Kindergarten – 1st · Coding & Computers
Computers: What The Buttons Do
Mouse, keyboard, and screen basics for a first-time user — with a grown-up nearby.
Practice sets
Read the teaching notes, then let them practice on screen or print a sheet. Every set makes fresh problems each time, and you can change the numbers to match where your child is.
Say it in exact order
Say this to your child first
Programming is telling a machine exactly what to do, in exactly the right order. Play this first: let your child instruct you to make a jam sandwich, and follow their words literally. If they say "put the jam on the bread" without opening the jar, open nothing. The giggling IS the lesson — computers are just as literal.
Watch out for
Skipping a step because it is obvious to a person. Nothing is obvious to a computer, and realising that is the whole point.
How this works
- 1. Read the notes above and do one problem together.
- 2. Open Practice and let them work on screen. Anything with one right answer is marked instantly; written answers are shown to you side by side with a good one, for you to judge.
- 3. Or open Print a sheet for a paper worksheet with an answer key for you.
Move the robot
Say this to your child first
Draw a 5 by 5 grid on paper, label the columns A to E and the rows 1 to 5, and use a coin as the robot. Read one instruction at a time and slide the coin. Doing it with a finger before doing it in their head is not cheating — it is exactly how programmers work.
Watch out for
Trying to jump to the answer. Make them move the coin one instruction at a time and say each new square out loud.
How this works
- 1. Read the notes above and do one problem together.
- 2. Open Practice and let them work on screen. Anything with one right answer is marked instantly; written answers are shown to you side by side with a good one, for you to judge.
- 3. Or open Print a sheet for a paper worksheet with an answer key for you.
Naming the parts
Say this to your child first
Sit at the actual computer or tablet and point at each part as you name it. Let them touch it. A child who can name the screen, the keyboard and the mouse can follow instructions from a teacher later without guessing.
Watch out for
Calling the whole machine 'the computer' including the screen. The screen is the part you look at; the computer is the part that does the thinking.
How this works
- 1. Read the notes above and do one problem together.
- 2. Open Practice and let them work on screen. Anything with one right answer is marked instantly; written answers are shown to you side by side with a good one, for you to judge.
- 3. Or open Print a sheet for a paper worksheet with an answer key for you.
Longer robot journeys
Say this to your child first
Same game as before, but more steps to hold in their head. Have them point at the grid with a finger and say each move out loud as they count it. Saying it out loud is what stops them losing their place.
Watch out for
Counting the square they are standing on as the first step. The first move takes them off it.
How this works
- 1. Read the notes above and do one problem together.
- 2. Open Practice and let them work on screen. Anything with one right answer is marked instantly; written answers are shown to you side by side with a good one, for you to judge.
- 3. Or open Print a sheet for a paper worksheet with an answer key for you.