Maine Homeschooling Resources and Ideas: Computer Programming, Coding and Robotics

Apple launches Swift Playgrounds Ipad app to help kids learn coding

Article - Motivated and innovative 12 year old Quin Etnyre uses arduino to build robots, code, converted his family garage into a place to hack and build, and has started his own company Qtechknow. Article also includes another brilliant 12 year old, Sylvia Todd, who has her own DIY Super Awesome Mini Maker Show.
Click here for link to Sylvia's Webshow.
This is the link to the article about Quin Etnyre and Sylvia Todd:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-08/short-circuit

Tyler Tech contest

5 Free Game Development Software Tools To Make Your Own Games:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/five-free-game-development-tools-make-your-own-games/

iD Tech Camps:

http://www.internaldrive.com/

GameMaker (You can download one version for free.) – This site seems especially good. http://www.yoyogames.com/make

5 Tools to Introduce Programming to Kids

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/05/5-tools-to-introduce-programming-to-kids/

36 Resources To Help You Teach Kids Programming: http://java.dzone.com/news/36-resources-help-you-teach

Create your own games and apps in BASIC with a Nintendo DSi or 3DS. A DS Ware program: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/_YpH-64pY4G4_tAy1wrKVecHp4pmWSzw

Programming Nintendo DS Game:

Create your own games and apps in BASIC with a Nintendo DSi or 3DS. A DS Ware program: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/_YpH-64pY4G4_tAy1wrKVecHp4pmWSzw

Interesting...from NOVA

Rise of the Hackers: Screening Q&AIn "Rise of The Hackers," NOVA goes behind the scenes of the fast-paced world of cryptography to meet the scientists battling to keep our data safe. This online screening will feature insights from several cybersecurity experts who will answer your questions about the threats described in the program, share best practices for staying safe online, and discuss the security implications of an increasingly connected world.

The Cybersecurity Lab
Explore the world of coding, cyber scams, and online safety in the new Cybersecurity Lab from NOVA. In the game, you play the role of chief technology officer in a start-up social network company who has to complete challenges to defend your company from cyber attacks. The Cybersecurity Lab is a great resource for STEM educators who want to teach students best practices for staying safe online and introduce them to coding.

More sites to check out to Learn Programming:

http://www.codecademy.com/

https://www.udacity.com/

http://w3schools.com/

Youth Digital: http://www.youthdigital.com/

(Thanks to Pat Robinson who posted this on Unschooling Gamers!)

Interested in hacking? http://www.hackthissite.org/ (html and javascript are helpful to know for hackthissite)

Another hacking site: http://www.hackasaurus.org/en-US/

Hackasaurus makes it easy to mash up and change any web page like magic. You can also create your own webpages to share with your friends, all within your browser.

This seems like a Great site for learning to code and program:

http://www.code.org/

http://www.code.org/learn/codehs

At the bottom of the "learn" page on that site are many links for even very young children to start learning about coding. (Those listed below under "Coding Applications" are from that section.)

The 10 Places Where Anyone Can Learn To Code:
http://blog.ted.com/2013/01/29/10-places-where-anyone-can-learn-to-code/

Coding Applications:

Geared toward younger children (4+)

RoboLogic (iOS) http://www.digitalsirup.com/apps/app_robologic.html

LightBot (Android) https://lightbot.com/hocflash.html

Geared toward 8 yr olds +:

CargoBot (ipad) http://twolivesleft.com/CargoBot/

Move the Turtle (iOS) http://movetheturtle.com/

Kodu (xBox Windows) http://www.kodugamelab.com/

Geared toward twelve year olds +

KidsRuby http://www.kidsruby.com/

Other Beginners Programming Tutorials:

Hackety Hack (Ruby) http://www.hackety.com/

Learn Street (Ruby, Python, Javascript) http://www.learnstreet.com/

Lynda.com (Java, C# HTML5) http://www.lynda.com/Developer-training-tutorials/50-0.html

Udemy https://www.udemy.com/courses/Technology

Online University Courses (look for those related to programming):

Coursera https://www.coursera.org/category/cs-programming

Edx https://www.edx.org/courses/

Udacity https://www.udacity.com/course/cs101

Teaching Tree.co http://www.teachingtree.co/

Learn to Make Webpages:

Mozilla’s Thimble: https://webmaker.org/en-US/tools/#thimble

Code Avengers: http://www.codeavengers.com/

Make Mobile Apps:

Appinventor: http://www.appinventor.org/

Codea (iPad): http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/

Write Code for Robots:

Arduino: http://www.arduino.cc/

Lego Mindstorms: http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx

Make your own cheap, mini-computer that is good for programming:

Raspberry Pi - http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
and see this too: http://makezine.com/category/electronics/raspberry-pi/

Build Your Own Underwater Robot: This might be an interesting family project, or one to do with a group. .

http://nventivity.com/ROVIAB.html - To purchase the underwater robot kit

More links regarding the robot: http://www.robotshop.com/blog/en/build-your-own-underwater-rov-for-250-3871

The price went up to $275 - Even though it would be a bit more, I recommend considering the upgrades so that you can take it 100 feet and also purchasing the instructions because you will need them. If ordered and put together and shared as a group, perhaps there would be enough people to chip in and make it more affordable.

Robotics:

First Lego League Robitics Programs:

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms

VEX Robitics Team:

Starting your own team: http://maine.vexevents.org/node/14

Einstein's Workshop (In Massachusetts) - An "amazing space for kids to explore the creative side of science, technology, engineering, and math." This place looks so cool that I signed up for their emails in case something stands out as a not to miss opportunity (even though it is far away):

http://www.einsteinsworkshop.com/?utm_source=Main+List+of+All+Subscribers&utm_campaign=d2ad2103d9-2013_After_Dark&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65f4ce1bd0-d2ad2103d9-72558945

Make Zine and Training Camps:

Make Zine Training Camps (This is just one of the camps. Click on "Sign Up For Camps" for different topics):

http://makezine.com/trainingcamp/introduction-to-arduino/

Here's the home page: http://makezine.com/trainingcamp/

Make Zine (Do It Yourself and Programming Projects):

http://makezine.com/

Roblox - Roblox is one of my kids favorite games. There are now videos

that help you learn how to make your own objects and more.

http://www.roblox.com/event/ROBLOXU
To see more videos and tutorials, check them out on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiPEaapiHbJMoAdi_L8fNA