about critical thinking and its importance for kids (plus gain access to a wealth of free resources to help hone critical thinking skills for kids of all ages).

What is critical thinking for kids?

Critical thinking for kids is the ability to objectively analyze and evaluate a problem to form a judgment or solution. It’s more than just the ability to think deeply about important issues. It’s both a mindset they can use in analyzing situations and an intellectual toolkit to apply to problem-solving. 

Critical thinking is the understanding that new ideas deserve to be scrutinized, even if they appear to hold up, and the ability to explore them through rigorous analysis.

Although you might associate critical thinking for kids with a classroom setting, it’s important in far more than just an academic context. The ability to assess real-life situations and draw conclusions from them is essential in your child’s future work as well, no matter which career they choose.

Ultimately, somebody with strong critical thinking abilities should be capable of exercising their ability to analyze situations in real tangible scenarios, whether in work or life. 

Why is critical thinking important?

Let’s delve a little deeper into why critical thinking skills are essential for a well-rounded, modern education.

• Improve decision-making skills. Critical thinking endows kids with the ability to assess a situation analytically and draw conclusions from available information. This capability is crucial in helping them make important decisions down the road. As a matter of fact, stronger critical thinking skills have been shown to correspond to better life decisions, even over measures like IQ. 

• Develops media literacy. In the digital age, there’s an endless amount of information (and misinformation) that exists on the internet. Developing solid literacy in digital media also means having the critical thinking skills to thoughtfully engage with online content, understand why people say what they do, and make a judgment call on whether or not to trust certain sources.

• Continue learning and growing. Most importantly, critical thinking is key for anyone who wants to keep growing beyond classroom learning. New ideas are everywhere in life, but you need the mindset to recognize and meet them where they are: in media, with other people, and in digesting the knowledge you already know. Cultivating critical thinking skills means the ability to continuously learn new things, no matter what stage of life you’ve reached. 

Critical thinking for kids is the foundation not just for excelling in school but living an intellectually well-rounded life. What’s more, it’s crucial to learn critical thinking earlier in life as it’s part of general cognitive development that begins even before children start school. 

Picking up these skills early in life will give your children a step up in their academic and social lives and better prepare them for the future.

How To Develop Critical Thinking Skills In Students 

Want to develop critical thinking skills for kids? Try these actionable tips!

Encourage curiosity about interests.

Kids are naturally curious about the world around them, and even more so about anything they might be interested in. Lean into their interests and encourage them to delve deep into any topics they want to know more about. Normalize learning more about their interests to empower them with the knowledge to both appreciate and criticize subjects of interest in the future.

• Is your kid into gaming? Help them explore how the games they love were created, or how they can program simple games of their own by learning how to code.
• Does your kid love art? Take them to museums to learn about different types of art and allow them to experiment with various modes of artistic expression.

Ask open-ended questions.

While yes or no questions are easier to solve, open-ended questions can motivate a line of questioning that encourages kids to think critically about the topic on hand or just get creative about outcomes. You can ask your kids open-ended questions, not just to start a conversation but also about things that have happened in their life. For example:

• How do you plan to solve this argument with a friend?
• (Pause while reading a story) What do you think will happen next?
• Could you tell me about a time you were really happy?

Connect your kids with sources of knowledge.

Knowing how to interrogate or research new ideas is an invaluable skill for children and will help them develop their critical thinking skills. Familiarize them on how to responsibly use tools like the internet, the library, how to ask friends, family or other subject matter experts questions to find out more information.

Open up a discussion.

Discussion or even debate can help jumpstart the critical thinking process. Encourage your kid to speak up and share their thoughts as a form of reflection, interrogation, or just to formulate ideas. While this can apply to more academic subjects, normalizing speaking your mind on mundane topics can be helpful as well. For example:

• Tell me about your day.
• How do you feel about the way this went?
• Can you think of some other ways you could’ve solved this problem?
• What did you enjoy the most about this event?

