Minecraft. Roblox. Coding. All words that I never knew I’d hear so often in my home!
We are a low-tech household. What this means for our family is that we purposefully limit exposure to small screens and have plans to refrain from cell phones for our children until at least eighth grade. Parenthood has taught me that I’ll always need to flex on my best-laid “plans,” but limiting technology use is something my husband and I both feel strongly about.
Coding, though? That’s a different story.
My children were born to a dad with two degrees from MIT and a mom who runs a digital business. They are constantly exposed to computers, and they are exposed to the power of computers to make things easier, more efficient, and more powerful. We love all things STEAM and encourage all three of our children to engage in activities that build on their knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. And we can still do it without the use of small screens!
Recently, both of my sons have become more interested in the math games they use at school. They’ve started to ask more to use them at home on their Chromebooks, and beyond their homework requirement I have been hesitant to allow for more. The games seemed to lack substance, especially for our first grader, so I started to look into other options. If we’re going to allow tech use, we want our kids to learn something from it! My husband mentioned that it was probably a good idea to start teaching them the mechanics of a computer and more about coding. But where should we start?
Enter: Coolmath Coding.
Coolmath Coding was created by the team behind Coolmath Games — the largest teacher-approved gaming website. Coolmath Coding embraces kids’ love for Roblox and Minecraft and teaches them how to code within the games they love. The visual drag-and-drop editor teaches children to use real code to create Minecraft mods and Roblox games that they can actually play. Entertainment and enrichment all in one!
We tried Coolmath Coding last week and loved it. Registration was super easy and will allow us to try Coolmath Coding for a full month without commitment (but now, we’re hooked and soon-to-be paying members!).
We had never played Roblox before and my kids have been chomping at the bit to try it, so this was a great introduction! We chose to start with Roblox because you don’t need to have any additional Roblox membership, as Roblox and its coding tool “Roblox Studio” are completely free to download. If your child wants to code for Minecraft, you’ll need Minecraft Java Edition.
Together, we watched a few of the Coolmath Coding tutorials to get started, and then we experimented with the drag-and-drop coding and tests! There are no live instructors or set class times, allowing children to learn at their own schedule and pace. Coding can feel a bit overwhelming, so I really liked how my son could take his time and experiment with tests before trying a game. This also allows us to keep our technology time purposefully brief and purposefully exciting!
After a few trial hours together, I was ready to let my son take the reigns. He loves creating his games and seeing his own characters move throughout his Roblox world. I love the fact that drag-and-drop coding is teaching him the mechanics of building a game (and a website!) and believe strongly that it will lay the foundation for him to try real text coding soon.
You can try Coolmath Coding for ONE MONTH FREE! Simply visit their website, create your profile, and get started!
