Coding for Kids for Dummies

 A guide for kids who want to learn coding

Coding is quickly becoming an essential academic skill, right up there with reading, writing, and arithmetic. This book is an ideal way for young learners ages 8-13 who want more coding knowledge than you can learn in an hour, a day, or a week.

Written by a classroom instructor with over a decade of experience teaching technology skills to kids as young as five, this book teaches the steps and logic needed to write code, solve problems, and create fun games and animations using projects based in Scratch and JavaScript. This 2^nd Edition is fully updated to no longer require any limited-time software downloads to complete the projects.

• Learn the unique logic behind writing computer code
• Use simple coding tools
ideal for teaching kids and beginners
• Build games and animations
you can show off to friends
• Add motion and interactivity to your projects 

Whether you’re a kid ready to make fun things using technology or a parent, teacher, or mentor looking to introduce coding in an eager child’s life, this fun book makes getting started with coding fun and easy!

Camille McCue, PhD is a STEM educator and leader who has worked for IBM, NASA, PBS, and numerous independent schools. She has taught every grade from kindergarten to grad school, covering topics ranging from Scratch to AP computer science. Camille is co-author of Helping Kids with Coding For Dummies and author of Getting Started with Coding and Getting Started with Engineering.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started 5

Chapter 1: What Is Coding? 7

What Languages Will I Use? 8

What Does a Computer Program Look Like? 9

A Hello World! Example 10

Recipe for a Program 11

Planning a Program 13

Prepping Yourself to Code 15

Coding Cool Stuff 16

Chapter 2: Working with Programming Languages and IDEs 18

Basic IDE Setup and Navigation 19

Adding Hardware 33

Getting Fancier with User Interfaces 36

Chapter 3: When Things Go Wrong 40

Syntax Errors 41

Logic Errors 42

Debugging Scratch Programs 43

Debugging App Lab Programs 45

Debugging MakeCode Programs 49

Commenting Out Code when Debugging 51

Part 2: Sounds, Color, Random Surprises 53

Chapter 4: Orchestra 55

Brainstorm 56

Sidebar: Event-driven programming 56

Start a New Project 57

Add a Backdrop 58

Add Instrument Sprites 59

Add a Singer Sprite and Modify Its Costume 61

Code Each Instrument to Play a Sound 63

Sidebar: Parallel processing 67

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 67

Share Your Program with the World 68

Enhance Your Toy 68

Chapter 5: Foley Sound Generator 69

Brainstorm 69

Sidebar: User Interfaces 70

Start a New Project 71

Add a Background 72

Add Sound and Stop Sounds Buttons 75

Code the Sound Buttons to Play 78

Code the Stop Sounds Button to Stop Sounds 80

Save, Test, and Debug Your App 82

Share Your App with the World 82

Enhance Your App 82

Chapter 6: Lucky Numbers 83

Brainstorm 84

Start a New Project 85

Code Button A 85

Sidebar: Coding Randomness 87

Code Button B 87

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 89

Transfer Your Program to the micro:bit 89

Share Your Program with the World 90

Enhance Your Toy 90

Chapter 7: Mondrian Art Toy 91

Brainstorm 92

Start a New Project 92

Add a Background Color 93

Sidebar: RGBA Color 95

Add a Title Label 96

Add Fill and Clear Buttons 97

Code a Canvas and Paintbrush 99

Code to Draw a Rectangle 101

Code to Fill Rectangles with Color 102

Code a Clear Button to Erase a Painting 103

Save, Test, and Debug Your App 105

Share Your App with the World 105

Enhance Your App 106

Part 3: Moving from Here to There, Again and Again 107

Chapter 8: Emoji Explosion 109

Brainstorm 110

Start a New Project 110

Add a Backdrop 110

Add an Emoji Sprite 111

Code the Stage to Play a Sound 113

Code the Green Flag for the Emoji Sprite 115

Sidebar: Cloning and Inheritance 116

Code the makeEmojis Block 118

Code when I start as a clone for the Emoji Sprite 119

Code the explode Block for the Emoji Clones 121

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 123

Share Your Program with the World 124

Enhance Your Animated Scene 124

Sidebar: Setting Position 124

Sidebar: Setting Direction 127

Sidebar: Moving 129

Sidebar: Simple Repeat Loops 130

Sidebar: New Blocks (aka Functions) 131

Chapter 9: Smelephant 133

Brainstorm 134

Start a New Project 134

Add a Backdrop 134

Add a Smelephant Sprite 135

Sidebar: Rotation Style in Scratch 137

Code the Green Flag Code of the Smelephant 138

Code the Smelephant’s Up Arrow Key Control 139

Sidebar: Animating Shapes 141

Code Arrow Keys for Moving the Smelephant Down, Left, and Right 144

Add a Flower Sprite 145

Code the Green Flag for the Flower Sprite 147

Code the makeFlowers Block 148

Code when I start as a clone for the Flower Sprite 150

Code the getSmelled Block for the Flower Clones 151