At the end of the day, encouraging critical thinking is about making sure your kids can be intellectually and emotionally open to new and exciting ideas. 

Helpful Resources to Teach Critical Thinking to Kids 

While verbal question and answer can be helpful in teaching critical thinking skills for kids, there are plenty of helpful resources online and at school. Here’s a great list of resources to get you started.

• PBS Kids Games

• CBC Kids Games

• Think for Yourself: The Ultimate Guide to Critical Thinking (Book)

• It Might Be An Apple (Picture Book)

• The Brain Forest (Picture Book)

• Big Ideas for Young Thinkers: 20 Questions About Life and the Universe (Book)

• 75 Indoor Games for Kids (Article)

• Fun Brain (Games)

• 11 Ways to Help Your Kid Develop Critical Thinking Skills (Article)

• 45+ Science Activities for Preschoolers (Article)

• Othello (Board Game)

• Thinking Like a Lawyer (Book)

Critical Thinking Skills in Coding

One of the best ways to teach kids critical thinking is by teaching them how to code. Coding helps kids develop critical thinking through cultivating skills like:

• Creative problem-solving. There’s more than one way to achieve the correct solution. Trying new methods is not only encouraged, but it’s necessary. Your children will get practice breaking down bigger problems into smaller components that

• Persistence. Coding can often involve solving complex issues, and it requires iteration upon failure. Instead of giving up after making mistakes, kids are encouraged to try again until they succeed.

• Visualizing issues from different perspectives. A key element of both coding and critical thinking is considering problems from a variety of different perspectives. When coding projects such as games or websites, for example, you need to think outside the box: not from your perspective as a creator, but from a user perspective.

CodeWizardsHQ offers structured coding classes for kids that center on engagement and learning by doing. Students are encouraged to critically think about coding not just in a classroom setting, but by completing real projects in collaboration with their fellow students. 

No matter what step your kid is at in their academic career, CodeWizardsHQ has them covered. With robust, progressive programs for elementary, middle, and high school, students advance as they learn, moving through a professionally designed curriculum that will fit any student’s needs. From picking up the basics of coding at a young age to the opportunity for a real-world internship in high school, your kid can jumpstart their coding journey at any stage.
Enroll today to hone those critical thinking skills!

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Learning is a lifelong journey, but every journey starts somewhere. 

Picking up learning at a young age can have a huge impact: 90% of a child’s brain development happens before age 5. Logical reasoning is one of those cornerstone abilities that strengthen future critical thinking. 

Prepare your child for success: If you are looking for your child to learn to code, explore our live, teacher-led coding classes. View Programs.

Logical reasoning is the ability to arrive at a conclusion using a given set of rules. It is a type of problem-solving that we use in daily life.

Here’s why it’s important to develop logical reasoning skills for kids and a few ideas on how to get started.

Why is Logical Reasoning for Kids Important?

Logical thinking and deductive reasoning clearly matter for adults. Why are they so important for younger learners?

Essential to problem-solving.

Without logical reasoning, you won’t be able to draw rational conclusions from the evidence. Forming robust problem-solving skills early in life will help your kid overcome future challenges, no matter whether they are interpersonal, academic, or anything else.

Build a foundation for future learning.

Without understanding the logic behind specific topics, your child won’t be able to grasp why things work the way they do. For example, you can’t learn math just by memorizing numbers; understanding the logic behind equations, functions, and patterns is the real basis of mathematical skills.

With that being said, what are some examples of logical reasoning problems for kids?

Examples of logical reasoning for kids 

No matter how old your kids are, they’ll run into situations where they might need deductive reasoning skills to solve problems. Here are some examples:

• Should I buy Legos or an action figure? Your kid wants to buy both a Lego set and an action figure, but they only have enough money to buy one of the two options. With deductive reasoning, they are able to draw the conclusion that a Lego set is the better choice because they enjoy building more than playing pretend and because they’ll be able to make more things from Legos.

