Dance, sports, music, and art are all excellent activities that may help kids develop physically, emotionally, and cognitively while fostering teamwork, building coordination, and engaging their creativity. And in a world where many parents are questioning the safety of social media for their children’s well-being and limiting time in front of screens, placing a child in front of one as an extracurricular activity may seem counterintuitive. But in the digital age, adding coding and robotics to the mix gives kids another avenue for exploration, and learning those skills early on can give them advantages today and in the future. Read on to discover what robotics and coding can do for children beyond teaching vocational skills.
Benefits of Coding and Robotics for Kids
Hands-on coding and robotics projects have many benefits for kids, and they can be inclusive activities for children of any ability. Here are just a few of the skills coding and robotics can impart.
Digital Literacy
Today’s kids are digital natives, exposed to more content than just a few generations before them. With the explosion of AI, deepfakes, and exponential advances in technology, getting kids acclimated to the digital space can help them navigate its landscape as they mature. This helps them not only to become comfortable accessing information quickly and efficiently, but also to learn to separate fact from fiction and to think critically about the information they encounter.
Problem-Solving and Perseverance
Coding and robotics naturally help kids develop problem-solving skills and perseverance. Because learning from failure and finding and fixing bugs are all part of the coding process, kids troubleshoot as they experiment, pushing through challenges until they succeed.
Coding and robotics also present complex problems that children learn to break down into smaller parts in order to solve the whole, skills that will help them in nearly any situation.
Creative Thinking
Creativity beyond the arts is not often touted as an essential skill, but the truth is that fostering creative thinking has benefits for more than just artists. In fact, creative thinking is a critical aspect of the experimentation necessary for STEM. Researchers have found that creativity is a core competency beyond the arts, playing an essential role in science as well1. Robotics and coding offer opportunities to boost creative thinking and encourage experimentation that can help hardwire kids for a lifetime of creativity.
Social Skills and Collaboration
While a seemingly sedentary, solo activity like coding might on its surface appear to be an unlikely way to teach the value of collaboration, it provides an excellent opportunity for kids to build social skills. When kids tackle complex projects together, they can learn the value of teamwork, enhance communication, and hone real-world and social skills.
After-School Coding and Robotics
Kids can learn coding and robotics any number of ways, and many software developers report having started coding at an early age. In fact, a 2020 survey of software developers found that nearly 20 percent of participants learned to code before the age of twelve2. There are many tools available for getting started at home. But a 2013 case study of a programming activity for younger children found that the teacher’s role during the programming activity was critical3.
The opportunity for collaborative learning also enhances children’s experience of coding and robotics. For kids ages 7.5 to 9.5, STEMful’s after-school enrichment program called Curiosity Creators offers educational opportunities for kids to learn coding and robotics through dynamic, creative activities that develop real-world STEM skills while fostering critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities. Here are some of the platforms and tools available in STEMful’s program:
Scratch is a kid-friendly coding platform that allows users to create using the foundational building blocks (literally) of coding. It is a tool for creating interesting games, stories, and more block-based programming, allowing those new to coding to learn as they go.
Makey Makey is an electronic invention tool that allows users to connect everyday objects to computer programs. Using a circuit board, alligator clips, and a USB cable, the toy creates closed-loop signals with either keyboard strokes or mouse clicks, meaning Makey Makey works with any computer program or web page. It takes the abstract into concrete using fun, interactive tools.
Tinkercad is a 3D modeling program that empowers kids to create, iterate, and share 3D designs, which can be 3D printed, an exciting, tangible motivator and self-confidence booster. Tinkercad is a social experience that encourages teamwork, sharing designs with friends, family, and classmates, and opens the door for team projects.
Through coding and robotics activities—especially those that are teacher-led and collaborative—kids can learn skills that will help prepare them not only for academic success and in future careers, but also for a lifetime of creative thinking and problem-solving.
Sign up your kids for STEMful’s Curiosity Creators program today to help them get inspired to learn now and in the future.
- Alison Escalante, “Creativity Education Is Equally Important for Careers in STEM and the Arts,” Forbes, November 30, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2020/11/30/creativity-education-is-equally-important-for-careers-in-stem-and-the-arts/.
- Stack Overflow, “2020 Developer Survey,” Stack Overflow, accessed July 1, 2024, https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2020#developer-profile-writing-that-first-line-of-code-overall.
- G. Fessakis, E. Gouli, and E. Mavroudi, “Problem Solving by 5–6 Years Old Kindergarten Children in a Computer Programming Environment: A Case Study,” Computers & Education 63 (April 2013): 87–97, https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.11.016.