I've been asked by parents, classroom teachers so many times - how could we introduce coding to young kids (kindergarten, reception or pre-school, no matter how you name it).
To be honest, it could be easy and difficult.
Coding is not only digital related; coding means way more than that. It's a concept, an ability and a connection. For young kids, we could start from unplugged activities by introducing the concept of coding, logical thinking and problem-solving ability.
Here is an example of me to use Cubetto with aged 4-6 kids. We used Cubetto to work with maze, role-play and create stories.
What is Cubetto? On it's website, it introduces itself as "the friendly wooden robot toy for kids aged 3-6, chosen by 20000 parents & teachers to guide kids on 21st century skills without screens."
If you've ever heard about Beebot, it's an advanced version of Beebot. The reason I like it, it's because it has a control board, where kids could put all steps on the control board as well as keep it as a record.
It's also a good way to debug. Every time when they make mistakes, they could go back to check the solutions easily and find out the problems.
Here's the procedure how we used it to make story (combine with literacy and art):
Name Cubetto - a cute name.
Give Cubetto a setting, like in a forest, desert or castle. (It would be better if you have the background)
Write down the story - for aged 4-6 students, they could make 5-6 sentences stories (or teachers could help them write it down).
Decorate Cubetto. It's all about drawing , kids will LOVE it!
Rehearsal.
Play in front of peers.
Of course, you can do something more advanced with older kids. But starting with unplugged coding activities is always a good choice to set the ball rolling!