Coding is a valuable skill for every child to learn, and there are tons of free and paid coding websites and tools to help your students just beginning or mastering coding. Back in the day, coding seemed like some kind of secret computer knowledge that no one except for geniuses could learn. But now, it’s super easy to learn! Here are 6 great coding websites for students.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy has been around a while, and it is classic essential code training for kids. They have organized and interactive lessons that build on one another so kids learn fast and are able to get creative quick on how to code. They’ll be coding in circles around you. Luckily, Khan Academy isn’t just for kids, anyone can learn code here! Khan Academy is a 501c3 non profit organization whose mission is to provide free, world class education to anyone, anywhere.
Code.org
Code.org has a variety of ways for kids to learn to code. They even have live in person camps all over the world! They have online lessons from prekindergarten all the way beyond high school. CS, javascript, you name it, they’ve got it. It’s another nonprofit pushing forward computer science learning for everyone! There are so many cool games and curriculums to use here.
Kodable
Kodable is a really cool paid way to learn coding at home and at school. You can actually get a lifetime membership to Kodable for only $120–that’s an amazing deal for all the features that are there. Of course, before you commit to a lifetime of coding, you can get a free trial to check it out. For schools the plans are a little different, but you can get a lot for free to start. “Skip cartoons, write code.”
Tynker
Tynker is another paid coding website specifically made with kids in mind. They are all about empowering kids age 5-17 to learn and write code. And for all those kids who are SUPER in to Minecraft, they have a whole play area where kids can code their own mods, add-ons, and texture packs. If there was ever a way to get a kid to learn and play it coding because all games require code.
Bitsbox
This coding tool is designed for 6-12 year olds. This program is quite different from the above programs. Teachers or parents actually receive a box in the mail. From the info in the box, students can pick what they what to learn, what apps they want to download, what games they want to play, and what projects to complete. Of course, as a teacher you can pick and choose the projects for your class. What’s unique is that kids get a tactile experience to accompany learning the code!
Codemonkey
Codemonkey has an impressive kindergarten through 8th grade curriculum. Like a lot of the other websites, you can start doing Codemonkey for free, and then there are paid plans as you get deeper into the lessons. Codemonkey boasts built in classroom management, professional development, and matches with curriculum standards. AND they have web-based and tablet applications. This is a very well organized and well thought out program.
Wow wow wow! There are so many tools out there to help your students learn to code, and I didn’t even mention half of them. There is also Scratch Junior from MIT, CS First from Google, and more.
What are your favorite ways to get your students excited to code?
Ready for more? Check out some other blog posts from our Technology category.
Try out some ready-made coding resources for elementary students.
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