If you think kids enjoy playing video games, you should see how much they love to create them by writing code! Kids have always loved video games since the days of pumping quarters into arcade games at the mall. Thankfully, games have come a long way since the days of pinball and 16-bit graphics.

Today, the video game industry has eclipsed Hollywood in value, as kids and adults around the world take to gaming in ways that weren’t imaginable before the technology markedly improved. Thankfully, the leading coding classes have been operating for over two decades, so their sessions are designed to teach kids programming fundamentals rather than just trying to bank off a trend.

Let’s check out how the leading online programming schools incorporate video games in their lessons to make coding classes fun and productive.

Video Games at the Heart

Industry leaders like Real Programming 4 Kids make their classes revolve around video games in a couple of ways. On a basic level, they teach kids how to create video games. By the time the program is over, the students will have created a video game they can play with their friends and family, showing off all they’ve learned in class in a fun and practical way. Teachers don’t need to push kids to learn when they’re that motivated to obtain the reward.

There’s more to it, though. The best coding classes also incorporate “gamification,” a word for applying the dynamics that make video games so engaging for learning purposes, into their classes. Things like tracking points and competing with others get kids hooked on playing video games — imagine if they were this addicted to learning!

You don’t need to imagine it when you enroll your child in a coding class that leverages gamification. Parents used to think of video games as an idle pastime. There’s nothing wasteful or empty about kids enjoying their childhood in an industry that, when they grow up, can offer them an exciting and lucrative job.

Small Classrooms

There’s a lot of hype around coding classes and children learning STEM skills. Many businesses try to push the narrative of readying kids for a digital future to sell overly packed coding classes jammed with too many students.

Look for a program that offers small classes, so teachers have a calm, quiet environment free of classroom management issues in which to do all their instruction. Kids shouldn’t have to learn from an adult struggling to remember every student’s name or compete with their peers to get heard in class.

The best programs limit class size to four, so there’ll be, at most, your child and three other students. Even better, they don’t have any mandatory minimum, so parents know the course will run as scheduled, even if their child is the only student.

Young, Expert Teachers

Some of the best online coding classes hire teachers studying computer science or computer engineering at university. This approach is excellent for two reasons.

First, students should learn how to code video games from teachers who are young enough to have also played video games when they were kids. Their first-hand knowledge of what games are like and what it feels like to be a kid playing them transfers to students.

Plus, if teenage coding students have questions about where programming can take them later in life, there’s nobody better to ask than university students studying computers. Some teachers also have other jobs related to computers, including professional video game designers!

Whether teachers are there to show kids how to program video games or give them career insights, undergraduate students in computer science and computer engineering are a great fit.

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In-Demand Coding Languages

There isn’t one single coding language that’s bad for kids to learn, but some are better than others. Even drag-and-drop programs like Scratch, which is more of an aid to teach programming than a coding language, help kids understand how computers work.

Coding languages have their own rules and syntax, like any other traditional language, such as French or Spanish. There are tons of positive indirect lessons kids take away when they learn to code. But nothing substitutes for knowing how to write lines of code in the languages driving today’s most popular apps, websites, and video games, the ones employers expect them to know.

Look for a course teaching kids the most in-demand coding languages, such as:

• Python
• Java
• JavaScript
• C#
• C++

If a kid knows how to write in the coding language that drives streaming services like Netflix or popular video games like Minecraft, they’ll be ready for the digital world of the future. It’s hard to predict exactly what the future will hold, but it’ll surely be written in code.

There should be a way for young students new to coding to dive right into a real language, and then get gradual support until their skills and confidence rise. When they’re ready, they can advance to the next coding language.

Students need to learn multiple languages because some differ in their function and complexity, but it begins with novices learning real languages to design video games they can really play.

Letting Kids Be Kids

There’s talk of teaching kids to code to prepare them for the future, and while that’s important, so is ensuring they have fun today. After all, is there a time better suited to childhood innocence than when kids are children?

The leading online coding classes design the sessions to be fun, first and foremost. Kids need to enjoy themselves. Not only will it help set them up to be better lifetime learners and computer programmers down the road, but fun is its own reward.

If a child enjoys learning to code but doesn’t use any of these skills down the road, that’s a success! If they use these skills in school and become professional video game coders after graduating, that’s even better.

If giving a child a video game is akin to giving them one fish, it’s better to teach them how to cast a rod, especially when fishing can be so much fun! If you want your child to enjoy learning very practical skills employers look for, sign them up for online coding classes today.

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