• How do I get the snack? There’s a snack on a shelf too high for your child to reach. From experience, they know that they are too short to do this on their own, but that adults are tall enough to reach the top of the shelf. They ask a parent for help to grab the snack.

Although these examples may seem simple, they showcase critical thinking. Logical thinking and deductive reasoning for kids are important skills to grasp early for better problem-solving down the road. The ability to solve simpler issues is what will empower them to handle real-world problems.

How to Develop Logical Reasoning in Kids 

So what’s the best way to develop logical reasoning? Here are a few ideas and best practices for kids of all ages:

1. Try logical reasoning puzzles for kids. The most popular way to hone your reasoning is through logic puzzles. This can be logical reasoning books for kids, games, questions, or anything else that’s designed to exercise your children’s brains. Scroll down for a list of free logical reasoning problems for kids that they can try out today!

2. Hone in on your kid’s interests. Don’t force a kid who hates numbers to solve sudoku puzzles. If your child loves stories, try storytelling exercises. If they love video games, online logical reasoning games for kids are a great place to get them playing and practicing at the same time.

3. Encourage problem-solving. Whenever possible, give your child the opportunity to connect the dots on their own. Provide them with the information they need to solve a problem while allowing them to draw conclusions on their own. Modeling problem-solving is great, but ultimately they should be learning the basics from you in order to find their own answers. 

4. Treat failure as a teachable moment. Everyone fails. Teach your kids not to be afraid of failure. Learning from their failures is what will help them succeed. If they’re bummed about failing at something, point out what they did right to nudge them in the right direction next time. Some kids might take failure harsher than others, so be ready to lend them a listening ear if they need to vent.

5. Provide resources when needed. While it’s usually best to let kids figure things out on their own, sometimes they’ll run up against a dead end due to a lack of experience or knowledge (or patience). Providing them with resources like the internet, books, or just a key piece of knowledge that might solve their problem can open up the door to further learning and teach them how to ask for help when they need it. 

These general tips apply to kids of any age. Next, let’s take a look at the best way to develop logical reasoning for kids in specific age groups.

Birth – 4 Years

• Encourage hands-on play. Young kids are very tactile, so introducing toys they can build or mold with their hands can show them the impact they have on their environment and encourage them to be active in play.

• Provide logic toys. Simple puzzles, shape sorters, and building sets – toys that promote pattern identification are a great first logical reasoning test for very young children. Open-ended coding toys such as building sets that allow for creativity are even better, as they can foster a kid’s imagination as well as a willingness to experiment.

5-10 Years Old

• Guide step-by-step deduction. In this age group, your kid may be able to articulate a question but not understand how to resolve it. Guiding them through the steps of deduction will help them model how they can break larger problems into more manageable parts for the future. 

• Logical reasoning questions for kids are a great way to walk them through these steps. Make sure you help them understand the reasoning behind the correct answer.

• Let them form their own opinions. In this age group, kids are formulating their opinions on a lot of things. Letting them work out their own ideas about how the world around them works is a process that will force them to challenge old assumptions and become open to new possibilities, which will only help them become better critical thinkers.

11-13 Years Old

• Allow kids independence (and support) to pursue their interests. Extracurricular interests help enrich your kid’s perspective and expose them to new ideas, people, and information. Additionally, new experiences are crucial for developing more advanced reasoning skills.

• Model strong logical reasoning skills. Preteens are at the stage of life where they finally start to think of themselves as closer to adults. Walking them through the way that you make decisions or reason through problems can be educational for kids who are still growing.

14-18 Years Old

• Expand their “curriculum”. Don’t let your kid fall into the trap of consuming only one type of content. Whether it’s books, news, or media, challenge them to keep expanding their horizons and engaging with ideas outside of their comfort zone. Seeing how different people interpret and present ideas is an educational experience within itself.

