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Kids and coding are all the buzz these days. However, not everyone has the resources for a full-on technology camp for their children or the knowledge of how to begin to teach this skill set at home. This is where a great guidebook comes in handy, and one that I can strongly recommend is JavaScript For Kids For Dummies 
JavaScript for Kids
JavaScript for Kids for Dummies hit a home run for ease of use in my house. My 10-year-old daughter and I nestled down at the computer, and using only a web browser and the book, JavaScript came alive before our eyes. The best part of using this book was the fact that my daughter could use it all by herself. I could actually walk away from the computer as she experimented with the projects. She quickly discovered that just one errant character or wrong letter in a line of code resulted in no output; coding requires precision. Yet within about five minute’s time, she was able to execute code to solve math problems, splash words across the screen, and create dialog boxes. She understood the relationship between what she typed and what was displayed on the computer screen. And she wanted to do more, even after stumbling through a few mistakes.
The book also earned bonus points with my family for the sheer fact that the coding exercises were fun, and allowed for creativity. By integrating the use of online web applications, such as JSFiddle, kids work using a visual interface that shows both the input and output on a split-screen. My daughter’s favorite beginning exercise was changing the colors and line densities on an on-screen bubble machine. She loved that she could see exactly the point in the code where the color controls occurred and that she could easily select new colors for the design from a reference table in the book.
More advanced coding projects in the book allow kids to build their own animated robots and create games. Kids can also learn how to upload their completed game to their own website for free. Each lesson builds upon the information from the previous chapter, so kids really get to see the big picture of how coding works as they progress. And as with many other of the For Dummies series books, highly technical terms are explained to kids using plain English and real-world examples. Even my 13-year-old son was interested in what this book had to offer.
JavaScript For Kids For Dummies
Jennifer traveled to two continents as a nonprofit administrator and later helped run a small village in Lake County. But the real adventures began when she and her husband put down roots in Libertyville and started a family. Mom to a teenage boy and a tween girl, Jennifer spends her time changing radio stations in her minivan while driving to band concerts, learning new texting lingo, and keeping track of the latest trends in electronics and hairstyles.
Disclosure: Disclosure: The author received a copy of the book for review purposes only. All content and opinions expressed are the author’s own. Some links provided in this story are affiliate links. A small percentage of purchases made through those links are earned and used to cover the expense of running the site. Thank you for clicking!
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