Confident Explorers: home coding ideas for parents
Computer science and coding can seem intimidating for parents – especially as it’s a subject that wasn’t widely taught in primary schools until relatively recently.
The Confident Explorers programme from Parent Zone, supported by Google, aims to help all UK children and parents feel more confident about computing and to make the most of the future opportunities tech offers – especially those who might feel marginalised in the tech world.
So why help your child learn to code? Don’t just take it from us! This blog from Super Prof explains how it can open new horizons for children while Coda Kid has the ultimate guide for parents. iDTech has more tips on helping your child learn coding, while Fun Tech offers 13 reasons why every parent should support coding.
Convinced – but unsure how to get started? Help your child explore a range of free online and offline activities below, or even make new friends and discover new creative skills at a local coding club.
We’d love to hear how you get on. Share your computing and coding activities with us on social media, using the hashtag #ConfidentExplorers.
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Free activities to try together
CS First has lots of family projects – including designing a hero in your life, creating a story, or animating your family name.
Raspberry Pi helps you learn to create a website, code in ‘scratch’ and ‘html’ and find out how you can help your child discover coding.
Blockly Games has loads of simple games and puzzles to try that build foundation coding skills.
Scratch helps children build stories, games and animations. There are lots of ideas to explore, whatever your interests.
Coding isn’t confined to computers! CS unplugged has fun offline games, including ‘mind-reading magic’, ‘guess the sentence’ and ‘kidbots’.
Apps and paid resources
Daisy the Dinosaur [iOS] is an app that makes it easy for children to learn coding basics.
{Coda}Kid [iOS & Android, free trial] has award-winning online courses for children.
Codespark [iOS & Android, free trial] has unlimited coding challenges and news skills each week.
Lightbot [iOS & Android] has lots of fun programming puzzles to solve.
Spritebox [iOS & Android] is a full on coding adventure game.
Listen to Parent Zone's podcast, Tech Shock.
Accessibility
Coding is for everyone – and there are a number of organisations that can provide additional information and support, especially for groups who have traditionally been under-represented in the world of tech.
Discover resources for girls and non-binary children at She Code Connect.
Explore organisations inspiring girls to explore technology interests at Tech She Can.
Use Swift Playgrounds, a coding app designed to support children with visual impairments, from RNIB.
Discover great computer scientists with disabilities at Teaching London Computing.
What else can I do?
Join a club
Help your child join a coding club. Code Club can connect you with coding clubs nearby. You can also search for Code Ninja.
Help your child be an Interland Legend
It’s important your child stays safer, as well as building confidence online. Be Internet Legends is a free primary school programme from Parent Zone and Google, helping families explore online safety.
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