• Challenge them to make their own decisions (and accept consequences). Older teenagers are often seeking independence and allowing them to make more decisions and shoulder responsibility is a great way to improve their reasoning skills for the future.

Logical Reasoning Questions for Kids

Did you know that coding is one of the best skills that also teaches logical reasoning? It encourages problem-solving, critical thinking, and provides a forum for kids to learn, grow, and break things without worrying too much about the consequences.

With this in mind, here are some examples of logical and analytical reasoning questions for kids that are used in coding!

• Q1: How do you determine if a given word is a palindrome?

• Q2: How do you determine whether or not a number is a prime number?

• Q3: How can you find the 101st number in the Fibonacci sequence?

• Q4: How can you find the largest prime factor of any integral number?

• Q5: Calculate the square root of any given number.

• Q6: Can you check if a given year is a leap year?

• Q7: Write out the game logic for tic tac toe.

These are a few relatively simple questions that are used in introductory coding lessons. Each of these is a great example of a logical reasoning question for kids that is solvable through programming. Of course, as your kid improves their coding skills they will be able to solve increasingly difficult questions.

Want a few more resources on logical reasoning questions for kids? Check out the links below to help your children practice their reasoning skills.

• Free Printable Logical Reasoning Worksheets for Preschool and Kindergarten

• Brain Teasers for Kids (With Answers)

• Logical Thinking & Reasoning Queries: Quiz & Worksheet for Kids

Coding Teaches Logical Reasoning

Kids can learn to code to gain the logical reasoning skills that are necessary for analyzing, understanding, and solving problems. Logical reasoning feeds into all parts of computational thinking. Programming helps hone logic through trial and error and learning how to code is a step toward strengthening reasoning. 

Our live, online coding classes for kids teach kids with engaging visuals, hands-on projects, and homework help. It’s a fantastic way to improve logical reasoning skills in a safe, supportive environment. Enroll risk-free with our 4-session 100% money-back guarantee!

The post Ways to Develop Logical Reasoning for Kids appeared first on CodeWizardsHQ.

Here’s a riddle: what do putting together IKEA furniture and creating artificial intelligence have in common?

Sure, both are challenging projects that require long stretches of time to assemble. But believe it or not, building both furniture and AI require the same fundamental set of skills: problem-solving.

Solving problems is critical in every part of life. Whether at work or in life, you’ll need the adaptability and knowledge to figure out solutions to all sorts of obstacles. In fact, studies have shown that problem-solving skills enhance innovation and opportunity perception. That’s why teaching problem-solving for kids is important: they will need these skills to succeed in work and life alike.

From coding classes for kids to treasure hunts – read on to learn about problem-solving activities for kids and why they matter.

Problem-Solving for Kids and Why It’s Important

So what is problem-solving for kids? While adults deal with issues in daily life, problem-solving steps for kids might look different since they’re still learning how to handle challenges. 

Problem-solving skills for kids looks like:

• Resilience. For younger kids especially, not giving up or getting overly frustrated when faced with tough situations is the first step. Thankfully, practice makes perfect: easy problem-solving tasks for kids can help them celebrate small successes and be willing to keep working the next time they run into a hard problem.

• Creative thinking. Creative problem-solving for kids means thinking outside of the box of their probably limited experiences and being willing to experiment. Grasping how to use tools together for a different purpose or combining colors to make a new color: these are examples of creative problem-solving situations for kids that can inspire them to find non-obvious solutions when faced with difficult tasks.

• Collaboration. Sometimes, the best answer comes from putting heads together. Understanding how to work alongside others is a key ability that will not only produce better results but also strengthen relationships among your child and their peers!

Why does this matter? For kids, problem-solving is about more than just finding the solution to puzzles or games. It’s about developing the skills that will help them persist in the face of difficulty, being able to thrive in teamwork settings, and thinking three-dimensionally about issues in the real world. 

How do you teach a child problem-solving?

