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The kid is exceptionally creative and it’s fun just to watch him do his thing, across a variety of art forms. In addition to coding, he also sings, dances, acts, draws, and plays/composes music. (And maybe some other things I don’t know about.)
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I’m especially in awe of how quickly/decisively my nephew chooses what to do next. I feel I’ve lost a lot of that spontaneity. I hem and haw over every little decision. It’s exhausting! (Is this most adults, or just me?)
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One of the main thing my nephew wants to make is VIDEO GAMES!!!! I think this is awesome and one of the best “gateway drugs” into getting hooked on code. It was certainly my gateway drug back in junior high/high school. Many of my friends have similar (fond) memories.
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Scratch has a host of problems, sure. But any “real” language makes you jump through so many meaningless hoops just to move something around on a canvas. And by that point you’ve lost all your momentum and most of your motivation. I wish I had scratch as a kid!
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I actually find it really hard to collaborate in Scratch. But it doesn’t matter because it’s great for small projects + easy to “view source” and learn from others. So my nephew is already off to the races, leveling up on his own. And we can collaborate on many other things.
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... like building a web page. Last week I thought it would be cool to show him how to build a website/homepage. A place where he can put links to his Scratch games, but also his drawings, music, etc. Plus his own domain name, because that makes it 10x more fun.
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I remember this was a huge creative avenue for me as well, in high school. I never had cool clothes or dyed hair or stickers on my backpack, but I made a lot of fun websites. That was my preferred form of self-expression.
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