Ask HN: Good game tutorials for kids programming

One, here are two lists of online games to teach coding, first list is for CSS, other is for WebDev. Frankly, I've bookmarked them for myself, they look so cute.

https://dev.to/paco_ita/train-your-css-skills-with-online-ga...

https://dev.to/paco_ita/train-your-javascript-skills-with-on...

Two, why not set your kid up with PyCharm, and start dabbling together with Python. (like build a simple chatbot or something that pulls stuff from Wiki).

I recommend you take a look at Roblox Studio [1]. My 10yo started out by building simple 3D Obby (obstacle course) games in a manner of minutes with no initial programming. Trough that initial interest he will now modify and even create Lua scripts to perform more complex game actions. The Lua scripting engine + API is simple but at the same time powerful and allows for very complex games.

There is also a quite active Roblox Developer forum [2], and good documentation of their API [3].

I don't push him much, and allow him to learn Lua / programming in gneral at his own pace. The game aspect definitely keeps his interest that I'm not so sure he would otherwise have.

[1] https://roblox.com/create [2] https://devforum.roblox.com [3] https://developer.roblox.com

Disclaimer: I work for Roblox on the Studio team now. This is largely due to my positive experience with Roblox Studio well before I even considered working for the company.

I have been teaching kids games programming with Python. I have compiled some of the material I created into a book here: https://github.com/electronstudio/pygame-zero-book

The only way I have found to maintain interest is to do fewer toy examples and more full-size games, but that also inevitably leads to the kids not understanding so much of what they are doing. I think ultimately you have to accept that some kids will be interested in coding and some will not, no matter how 'fun' you make it.

Zachtronics:

Start with e.g. opus magnum. Visual, will teach basic concepts of sequencing instructions, iteration etc.

Then Shenzhen I/O if they enjoy it

Alternatively:

Human resource machine (programming)

7 billion humans (parallel programming, probably will teach antipatterns but still useful)

Alternatively:

LOGO. This is how I learned to program back in the 80s. Drawing pictures. Draw a line. Rotate. Make a square by writing a loop to draw a line and rotate 4 times. Make a window by drawing a square + 2 more lines. Make a house by drawing a window and doors.

Even at university I remember the first year programming course included a 'draw a house using ALGOL' exercise.

You should take a look at Processing 3 (a graphical Java). My dad introduced me to it at about 12yrs. All he did was give me a YouTube playlist to work through and it has held my interest till this day.

I would say any framework with a narrow focus on graphics and instant graphical feedback (like SFML for C++) would be great for kids or any beginner. Also, Khan Academy has great resources based on ProcessingJS and even a simple submission board with a community of other young learners.

Shameless plug, but I've written a few simple game tutorials on my blog. Minesweeper, Snake, Tic Tac Toe, Hangman, etc.

https://mitchum.blog/game-tutorials/

How to Design Programs and Realm of Racket.

might be a bit of a wildcard, but i would consider checking out Factorio. may god help your kid if he actually gets into it though