Which language do you use to start teaching a child about programming?

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My oldest daughter just turned 8 and I think it is time to introduce her to programming.

What is a good language to start? I am looking for a language that makes it easy to plot or make animations, as it might be more attractive for her, but am open to all suggestions. She is really smart with computers, so it can be a language meant for older children too.

Does anybody have experience with Logo?

Tags: geek, kids, programming

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Permalink Reply by MariaD on March 22, 2009 at 6:37am: Scratch from MIT

I absolutely LOVE it. It's partially based on Logo. It incorporates drawing and Flash-like "drag to animate" elements, so many of the kids focus on the art aspects of projects. You can insert pictures and sounds, or use the public library. It is object-oriented, based on sprites.

Scratch itself is open source, and also the site is designed for easy sharing of open source Scratch applets. What it means in practice: you can grab someone's game and open it in your Scratch coding environment and see how it's done. This feature helps people tremendously, in so many ways, from learning code specifics to creating series of games about the same character. Check out the Cube World series, for example.

I am finishing teaching a homeschool coop class for teens and tweens based on Scratch. I was amazed how quickly they learned programming ideas, and how little "So, what do I do now?" support it required from me. The interface is quite intuitive and well-designed.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mathilde on March 30, 2009 at 8:14am: MariaD said:
Scratch from MIT

Thank you for your reply.

My daughter has started to use Scratch and she is hooked! She has been working on a project in great secret during the last three days... I am looking forward to see what she comes up with!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MariaD on March 30, 2009 at 10:15am: Mathilde, I am glad your daughter is having fun. The help forum on the site is actually friendly and helpful, if she needs any support.

I need to figure out how to embed Scratch applets into other sites, then we will rock!; ▶ Reply to This