3-6 Years Old

Young kids love to play and experiment, which is the perfect opportunity for problem-solving kids to get their first shot at finding solutions. As a parent, you should nurture their interests and provide them with a safe place to explore. Here are some steps to try:

1. Provide emotional support. Young kids can be more prone to feeling upset when they fail. You should validate their emotions and let them talk about how they feel.
   • Ask: “How does this make you feel?” “It’s okay if you are feeling…”

2. Gently prompt them with solutions. If your kid is struggling to see the solution to a problem, a gentle suggestion on what to try can help them take the next step might be exactly what they need. If they can solve something with your suggestions, they will most likely still feel accomplished and appreciative of your help.
   • Ask: “How about we try…?”

3. Promote persistence. Trying and failing is a natural part of play. Encourage your kids to try again instead of giving up when they get frustrated. Laying a healthy emotional framework for handling failure will help them in all areas of life.
   • Say: “Don’t give up. Instead, let’s…”

The key step in encouraging problem-solving with kids so young is making sure they feel supported through the trial and error process. Failure should be normalized as a part of play so that they’ll be ready to try again.

Looking for some problem-solving games for kids/children in this age group? Puzzles are great visual problem-solving games for kids that allow them to (literally) piece together the solution through memorization, strategies, and trial and error.

7-10 Years Old

As your kid gets older, they acquire more knowledge and strategies they can apply to obstacles. Here are some ways to guide a 7-10 year old through solving problems.

1. Ask open-ended questions. Instead of giving suggestions as you would for a younger kid, try asking open-ended questions that encourage kids to think for themselves. Hypotheticals are a great way to get their thinking on the right track.
   1. Ask: “What would happen if you…?” “How would…affect…?”

2. Encourage kids to work for their own answer. This can look like encouraging words, teamwork, or just rewarding them for coming up with a working solution. With the right problem-solving activity for kids, you might be able to make the reward the result of their hard work!
   1. Say: “Have you tried looking into…?” “You’re so close to solving this!”

3. Reflect on failures. Learning from your failures is how you do better the next time. If your kid fails at a task or breaks something, ask them guiding questions to suggest alternative ways to accomplish something.
   1. Say: “Good job this time! How about next time…?” “How do you feel?”

Here are two good problem-solving games for kids aged 7 to 10:

• Interactive storytelling. Since kids at this age are getting into reading, you can leverage that into a fun communal storytelling experience. Whether this is playing out a story through pretend, an age-appropriate computer game, or even something more rules-heavy like playing in a tabletop roleplaying game, interactive storytelling is a great way to get kids to think from different perspectives and use the tools they are offered in-universe to resolve troubles.

• Building projects. Whether it’s a physical building kit like Lincoln Logs or Lego or introducing them to games like Minecraft where you can experiment with building or coding, allowing a kid to get creative while building is a great way to inspire them to solve problems in a virtual world.

Group problem-solving games for kids can be even better, as they encourage collaboration and teamwork!

11-14 Years Old

At this age, your kid will be more independent than before. Here’s how to encourage better problem-solving strategies for kids in their preteens to teenage years:

1. Promote self-guided learning. Expanding your child’s knowledge base better equips them with a toolkit for future problem-solving. Reading books, reputable online articles, and going to the library are great ways for your kids to absorb more information about topics they’re passionate about.

2. Give them space to build. While it’s nice to give your kids projects, 11-14 is also a good age for them to drill down on their own interests. Give them the space to form their own opinions on issues and empower them with the tools to pursue whatever they might be passionate about.

3. Be supportive. The best thing parents can give their teenagers is support. Be their biggest cheerleader during any projects and problem-solving attempts!

When it comes to good activities for younger teens, learning how to code is a great way to develop problem-solving skills. It encourages trial and error, improvement through repetition, and creative thinking, in addition to being a valuable skill in today’s technology-centric world. Read on and you’ll find out why kids need to learn coding in order to improve their problem-solving skills.

