The Importance of Coding for Kids: Reasons Every Child Should Learn to Code – Hot

Coding for kids? Sounds like a real uphill task, doesn’t it? But no, it’s not. 

For today’s children, it has almost become a necessity to engage in the concepts of the 21st century. Coding is not just the red-hot topic in today’s day and age, but it is also a thing for the future. With the pandemic hitting every industry, the Computer Assisted Coding global market is set to exponentially grow to US$6.7 Billion by 2027 from its estimated US$3.4 Billion in the year 2020 (as reported in Research And Markets). 

Coding provides children with a well-equipped skill set to empower them in academics. With the upsurge of challenges in today’s world, it is important for children to not only nourish their writing and mathematical skills, but also various life skills to have a better go in the workforce. 

Learning to code is like learning an entirely new language which can seem pretty daunting to children. Many give up even before they start properly and it is understandable. 

Children at their age would prefer going outside to play or simply be glued to their mobile screens. Taking up any new task is a challenge in itself. However, what matters is how much dividend it is going to pay in the near future. 

Teaching coding to children should be a slow process. You cannot bombard them with information and expect them to build an app at the drop of a hat. Allow them to start small, let them take their time, and celebrate small victories with them.

How Do You Explain Coding to Kids? 

In simple language, coding is a way to communicate with the computer. If you want a computer to function in a certain way and follow your instructions, then you’ll have to use a language that the computer understands. 

A Must-try Product for Kid’s Coding Requirement: Sania Box

Through coding, we can make software, video games, websites, apps, and much more. If we speak purely about children, coding is a skill that will give them a professional boost in the growing age, improve their chances to be an unaccredited teachers.

Coding for Kids: How is it Beneficial? 

The first and foremost reason is that coding is the future. Coding will reach much greater heights in the future than it has now. It is a desired phenomenon among the youth and parties concerned. Coding is no longer a new idea for the education system.

Time has passed yet, we are still seeing alarming STEM education stats like, by 2018, 2.4 million STEM jobs will go unfilled; 71% of all new jobs in STEM are in computing, but only 8% of STEM graduates are in Computer Science. People are still wondering if coding is hard to learn. The National Association of Manufacturing and Deloitte predicts that by 2025 there will be 3.5 million STEM-related jobs in the US alone and a likelihood of up to 2 million of those jobs to go unfulfilled.

Gone are the days when people took up coding just for “fun”, now you should take up coding not only to acquire a great skill but also because it reaps beneficial rewards. To put it simply, there are so many jobs on offer and jobs with a good pay scale for people who know to code. 

Moreover, it’s not just that, there are a variety of skills that you will obtain through coding which will help you in your life. As per Sophia, the St. Catherine University report, coding is considered a beneficial tool in learning the 21st Century skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, logical thinking, digital literacy, sequencing, and critical thinking. 

Here are a few reasons why children should learn to code:

• Coding has a high demand
• Coding bestows a competitive boon
• Coding helps understand the world better
• Coding is pretty fun and gratifying
• Coding promotes creativity
• Coding fosters problem-solving
• Coding refines persistence
• Coding enhances collaboration
• Coding thrives on communication

8 Reasons Why Coding is Important for Young Minds

So, what are some of the most important traits of coding and how are they advantageous to the kids? Let’s discuss.

1. Coding is the Language of the 21st Century

Coding consists of various computer programming languages such as Python, Java, HTML, etc. Technology is deeply inculcated in our lives in today’s day and age and learning and understanding languages that power these devices is extremely instrumental for growth and success. 

It is like a new literary form in the present digital world. Moreover, learning a language fosters written and verbal skills and promotes logical thinking. According to data, Python, Java, JavaScript, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Rust, PHP, Scala, and C# will be the trending computer languages in 2025.

2. Coding Fosters Creativity

A child’s creativity horizon expands with coding. It allows them to be expressive and gives them much-needed confidence to be creative. 

Children will have an opportunity to create something which would entirely be their own. Computational skills tend to elicit the creative genius of young minds. When children use their own imagination to carry out a task, it strengthens their brains, and creativity is encouraged. 

When children receive good feedback, they fall in love with their creations and get inspired to do more.

3. Coding Helps Children with Math Skills

With the help of coding, children are able to visualize complex abstract concepts and apply math to real-world situations, which also makes math fun and creative. It also helps children strengthen their arithmetic and algebraic skills.

Researchers (Fessakis, Gouli, & Mavroudi, 2012; Mozelius & Oberg, 2017; Songy, 2017; Moreno-Leon et al., 2016) in several countries investigated the effective use of coding within a variety of mathematics and technology classes and determined its integration to be an effective tool for increasing student motivation and academic achievement.

Coding is an essential part of many STEM programs in today’s time.

4. Coding Builds Resilience and Instils Persistence

It is important for children to fail gracefully and learn from their mistakes; they need not be too hard on themselves. With coding, children understand that hard work is the key to success and instantaneous results are often short-lived. 

Coding has children fail several times, go through trial and error again and again until they get the desired result. Making mistakes can be very frustrating, but coding instills persistence and discipline in children, allowing them to face such challenges in better ways.

5. Coding Builds Problem-solving Skills in Children

Indulging in simple coding programs is a great introduction to problem-solving at an early age. Coders have the capability to break down complex problems into simpler ones. With coding, children learn that it’s not just my way or the highway, but there are various other ways to approach and solve a problem.

Moreover, understanding the basics of coding allows children to understand how software engineers use creative ways to solve and appreciate the entire process of coding even more. This is one of the reasons why coding should be taught in school. 

The innate ability to easily solve problems is a very good trait to have in general life.

As Dan Crow, CTO of SongKick explains, “Computational thinking teaches you how to tackle large problems by breaking them down into a sequence of smaller, more manageable problems.”

6. Coding Helps Children Understand the World Around Them

We are surrounded by devices and technology. Basic knowledge of coding can help children understand how technology is programmed and our overall relationship with the devices that we interact within our day-to-day lives. 

Coding allows children that are on the autism spectrum to explore various concepts that they can use in their daily household routines.

7. Learning to Code Improves Academic Performance

Coding thrives on building computational skills. Children can structuralize their tasks and create divisions. From there on, they can decide to approach them with individual steps, test their ideas, and formulate logical patterns. 

Coding allows children to develop such skills in an experiential manner rather than the traditional one.

8. Coding is Fun-learning

Last, but definitely not least, coding is fun. Children are able to easily grasp ideas if they enjoy the process of doing a task and coding is fun to learn. There are many challenges in learning to code, but what they ensure is endless fun. 

Coding is an extremely creativity-based activity. If you know how to code, the world is at your feet. You will be able to make apps, video games, websites and so much more. Unplugged coding activities provide young coders with an opportunity to traverse through coding concepts in a hands-on and educational way.

Overcome the fear of starting out and playing the game – you get better if you decide to initiate. Sign up for our Innovator Program today and enroll your child in coding classes.