According to an article in Computer World, the job market forecast for software developers is expected to grow 32% by the year 2020; it’s the fastest growing area of the Information Technology industry.  And with the median pay in 2010 being $94,180, it is a most lucrative occupation to be in.

Are our schools doing enough to introduce and engage our children in this growing career opportunity?  Do your kids really understand what coding is?  Have you talked to your kids about coding? I believe that it is beneficial to teach kids about coding, even in its most basic form, so that they have a fuller picture of what goes on behind the games and apps they play on everyday.  By understanding its basic concepts, they have access to grasping what is possible.  

And, kids will not just assume that things are as they are, but ask why.  Why did the coder (programmer) make an Angry Bird purple?  How did they come up with the concept of slingshotting a bird that looks normal until it lands and explodes on the pigs?  What other type of bird could be created?  Opening up kids’ imagination on what’s possible and showing them a path of how they can create their own worlds or innovative apps one day can be eye-opening.

So when is it a good idea to begin exposing your children to coding?  Any time, really.  Although there aren’t a lot of books out there geared towards kids and coding, here are three, aimed at different ages, to get you started.

 Reading to Your Kids About Coding

ABCs of the Web – (Ages 4-7)

by Andrey Ostrovsky MD and John C Vanden-Heuvel Sr.

Made of durable coated cardboard, this board book is unlike any other alphabet primer you’ve seen!  ABCs of the Web features vibrant and fun illustrations along with quirky rhyming and web-design vocabulary to introduce young children to the World Wide Web.  

Created by a Web Designer and a Pediatrician, the ABCs of the Web introduce concepts to kids in a fun compelling way, relevant to their age.  So the book doesn’t go overboard in explaining the concepts, it just introduces vocabulary in a playful way that’s sure to delight children.

ABCs of the Web can be purchased through Amazon for $11.07.

The Wonderful World of Creatures & Code (Elementary Age) 

by Amie Pascal and Heather Petrocelli

The Wonderful World of Creatures & Code is a fun whimsical book elementary school kids will enjoy reading.  At this age, kids have been on the Internet for a while – either at school and/or at home.  The Wonderful World of Creatures & Code teaches kids about HTML (Hyper Markup Language) code, a basic programming language that powers the design of most pages on the web.

The Wonderful World of Creatures & Code teaches kids HTML basics by using beautifully illustrated fun endearing creatures who are inquisitive, instructive, and helpful.  Though initially, kids may not be able to grasp the concepts right away, the book does begin to ignite a child’s curiosity as to how webpages are actually created.

How to View HTML on Any Webpage

While reading the book with your child, you can take a field trip to your PC and show them the “secret” world of HTML behind any page.  Here’s how to do it:

1.  Open up any webpage
2.   Point your mouse anywhere on the page where there are words
3.   Right click with your mouse
4.   Select “View Page Source”

And you open up a whole new world of the coding that was written so you could view the webpage in a “pretty” format.  Kids will love looking for some of the tags they learned about in the book.

The Wonderful World of Creatures & Code introduces kids to 26 essential HTML tags from <img> tags to <break> tags (which put space between paragraphs).  I enjoyed reading this book to my son.  It was fun explaining to him what is really going on at a “deeper” level on some of his favorite webpages while igniting his curiosity on how things work on something he uses every day.

The Wonderful World of Creatures & Code received double the amount of money they asked for during their successful Kickstarter campaign.  Though the campaign was extremely successful, they authors have not found a publisher yet to widely distribute this great book.  You can contact them through this email address, wwocc@mnemonicproductions.com to order a personal copy.  The price is $25 per book.  If you’d like it signed by both authors and the illustrator, the price is $35.

Secret Coders (ages 8-12)

by Gene Luen Yang

For children a little older, Secret Coders offers an engaging comic book with main characters Hopper and her friend Eni embarking on many challenges to solve mysteries at Stately Academy, created by the school’s founder.  Hopper is a new student to Stately Academy, an old run-down looking school with a creepy janitor.  Through an entanglement with some of the schools jocks, Hopper stands her ground and soon befriends Eni, a basketball star at the school.

Hopper unknowingly helps Eni to recognize that the school’s seemingly robotic birds are actually displaying binary code which gives the kids clues on some of the mysteries of the school.  Hopper and Eni figure use these clues to discover a robot and even an underground secret location under the school.

Through the ease and mystery of this fun comic book, readers are given the chance to see how a robot can move and perform actions with code.  Secret Coders is a quick read, briefly touching on family troubles, bullying, and sibling rivalry.  Created by a high school computer programming teacher and avid comic book lover, Gene Luen Yang has created an entertaining book to introduce basic coding to kids in a non-threatening way.

Secret Coders is available from Amazon for $9.99.  The author just came out with with a secret to this book entitled Path & Portals, which continues the mystery solving fun of Hopper & Eni.