How kids in a low-income country use laptops: lessons from Madagascar

Re:How kids in a low-income country use laptops: lessons fro... by aidos on Thursday April 05, 2018 @10:26AM (#16765168)

It's harder than you think (2 kids, another on the way). My eldest is now 6 so she's getting a handle on logic thinking and pattern matching — but it takes a while for them to get there. Also, while they can't read, that's a large barrier to entry.

She (and my 3yo) absolutely loved Google's 50 years of Kids Coding doodle [1].

As you've pointed out, finding excitement in the world to share together is the most important thing. The HN crowd tend to be a pretty inquisitive bunch, so there's no shortage of things to look into :-)

[1] https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-50-years-of-kids-...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How kids in a low-income country use laptops: lessons fro... by dyarosla on Thursday April 05, 2018 @02:44PM (#16767788)

For any kids who enjoyed that Google Doodle I’d recommend taking a look at Lightbot[0] and Spritebox[1]; similar experiences for playing with programming logic.

Full disclosure: I’m the developer on these, but believe they’re relevant here.

[0] lightbot.com

[1] spritebox.com

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How kids in a low-income country use laptops: lessons fro... by aidos on Thursday April 05, 2018 @03:51PM (#16768303)

Yes! My girls already love Lightbot, we found it after they had played the Google Bunny doodle to death. They'll be super excited tomorrow when I tell them I spoke to the person that made it :-)

Will definitely download Spritebox and give it a try. Would you say it's more aimed at older kids and adults?

Thanks so much for making it!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How kids in a low-income country use laptops: lessons fro... by dyarosla on Thursday April 05, 2018 @04:05PM (#16768408)

Happy they like it :) Spritebox is geared for ages 7+, but, like Lightbot, assumes no prior experience with coding.

[ Parent | on HN ]