Non-physical gifts for 9yo niece who likes coding
November 24, 2022 7:33 PM Subscribe
Seeking coding related gift ideas for my niece who loves Scratch, but not robots.
She especially likes building games in Scratch. But any time I google gifts ideas for kids who love to code I feel like I just got recommendations for hardware/physical stuff (robots, physical coding pieces, books, etc). She’s not interested in this. Ideally I’d like to spend money on software/app/subscription access to enhance her online experience vs giving her something physical. Could be another scratch-like platform or anything else online where she can build more sophisticated games as she continues to learn. Appreciate any suggestions!
She especially likes building games in Scratch. But any time I google gifts ideas for kids who love to code I feel like I just got recommendations for hardware/physical stuff (robots, physical coding pieces, books, etc). She’s not interested in this. Ideally I’d like to spend money on software/app/subscription access to enhance her online experience vs giving her something physical. Could be another scratch-like platform or anything else online where she can build more sophisticated games as she continues to learn. Appreciate any suggestions!
Rabbids Coding is free from Ubisoft for PCs. Teaches programming concepts, as logic puzzles.
If you want to pay for some, Human Resource Machine and 7 Billion Humans are on sale at Steam's Fall Sale. Very similar idea slightly different execution.
If she's already familiar with programming concepts, maybe a game building kit like RPGMaker (various editions) though that may be a bit too advanced, as there are many games published on Steam made with RPGMaker.
On the other hand, there's always TWINE, which makes interactive fiction in Javascript.
posted by kschang at 1:42 AM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you want to pay for some, Human Resource Machine and 7 Billion Humans are on sale at Steam's Fall Sale. Very similar idea slightly different execution.
If she's already familiar with programming concepts, maybe a game building kit like RPGMaker (various editions) though that may be a bit too advanced, as there are many games published on Steam made with RPGMaker.
On the other hand, there's always TWINE, which makes interactive fiction in Javascript.
posted by kschang at 1:42 AM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
In absence of knowing her age/skill, you could get her a "proper" coding course. I've recommended this particular "100 days of code" in python course before on the green, and it is a fun way to learn code. Most/many (?) of the projects in each of the "days" are game-development related challenges -- e.g, make this trivia game, make this text adventure game, make hangman -- and are cool little projects where your niece could just keep extending one of them (vs. just continuing on w/ the course).
Some of the classes are particularly hard, but the instructor (Angela Yu who seems like a pretty kickbutt coder instructor) walks through ALL of the solutions and has a very encouraging attitude.
You *should* wait until Udemy gives you a really good deal, like $10 for the course ;), so definitely don't pay full price!
posted by ellerhodes at 9:02 AM on November 25, 2022
Some of the classes are particularly hard, but the instructor (Angela Yu who seems like a pretty kickbutt coder instructor) walks through ALL of the solutions and has a very encouraging attitude.
You *should* wait until Udemy gives you a really good deal, like $10 for the course ;), so definitely don't pay full price!
posted by ellerhodes at 9:02 AM on November 25, 2022
Is she at all artistic? One possibility would be to give her digital art tools that she could use to design sprites and backgrounds for her games: drawing software, collections of digital brushes, clip art, etc. Similarly, she might be able to use libraries of sound effects or music composition software.
posted by yarntheory at 9:09 AM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by yarntheory at 9:09 AM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]
Here's what my partner, a professional game programmer who started at a young age, has to say:
"The biggest obstacle to learning to program is motivation. Someone who is there to play all her games and provide encouragement and useful feedback will make the biggest difference. This is assuming she has all the hardware she needs to comfortably program, such as a laptop over just a tablet.
As someone who started young, the only subscription I can think of that would help a novice programmer is Github Copilot which is an AI that helps you write programs. However Github Copilot doesn't support Scratch. If she is ready to move on to other programming languages such as Python, then Github Copilot feels like it would be a helpful tool for learning.
In the meantime, what she probably needs most is someone invested in maintaining her motivation to keep going."
Apologies that this doesn't provide you with the gift idea you are asking for, but I want to be honest about what will help your niece while helping you make informed choices with your gifting budget.
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 8:16 PM on November 25, 2022
"The biggest obstacle to learning to program is motivation. Someone who is there to play all her games and provide encouragement and useful feedback will make the biggest difference. This is assuming she has all the hardware she needs to comfortably program, such as a laptop over just a tablet.
As someone who started young, the only subscription I can think of that would help a novice programmer is Github Copilot which is an AI that helps you write programs. However Github Copilot doesn't support Scratch. If she is ready to move on to other programming languages such as Python, then Github Copilot feels like it would be a helpful tool for learning.
In the meantime, what she probably needs most is someone invested in maintaining her motivation to keep going."
Apologies that this doesn't provide you with the gift idea you are asking for, but I want to be honest about what will help your niece while helping you make informed choices with your gifting budget.
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 8:16 PM on November 25, 2022
Seconding RPGMaker -- it allows you to make simple games pretty easily via using premade assets and navigating options in menus rather than coding, but would allow a ton of room to grow as she gets older (including customizing games further with [I think] javascript). RPGmaker and other similar programs also often have packs of game assets (music, art, etc) that can be purchased separately that might make good future gifts.
posted by space snail at 2:17 PM on November 27, 2022
posted by space snail at 2:17 PM on November 27, 2022
Epic Games is giving away "RPG In a Box", that lets you make something that looks a LITTLE like Minecraft, but completely customizable and free until December 8th.
posted by kschang at 9:00 AM on December 4, 2022
posted by kschang at 9:00 AM on December 4, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
"A Dojo is a free, volunteer-led, community-based programming club for young people. Anyone aged 7 to 17 can visit a Dojo and learn to code, build a website, or create an app or game. Dojos are a space for young people to explore technology in an informal, creative, safe and social environment."
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:38 PM on November 24, 2022