First Coding had a request to host an animation class during the recent half term break. Using Scratch we were able to introduce pupils to the concepts of animation and some of the results by the end were outstanding. Below is a video of one of the many soothing animations that were put together in the workshop. Don’t forget this was all done in Scratch.
First Coding will be running the popular creative Christmas Coding Workshop next month for 7 to 11 year olds. Using Scratch, we’ll be learning how to make our own animated cracker joke generators. All our workshops are currently being hosted online via Zoom.
Another creative workshop, back by popular demand is our Python course. This too will be hosted online via Zoom and if you would like to book a place on this course then please email hello@firstcoding.co.uk. Why not play a game that came out of one of these workshops here.
We are kicking off our summer of creativity with our most popular workshop, the Scratch Game Designer. Unlike previous years, all workshops this summer will be held online via Zoom and if you would like to book a place on this course then please email hello@firstcoding.co.uk.
There were so many great projects that came out of the Christmas Coding workshop last week. The children first started by building animated Christmas scenes before adding interactive crackers. Clicking on a cracker reveals a joke selected at random from a list of terrible jokes. You can sample some of the crackers and their jokes here: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/354037013/.
We will be running our popular Young Coders’ course again on Saturdays for 7 – 10 year olds. Commencing on 11th January 2020, 2.30pm – 3.30pm, it runs for four weeks and costs £80 per child.
The theme of this course is Ciphers and Secret Messages and over the four weeks we’ll not only be covering important programming concepts that can be applied to applications and game design but we’ll also be working up to a final project where the class will learn how to make their own cipher machines, encoding and decoding messages.
This summer’s app building workshops will involve making a simple pirate game. The aim is to defend your island from random boats trying to invade. As the game progresses, the boats increase in number and speed. Here it is running on the Kindle Fire.
It’s been another fun day training a young team of coders in the art of making the classic game of Asteroids. I loved seeing all the different ideas for their games, especially the war, food and animal themed versions. Please keep working on your great games over the Easter holidays and if you get stuck, please just drop me a line.
First Coding will now be running two Retro Gaming coding workshops this month. They’re being held at The Old Fire Station in Salt Lane, Salisbury and each one costs just £20 for the two hour session. The times of the workshops are below:
Saturday 11th August 2pm – 4pm
Saturday 18th August 2pm – 4pm
If your child is aged between 10 and 14 and would be interested in attending one of the workshops, then please drop me a line.
We’ll be using Scratch, a visual programming language that is used in most schools. Scratch can be used in very clever ways (including designing this video for the workshops) and is a great gateway into learning to code.