With an idea of how to teach problem-solving skills for kids, let’s take a look at the basic steps of how to solve a problem.

5 Basic Steps in Problem-Solving (IDEAL)

To understand how problem-solving games for kids can be a fun, immersive experience, you should understand the fundamental steps of problem-solving. In 1984, Bransford and Stein published one of the most popular and well-regarded problem-solving methods. It’s used both in industry and in education to help various learners establish a problem, generate solutions, and move forward quickly and efficiently. By teaching your child the IDEAL model, you can provide them with a set of steps to approach a problem with confidence. 

These five steps will help your kid outline a problem-solving process, no matter what kind of issue they are facing.

1. I: Identify the Problem
2. D: Define an Outcome
3. E: Explore Possible Strategies
4. A: Anticipate Outcomes and Act
5. L: Look and Learn

Step 1: Identify the Problem

Knowing is half the battle. Without a clear understanding of the issue, your kid won’t be able to find a solution. So what are some ways to better identify and understand a problem at hand?

1. Research. Nowadays, there are an endless array of tools available to curious kids who want to learn more about any subject. Whether it’s the internet, the library, or asking a teacher or other trusted adult for more information, there are many ways to gain a comprehensive understanding of most subjects.

2. Observation. Sometimes, you have to see something to believe it! If your kid is investigating a real-world phenomenon, observing it in real life can help them hone observational skills and pattern-identifying abilities. 
3. Act! For kids who like to learn hands-on, just diving into the rest of the problem-solving process can be educational in its own way. Sometimes you need to break a few eggs to make the omelet (of problem-solving).

Step 2: Define an Outcome

Once you have an understanding of the problem, you’ll need to know what kind of solution you are looking for. This doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be definitive.

For example:

• “My goal is for this robot to be able to walk.”
• “I want to complete this puzzle.”
• “I want to code a responsive website.”

Outcomes can be as simple or complicated as your kid wants them to be. Breaking a multi-step plan down into individual outcomes can sometimes help make it less intimidating and more manageable!

Step 3: Explore Possible Strategies

After defining the outcome you want, you’ll need to translate it into a concrete plan. Here are a few ways to get the creative juices flowing:

1. Brainstorm. Taking time to brainstorm, especially in groups, is a great step toward generating creative answers. Don’t be afraid to encourage ideas that might seem unrealistic or unusable, as these are all steps toward generating a solution.

2. Draw something. Even if your kid isn’t artistic, sketching something out by hand can jumpstart their imagination and help them visualize what a complete solution can look like.

3. Jot it down. On the other end of the spectrum: if you know your kid likes to express thoughts through writing, reminding them to write their thoughts down is a helpful first step to organizing seemingly unrelated ideas. 

Step 4: Anticipate Outcomes & Act

Now that your problem-solving activities for kids have concluded their planning phase, there’s only one thing left to do: execute.

If your child has a more cautious personality, you might have to actively encourage the transition from planning to action. While there’s always the risk of failure in bringing a plan on paper into reality, the lessons learned afterward are invaluable. 

The best you can do is prepare your child for failure as much as success. Training them to have a healthy outlook on failure is the first step in encouraging problem-solving kids to continue their pursuits.

Step 5: Look and Learn

So the plan has been executed. Does that mean this is the end of the line?

Definitely not. Whether your kid fails or succeeds, they will need to assess and understand their results.

1. Failure:
   1. What went wrong? 
   2. How can you fix the issue(s) next time?
   3. Were there any unfixable issues? How can you control another experiment for those?
2. Success:
   1. What worked and why did it work? 
   2. Are these results replicable? 
   3. Were there any issues? How can you fix them next time?

Teaching kids problem-solving isn’t just about getting them to solve problems. It should also teach them how to learn from failure and iterate upon success. 

Fun Problem-Solving Activities For Kids

Looking to introduce some problem-solving situations for kids in a fun, accessible way? Check out these resources.

