Coding Education for a 7-Year-Old: Is It the Right Move?
These days, even kids in the early elementary grades go to a lot of coding academies. My child isn't even fully comfortable with Hangul yet, so I wonder if starting early is a mistake.
People around me say, "Start them on Entry," but I'm not sure how that's different from just letting them play with blocks. I'd like to hear from those with experience.
7 answers
At 7, a coding academy is a waste of money lol. Just Lego or blocks is enough. My kid also went to one around then and got sick of it after 3 months, so we quit. I should've just bought books with that money.
I feel the same way. They haven't even mastered Hangul yet, so I thought, coding? I didn't enroll them. If the child wants to, maybe, but parents making them do it is a bit...
Entry isn’t really all that different from playing with blocks. But it does train you to think in sequence. All that stuff about logic skills is exaggerated—just think of it as play plus a few rules. If academy tuition feels like a waste, there are tons of Entry tutorials on YouTube, so it’s better to have Dad help out at home.
Got a source? Where did you see that it improves logical thinking? Isn’t that just a coding academy marketing phrase?
Well, that’s a bit... Isn’t the idea that it’s always good to start kids coding early a thing of the past? There are even studies showing that in the lower grades, physical activity and developing social skills are more important. It’s not too late to learn coding in middle school.
My child started at age 8. At first, they got into it with ScratchJr, and about a year later they started doing it for real. But this really depends on the child's personality, so first, there are free trial sites or apps—have them try one for about two weeks and see if they enjoy it. If they don't, it's best to just drop it.
Agreed, it's no different from playing with blocks lol. But at that age, that's just how it should be—what can you expect?