CodeMonkey has created a remarkably impressive educational system

CodeMonkey has designed a rather remarkable educational system targeted at children between the ages of 5 and 13. Although the animations may not boast the highest level of sophistication available, the educational content is robust and offers an excellent means of fostering essential computational thinking skills. It serves as an effective tool for instructing children, from Kindergarten to Grade 8, in coding, all delivered in a fast, enjoyable, and comprehensible manner.

What is CodeMonkey ?

Established in 2014, CodeMonkey is an online coding program tailored to the preferences and requirements of younger students, from Kindergarten to 8th grade. It imparts knowledge of actual programming languages and principles by employing interactive video games, puzzles, and project-focused courses.

CodeMonkey is a subscription based service with a couple plans for families.

Parent Plan 

Homeschool Plan

Is the investment in CodeMonkey justified?

Honestly, there’s a scarcity of coding courses tailored to engage younger learners. Typically, such courses target middle school students and above due to the complexity of the subject matter and the need for sustained attention.

CodeMonkey addresses this gap by offering programming courses designed specifically for younger children, primarily for grades K-8. Some of these courses even align with various educational standards. Subscribers receive a substantial amount of content for their investment, including access to multiple courses with hundreds of challenges to tackle.

These courses effectively teach essential computational thinking and foster problem-solving skills crucial for STEM fields, especially computer science and programming. It’s worth noting that the courses themselves are not excessively lengthy, which may concern some parents. However, this brevity is intentional, as the program caters to younger audiences with more limited attention spans and varying levels of interest in STEM coding.

Age categories for CodeMonkey

The company specifies that CodeMonkey is suitable for children aged 5-13, encompassing those from Kindergarten to approximately Grade 8.

In general, we concur with this age range assessment. CodeMonkey employs vibrant, visually engaging cartoon graphics that are likely to capture the attention of even very young learners. While the character animations may not be the most advanced, they hold appeal for younger audiences.

The provided instructions are straightforward and presented in a step-by-step manner, ensuring simplicity and clarity for students with no prior coding experience. Kindergarten students, who typically haven’t yet acquired reading and writing skills, can readily navigate the drag-and-drop block coding courses with some assistance from their parents.

How CodeMonkey teaches coding for kids

CodeMonkey imparts coding skills to children by guiding them through a diverse range of captivating games, puzzles, and challenges. These courses are designed to start from scratch, meaning that kids don’t need any prior coding knowledge to begin.

Their fundamental approach is to educate while engaging children in vibrant, cartoon-style games that can maintain their interest. Within these games, coding and programming concepts are intricately integrated. To explore, accomplish tasks, and solve puzzles, children must input specific types of code.

For instance, consider a challenge where the objective is to help a monkey cross a river and collect a few bananas. In this scenario, the student would need to instruct the monkey on how many steps to take and where to go at each step. To achieve this, they would need to create and define a series of functions, such as:

1. Go to river
2. Turn to turtle
3. Go to banana And so forth.