- Blockly Games (ages 7 and up): Blockly games is a free browser-based program by Google. It is a series of games and puzzles designed for children who have not had prior experience with computer program. By the end of the games, players are ready to use conventional text-based languages.
- Code.org/Learn (ages 4 and up) has coding games for all ages and abilities, and teaches a variety of programming languages. Free, and well worth a visit!
- Hopscotch (ages 4 and up): A free iOS app for iPhone and iPad which teaches core coding concepts. Users can create games, drawings, mini-websites, patterns, and animations, and share them with others. A YouTube channel teaches how to make the games.
- Kodable (K-5): A browser-based series of puzzles/activities which allows parents/teachers to set up classrooms and monitor student progress. Includes lesson content for teachers. Free for basic version, additional charge for extras.
- Kodu Game Lab (ages 8+) lets kids create games on the PC and XBox using a simple visual programming language. It works on Windows computers, is free, and can be downloaded from here. Select KoduSetup.exe, click Next, and when prompted, permit the file to download. This may take a few minutes. When it is done, double-click KoduSetup.exe to install the file.
- Minecraft: Education Edition (ages 7+) is free as long as you have a valid school e-mail address. There is a lot of support for Minecraft in the form of a starter kit, training, and community. There are also ready-made lessons on a variety of topics, which you can find using the provided lesson filter.
- Scratch (ages 8+) is a well-known teaching tool usable by any student who can read, and it comes with terrific instructional materials. It introduces programming through blocks, similar to exercises on code.org, and is a precursor to Javascript. Scratch is easy to learn amd teach — just follow the instructions in the curriculum guide. It is browser-based, so it is usable on any computer that can reach the Internet, and it’s free. Click here for a variety of downloadable guides and workbooks, or here for a very excellent curriculum guide in PDF format.
- ScratchJr (ages 5-7): A free app. Unlike Scratch, which is only usable on computers, ScratchJr is for mobile device, Android or iOS. With ScratchJr, young children and nonreaders can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer.
- Starlogo Nova (ages 11+) allows user to create, edit, and run games and simulations in their browser
- TaleBlazer (ages 11+) allows users to make and play their own location-based mobile games, using Augmented Reality (AR)
- Thinking Myself (ages 10 and up): A free browser-based activity which teaches computational thinking. Discusses patterns, variables/abstractions, input, output, loops, and algorithms.
- Unity (ages 13 +) is a game engine that many game development professionals use to create video games. Becoming adept at this program would be a real door-opener for an aspiring video game creator. Unity is free to download. There are plenty of free tutorials at https://unity3d.com/learn, and a Unity manual is at https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/index.html. An Internet search would reveal many other Unity videos, lessons, and documentation as well.