Where can children study programming for free?

We have monitored the entire Internet and found the most attractive programming courses for beginners. The keyword is free. That is, they can be watched either on Youtube, or on learning platforms, or take free introductory lessons. 

Let's start with those where registration is not even necessary. You can simply log into the search engine, type in the course you are interested in and just watch the lesson, simultaneously completing practical tasks. 

This is a programming school for children that actively blogs on YouTube. The channel has more than 58,000 subscribers and 701 videos. New lessons appear about 3-5 times a month.

The range of topics presented is quite wide:

• Computer literacy and mastering basic computer skills, programs, browsers and keyboards. Suitable even for preschoolers.
• Creating cartoons and video games in Roblox, Minecraft, Kodu Game Lab, Scratch and Scratch Junior programs and games. These are platforms for beginners, where it is not at all scary if the child does not know the text code. 

In Scratch, kids can create their own racing, sea battle, or ghost game. You can also play the games Minecraft, Among Us, Brawl Stars, Flappy Bird.

Roblox features allow you to create Pubg characters from scratch, a Tycoon game, various horror, racing, 3D simulation games. All these video lessons are available on the school's blog.

• Three-dimensional modeling and project development in the Blender editor. You can learn how to create basic shapes, textures, and the skeleton of characters. For example, you can make a Minion.
• Programming in Python, learning the basics of coding and creating your own projects. There are 39 lessons in the playlist on this topic, where they teach you to set everything you need for learning, work with conditional constructions, loops, functions, lists and much more. 
• Development in C# in Unity and creation of games and game mechanics on a professional platform. Lessons for more advanced users. 

The move to create a free blog is made as if specifically so that parents and children can understand whether they will be comfortable studying with these teachers, whether there is “water” in paid courses and whether complex terms are explained in an accessible language. 

Of the free ones, the school also has a first trial lesson and a discount system. 

Age: from 5 to 17 years old.

The international online programming school, which also runs its own blog on YouTube. She has 52,600 subscribers and 597 videos on the channel. 

There are many lessons for any request:

1. Scratch to create simple games.
2. Learning Python and writing games such as 2048 and Three in a Row, as well as creating applications such as Paint.
3. Working with Photoshop, where you can draw and create avatars.  
4. Lessons in Minecraft.
5. A mini-course on web programming.
6. Working with neural networks.
7. A mini-course on video blogging. 

For convenience, all videos are divided into playlists. But there are significantly fewer of them here than in the previous school 

Age: from 5 to 18 years old. 

On the Homing platform from the YesCoding IT school, you can take free online programming courses for schoolchildren. Learning allows children to get to know the world of coding in an accessible, convenient format, through video tutorials and tests. 

The training plan is simple: go to the website, register, and get access to all the materials. There are about 5 lessons in the course. 

There is not much information about the course on the website. The only thing the school writes about is the benefits that the child will receive after completing the module. 

1. Mentors support.
2. Motivation by results.
3. The development of computational thinking.
4. Improving problem solving skills.
5. Making informed decisions, which is useful not only in IT, but also in education in general.

Age: the authors of the courses do not specify. It is suitable for everyone who is taking the first steps in programming. 

Another introductory course from the children's programming school. Its purpose is to introduce the child to different programming platforms, choose the most interesting direction and continue to study it already in paid courses. 

The duration of the free version of the training is 10 lessons of 30 minutes each. 

During this time, the school offers to run through the main resources for programming. The course is adapted for different ages and levels of training:

1. Kodu Game Lab and the basics of creating three-dimensional games will be taught to the youngest programmers aged 4 to 6 years. During the training, the children will be told how to create a Pacman game.
2. Scratch is suitable for developing the first game projects for children 7-10 years old.
3. Python and Unity3D are more sophisticated and advanced tools for older age groups.

The free course program also includes the creation of Fruit Collector, Among Us games, the creation of shooting games and 2D games, working with Photoshop and a little bit with Minecraft tools. 

How do I complete the course?

You need to leave a request on the website and enter your details. Access to the lessons will be sent by email. All you need to complete the course is a computer with Internet access. 

Age: from 4 years old. 

A free course, the purpose of which is to introduce children to the sought—after professions of a programmer and web designer, to show how the training will take place in the main courses.

Duration: 1 hour.

The course consists of three sections devoted to various areas of programming:

1. Web design is an introduction to the profession of a web designer and the basics of website development.
2. Java is an introduction to one of the most popular programming languages.
3. Python is learning a simple and sought—after language for beginners.

What does the child learn?