1. Online Mind Puzzles by Braingle (free)

2. Jigsaw Puzzles by Jigsaw Planet (free)

3. Your Very Own Robot, an interactive storytelling gamebook 

4. Printable coding worksheets for kids (free)

5. The Super Sudoku Book for Smart Kids

6. Algorithm City: coding for kids (free)

7. The Big Book of Mazes for Kids

8. MindGames.com (free)

9. Topmarks Education Games (free)

10. Scratch: coding for kids (free)

Coding Teaches Problem-Solving Skills

Coding teaches problem-solving skills for kids from all angles. They get the opportunity to iterate through trying and failing, build projects from the ground up with the complex syntax of coding languages, and hone their critical thinking skills through consistent practice. Your child can reap the benefits of coding not just in their professional careers, but also in life. 
Of course, it can be challenging to introduce your kids to a difficult topic like coding without the appropriate resources or instruction. CodeWizardsHQ coding programs for kids offer a great gateway for any kid to learn coding and practice their problem-solving skills. With a core curriculum designed for kids aged 8-18, specialty tracks for specific coding languages, and coding expert teachers who are available to help both inside and outside of class, we’ve got you and your kid covered. Sign up for our coding programs for kids for a 100% risk-free trial!

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Backed by data from reputable sources, these charts provide great insight into where opportunities lie for our children. Learning to code provides your children with the skills needed to capitalize on these opportunities.

Prepare your child for success: If you are looking for your child to learn to code, explore our live, teacher-led coding classes. View Programs.

1. Computing jobs are the #1 source of new wages in the US

There are an estimated 500,000 current job openings in the computing field today. These jobs are in every industry and in every state. It they are projected to grow at twice the rate of all other jobs.

2. The STEM Opportunity is in computer science

Despite the significant focus on STEM, what is missed out is that 71% of all new STEM jobs are in computing. However, only 8% of STEM graduates are in computing. This mismatch creates significant opportunities for children with computing background.

3. Computer science graduates earn 40% more than other college graduates

It is a lucrative field to be working in. The average lifetime earnings of a computer science graduate is 40% more than other college graduates. The gap between demand and supply continues to increase resulting in increases in wages for people with computing skill.

4. Interest in learning to code peaks in middle school

This is important particularly for girls. During middle school, children are more open to learning new skills, tend to believe computing as cool, and the gender stereotypes haven’t set in that hard. 79% of working professionals got their first serious exposure to coding in middle school.

5. Most parents want their child to learn computer science

More and more parents are seeing the broader trend and want their child to learn computer science. Since most schools don’t offer coding classes for kids, parents are enrolling their children in supplemental coding programs to acquire these skills.

6. 204% increase in students taking high-school computer science courses

There was a 204% increase in the # of students taking AP computer science in high-school. As such, we recommend students take a preparatory AP computer science course that teaches the coding parts of the test. Students are starting to recognize the value of a high-school computer science courses. It leads to a future in 130 career areas and 48 college majors.

7. Computer Science is being integrated into every college major

As computing enters every aspect of model life, college education is also starting to reflect that. Some of the recent advances in many fields are being powered by the integration of computing to those fields. Watch this video to see what your child can expect to see when they get into college.

8. Coding helps bring ideas to life

Many of the big companies that we know today are founded by individuals who knew how to code. When your children know how to code, an idea doesn’t die after a conversation. They build a basic version and see how people react to it. When there is a positive response, they can build on it. Airbnb, Instacart, and Dropbox were all built that way. By giving them the skill of coding, you can give wings to your child’s ideas.

9. Many emerging fields are driven by software

The exciting fields that our children will make their careers in over the next 10-20 years are all driven by software. Knowing how to code gives kids an edge to thrive in these jobs of the future.

Prepare your child for success: If you are looking for your child to learn to code, explore our live, teacher-led coding classes. View Programs.

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