The Let’s Start Coding Ultimate Kit is a compact, all-inclusive package of electronics and coding knowledge that may ignite your middle schooler’s passion for coding this summer, while keeping them entertained!
Kids get to learn about the fundamentals of coding through hands-on gadgets; they create something they can share, wear, and be proud of. Better yet, everything comes in a compact carrying case so they can bring projects on vacation, to the babysitter, or to a friend’s house.
Here are 5 projects we’ve selected to show you how your young coder can go from novice to pro with real, typed code this summer.
Blink
Make the lightbulb go on (literally) to get your youngster going with Let’s Start Coding. A classic project, Blink is the first in a series of 14 step-by-step lessons provided for free on the Let’s Start Coding website. These lessons build upon each other and introduce code concepts like loops, variables, and statements.
Four Note Piano
Long car ride ahead? Code up a four-note piano to make your own music on the way! It’s an easy, fun project, but under the hood, your child is learning about if-else statements written in C++!
Bonus: The final sequential lesson from Let’s Start Coding is a sort of DJ Booth, where learners create all sorts of wild sounds with their coding skills.
Color Party
After completing the 14 step-by-step lessons, your coder will have the skills to start exploring over 90 example programs written for the Let’s Start Coding Ultimate Kit. In no particular order, they can tinker with, modify, and recreate any of the programs with the online code editor. Why not start with a color party? Using the LED light strip, they’ll code a random display of light while learning about objects and methods (serious coding stuff!).
LED Strip Thermometer
By this point, you may be baking in the summer sun. So code up a useful LED thermometer to know just how close to melting you are! The temperature sensor in the Let’s Start Coding Ultimate Kit will send signals to the flexible LED strip, lighting up more pixels the hotter it gets. Change the color of the LEDs for effect!
Bonus: Another example project shows how to use the temperature to change the color of the LEDs, so the strip of lights can be blue when stored in the fridge (not recommended) and red when out in the sun.
Jump Man Video Game
If you want to get serious about coding knowledge this summer, introduce your learner to the 23-step build of “Jump Man,” an old school Mario-like game that can be built on Maker Screen, the LCD included in the Let’s Start Coding Ultimate Kit. The lessons cover everything from how to create a pixel on the screen, to making that pixel into a ‘man’ who has to jump over obstacles, collect hearts, and rack up points as the game goes faster and faster! By the time this build is complete, learners will have seen an overview of all the major coding concepts found in typed coding languages.
About Let’s Start Coding
Let’s Start Coding helps beginners learn typed computer coding through hands-on gadgets. Kits including lights, speakers, sensors, and screens help learners see a concrete outcome from their code. On their website, Let’s Start Coding provides working example code, step-by-step lessons, and resources for educators ranging from summer camp guides to ‘crosswalks’ with major standards such as NGSS and Common Core.
Pick up the Let’s Start Coding Ultimate Kit now!
[Note: Let’s Start Coding sponsored this post, but GeekDad highly recommends this product!]
Can these projects be done with base kit, or is the ultimate kit needed?
Hi Michael, Weston from Let’s Start Coding here! The first two projects- blink and four note piano – can be done with the Base Kit. The LED strip, temperature sensor, and screen required for the last three projects are included in the Ultimate Kit.