• Who is a web designer and what does he do?
• Why is it important to learn programming languages?
• How much do programmers and freelancers earn?

You will not be able to take special practical skills out of the course. It is completely based on the format of warming up to the paid version of the training. The course rating is 4.2. 

It is accessible to beginners and does not require prior programming knowledge.

The training is designed for all those who doubt the purchase of programming courses from the Code it school. 

Interestingly, they are not held in the format of recorded video lessons, but via video link at webinars. That is, you need to choose a course in advance and sign up for a free lesson on the website. 

Currently, the school offers 2 courses:

1. A free course in Python programming.

Duration: 2 classes. 

The first lesson is devoted to getting to know the language, its basic commands and functions. The second lesson is focused on practice, where the child learns to write a quiz on guessing numbers. 

Age:

Students of grades 3-7 and everyone who has just started to get involved in the IT field.

2. Creating games in Roblox Studio

Duration: 2 classes, where they get acquainted with the Roblox Studio environment and 3D modeling, work with the landscape, game design and game scenes. 

Suitable for children with an elementary level of programming knowledge. 

All free courses are held at a convenient evening time. The child has the opportunity to communicate with the teacher and create his first project. 

Age: 8-10 years old.

The Young Coder course is designed for novice programmers and offers an immersion in the basics of algorithmization and programming using the C language. The course program is self–sufficient and does not require additional materials, I will send you everything you need on the course. Each lesson is accompanied by links to useful books, articles and videos for in-depth study.

The main topics of the course

1. Variables and loops;
2. Data input and output;
3. Functions and arrays.

 - The lessons learn the basics of algorithmization and programming in C. There are no classes in C, so I won't have them either. Windows, buttons and other bells and whistles, it's all very beautiful and exciting, but it has nothing to do with algorithmization. Only the console, only hardcore. There is no C++ here either – the author of the course. 

Submitting a free course is one of the most atypical. It seems that the author himself wrote the website program, and not marketers, whose goal is to warm up the audience to buy training. 

 - You don't need to pay for access to lessons or tasks. This is my principled position and it will not change” — the author of the course.

The training format:

1. Register and get access to the Stepik platform.
2. You are studying theoretical material.
3. You solve a large number of practical problems.
4. Move on to research assignments for advanced participants.
5. You study additional materials to deepen your knowledge.

Course duration: There are 70 test tasks and 201 programming tasks that are automatically checked on the Stepik platform.

Age: Unlimited. But for young children, the course may seem difficult.

The course from the Yandex Academy offers learning the basics of C++ development. Students will get acquainted with key topics that will help them master the basic syntax and features of the language:

• Conditional operators and loops
• Arrays and functions
• Recursion and working with strings
• Conditional operator
• The while loop
• Real numbers
• For loop and arrays
• Two-dimensional arrays
• Functions and recursion
• Strings and symbols
• Dictionaries and sets
• Standard STL algorithms.

The practical part includes solving simple tasks and allows you to consolidate your knowledge and delve into C++ coding.

How do I complete the course?

1. Register and get access to the Stepik platform, where you can study theory and practice. 
2. Upon completion of the course, you can receive a certificate from the Yandex Academy. 

Age: Unlimited. But we do not recommend starting the study of programming with it, the course is more suitable for teenagers and older children. 

To learn C++, it is not necessary to know the C language, however, it is assumed that participants:

• You are already familiar with the basics of programming.
• There is a good knowledge of mathematics from the school curriculum. 
• They speak other programming languages, for example, Python.

Although the course has a dense program, there are negative reviews in the comments, in which people complain that there is little theory in the modules and a lot of the same type of tasks. 

A free mini-course from a programmer provides students and novice programmers with the necessary base to start in Java development. The training covers key topics that will help you confidently take the first steps in the world of Java programming.

The course consists of 9 sections, where students:

• They get acquainted with the features of the Java language;
• They master working with sources;
• They learn to develop their own applications.

The training format:

• Video tutorials.
• Exercises to consolidate knowledge.

Age: Unlimited. But we also recommend it more for high school children. 

Features of the training:

1. Practical exercises — tasks are attached to almost every lesson to consolidate the studied material.
2. Step—by-step presentation of the material - the course is structured so that the development of Java takes place in stages. 
3. Self—study - recommendations for further development of skills and in-depth language learning are given.

The course is from a popular educational platform. It is aimed at learning the basics of the popular Java programming language and creating its own projects. 