Add a Monkey Sprite 153

Code the Green Flag for the Monkey 154

Code the chase Block 155

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 158

Share Your Program with the World 158

Enhance Your Animated Scene 158

Sidebar: Key Control 159

Sidebar: Collisions 160

Sidebar: Show and Hide 162

Part 4: Variables, Simple Conditionals, and I/O 163

Chapter 10: Mascot Greeter 165

Brainstorm 166

Start a New Project 166

Sidebar: Inputs and Outputs (I/O) 167

Add a Backdrop 168

Add a Mascot Sprite 168

Add Text-to-Speech Commands 169

Sidebar: Strings and String Operations 170

Code the Mascot Sprite to Greet 171

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 173

Share Your Program with the World 173

Enhance Your Program 173

Chapter 11: Weird Text Message 174

Brainstorm 175

Start a New Project 175

Name the Input Screen for the App 176

Add a Background Color to the Input Screen 176

Add an Instruction Label 177

Add Category Labels and Text Input Fields 178

Add a Button to Trigger the Action 181

Add and Name an Output Screen 183

Add a Message Image to the Output Screen 183

Add a Message Label to the Output Screen 185

Code the App 186

Save, Test, and Debug Your App 188

Share Your App with the World 189

Enhance Your App 189

Sidebar: Dilbert’s Jargonator 190

Sidebar: ELIZA, the Turing Test, and AI 191

Chapter 12: Vote Machine 192

Brainstorm 193

Start a New Project 193

Rename the Screen 194

Add a Title Label to the App 194

Add Images for the Candidates 195

Add Labels for Each Candidate 197

Code Variables for the First Candidate 198

Code the First Candidate to Register a Vote 199

Sidebar: Working with Number Variables 200

Code Variables for the Remaining Candidates 204

Sidebar: Changing and Incrementing Variable Values 205

Code Remaining Candidates to Register Votes 206

Save, Test, and Debug Your App 207

Share Your App with the World 208

Enhance Your App 208

Chapter 13: Happy New Year! 209

Brainstorm 210

Start a New Project 210

Add a Backdrop 211

Add a Glittery Ball 211

Code the Ball to Drop 213

Create a Countdown Variable 214

Sidebar: Google Language Translation 217

Add Text-to-Speech and Translate Commands 217

Add a Cheer Sound to the Ball Sprite 218

Code the Countdown Clock 219

Sidebar: Decrementing a Variable 221

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 223

Sidebar: Simple Conditionals and Booleans 223

Share Your Program with the World 224

Enhance Your Toy 224

Chapter 14: Light Theremin 225

Brainstorm 226

Start a New Project 227

Code the First Sound Conditional 228

Code More Sound Conditionals 231

Sidebar: Advanced Conditionals 232

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 236

Sidebar: IoT and Sensors in Circuits 236

Transfer Your Program to the micro:bit 237

Share Your Program with the World 238

Enhance Your Toy 238

Part 5: Lists, Loops, and Logic 239

Chapter 15: Magic 8-Ball 241

Brainstorm 242

Start a New Project 242

Code on start 243

Sidebar: Simple Lists (Arrays) 245

Code on shake 246

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 248

Transfer Your Program to the micro:bit 249

Share Your Program with the World 249

Enhance Your Toy 249

Sidebar: eToys 250

Chapter 16: Sock Sort 252

Brainstorm 253

Start a New Project 253

Add a Backdrop 254

Add Red and White Sock Sprites 255

Add Mixed, Red, and White Lists 256

Code the Green Flag (Create List) 258

Code the clearLists Block 263

Code the Sorting Process 264

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 268

Share Your Program with the World 268

Enhance Your Program 268

Sidebar: Sorting Algorithms 269

Chapter 17: Evil Olive 272

Brainstorm 273

Start a New Project 273

Add a Background Image to the Screen 273

Add an Instruction Label 274

Add a Text Input Field 276

Create and Add Evil Olive to the Screen 277

Add a Message Label to the Screen 278

Code the App 279

Save, Test, and Debug Your App 282

Share Your App with the World 283

Enhance Your App 283

Sidebar: For Loops 284

Sidebar: Searching Algorithms 285

Chapter 18: Sushi Matchup 286

Brainstorm 287

Start a New Project 288

Draw a Toy Interface on the Backdrop 288

Add a Button Sprite 292

Add Reels Sprites 293

Add a Status Sprite 296

Code the Button to Trigger the Spin 299

Create wear Variables 302

Add Sounds 304

Code the Reels to Spin 306

Code the checkMatch Block 309

Code the status Sprite 314

Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 315

Share Your Program with the World 315

Enhance Your Program 316

Sidebar: Broadcasting 316

Sidebar: Logical Operators 317

Part 6: Onwards and Upwards 319

Chapter 19: Creating and Sharing 321

Programming Your Own Ideas 322

Sharing and Showcasing Your Work 325

Chapter 20: Where to Go from Here 336

Upping Your Game 337

Next Steps 340

Index 343 

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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.