Raising Young Coders : A Parent?s Guide to Teaching Programming at Home

Introduce your children to programming at an early age and see how nurturing their interest can significantly contribute to their future success. This book offers creative, kid-friendly tools and projects to ignite childhood curiosity, all while confronting early-age gender biases in tech and supplementing the lack of creative and diverse tech curriculum in schools.  

Parents will explore a range of fun technology projects to share with their kids, sorted by difficulty, suitable for pre-K through pre-teen ages. For example, the Squishy Circuits project shows early learners how to connect wires to play dough to make LED lights shine. Meanwhile, the block-coding project encourages kids to drag and drop code blocks to control a robot that they get to build. For more advanced projects, young coders will explore a Raspberry Pi workshop, involving hardware wiring and writing the code that brings their creation to life. The projects are designed so that parents and kids can pick and choose activities based on interest level.

For further inspiration, Raising Young Coders wraps up by showcasing interviews with successful women in technology. These role models recount early childhood experiences learning technology with their parents. The stories will motivate kids and parents to engage with technology together, recognizing its pivotal role as a cornerstone for an array of future opportunities.

What You Will Learn

• Understand why it is important to inspire your kids to want to learn technology.
• Confront gender biases in the tech industry and discover strategies to foster inclusivity early on.
• Explore a range of fun and creative projects tailored for various ages and interest levels.
• Discover the stories of successful women in technology who are relatable role models to help inspire your kids.

Who This Book Is For

Parents with or without a technical background who want to introduce their children to technology and share their passion for coding in a way that is fun and engaging.

Cassandra Chin is a keynote speaker, book author, video podcast host and long-time children’s workshop instructor. Since her teenage years, she has been sharing her passion for coding with children, leading workshops at international events such as Devoxx4Kids, KidzMash, JFokus4Kids, and CNCF Kids Day. Her extensive experience has equipped her with effective strategies to inspire young learners to discover programming for fun. In 2024, Cassandra published Phippy’s AI Friend Story: Story and Workshop for Kids and Parents, a resource designed to assist parents in introducing technology to their children. Additionally, she hosts and produces a podcast on Techstrong.tv where she interviews speakers, educators, and tech professions in the community to discuss topics related to education for children and young adults.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandra-chin-developer