The program consists of the following blocks:

1. Introduction to Java development.

2. Create an application to download photos from the NASA website.

3. Integration of the application into the Telegram bot.

4. Application autonomy.

Practical tasks allow you to complete real projects, including: 

– development environment for Java programming; 

– launch the console application; 

– the created application in the Telegram bot; 

– launching the application in the cloud;

– configuring the data warehouse; 

– creation of a ready-made application, completely ready for implementation.

The course takes place in the format of webinars and practices and is suitable for anyone who starts learning programming from scratch. 

Age: for teenagers and older children. 

Programming skills are no longer some kind of sacred knowledge that only the most advanced IT specialists used to possess. This is a basic skill that is well paid for in most companies from different niches. 

These are not necessarily IT companies and information technology giants. This is even a medium and small business that needs software, website creation, and information security settings.

Well, everything related to game design, web design and layout is generally limitless opportunities where you can combine creativity and programming, be a creative professional, work either in a large company or for yourself. 

We know that parents often have a reasonable question: where to start teaching a child programming? After all, it is important not to overload the baby with complex concepts and not discourage interest at the start. 

Let's analyze the chronology of learning programming languages, suitable for different ages, and discuss how to organize classes effectively.

The recommendation is visual programming and the basics of algorithmics. 

At this age, the most important thing is to arouse interest and make classes exciting. Complex syntactic languages can be overwhelming and even scare away a child. Therefore, the ideal start is visual programming languages that represent code in the form of puzzle blocks.

Why do we love visual languages?

• Ease of perception. Children do not write text, but "assemble" programs by dragging blocks, like a constructor. 
• The game format. You can create your favorite characters, dress them up, create and conduct light games. 
• Studying the database. Despite the apparent simplicity, you can unconsciously pump abstract thinking, logic, and understand how algorithms and conditions work in programming.

What should I use for training?

• Scratch Junior (5-7 years old) is an ideal platform for the youngest. Simple blocks help you create animations and small cartoons.
• Code.org — platforms with game tasks where you need to drag blocks and teach characters to perform actions.

How to conduct classes?

It is better not to spend more than one hour on lessons at this age. In addition, it is important to encourage the child's interest: you can give gifts, give grades, or come up with another motivation system. 

Some programming schools definitely provide for this. We know that the Pixel school definitely has a bonus system — for attending classes, children receive stickers, which can then be exchanged for stickers, a branded notebook and even a quadcopter. 

Recommendation: Scratch and start learning text languages. 

At this age, children already work confidently with a computer and are ready for more complex projects. Scratch is becoming an excellent bridge between visual and text programming. Here you can not only "collect" blocks, but also program the logic of games, as well as create simple algorithms.

Scratch helps to:

• To master the principles of programming: variables, cycles, conditions and events.
• To develop creativity: children create their own games and animations.
• Prepare for text languages: Scratch allows you to see the relationship of blocks with real code.

At the same age, you can gradually master text languages. For example, Python. Its advantages are that it: 

• Simple and readable syntax.
• Low entry threshold: it makes it easy to write small programs already at the start.
• Versatility: Python is used in science, game development, websites, and even machine learning.

How to conduct classes?

Lesson duration: 60-90 minutes 

Format: a combination of games and programming. For example, you can write code to control a character in a simple text editor.

Recommendation: Python and the introduction of HTML and CSS web development.

Adolescence is a time when a child can seriously delve into programming and start creating full—fledged projects.

At this age, Python allows you to solve more complex tasks:

1. Web development: HTML and CSS

Children are often interested in creating their own websites and blogs. This is a great opportunity to introduce them to:

• HTML (page structure) and CSS (appearance).
• Simple editors such as Visual Studio Code.

At this stage, the child learns to see the result of his actions: after writing the code, he immediately sees the page in the browser. This motivates you to continue your studies.

2. To improve knowledge in Python:

• Create games based on libraries such as Pygame.
• Automate processes and write small scripts.
• Get to know the basics of algorithms and data structures.

How do I organize classes?

• Lesson duration: 60-90 minutes 
• Project approach: each lesson the child works on a real project — a website, a game or a program.

Recommendation: serious programming languages that will be useful in the future. 

By this age, the child is already ready to choose the direction that is most interesting to him: 

Advanced languages and technologies:

• JavaScript is for interactive web applications and games.
• C++ is for those who are interested in algorithms and game development.
• Java — for creating applications and system programming.

How to conduct classes?

Best of all, in the format of individual lessons. Participation in programming contests and Olympiads will be a good motivation. 

To summarize briefly, the chronology of learning programming for children should be gradual and age—appropriate. It is better to start with visual languages (Scratch), move on to Python as the first text language, and then to more complex technologies.

The main thing is to keep the child's interest through game tasks, projects and real achievements.