Parents' Guide to

Grasshopper: Learn to Code

By Christy Matte, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Free coder teaches kids actual programming language.

App iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android Free Education
Grasshopper: Learn to Code Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

  • Grasshopper by Area 120 App: Screenshot #1
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Community Reviews

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age 9+

Based on 1 parent review

TrishaGateway2018
TrishaGateway2018 Parent of 7-year-old
May 23, 2018
age 9+

Great HTML App

I really enjoy using this HTML app. It help me refresh my memory how to make websites with HTML. This app help me so much and it was very easy to understand and use.

This title has:

Easy to play/use
1 person found this helpful.
See all 1 parent review

Privacy Rating Warning

  • Personal information is not sold or rented to third parties.
  • Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.
  • Data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
  • User's information is used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Unclear whether this product creates and uses data profiles for personalised advertisements.
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What’s It About?

GRASSHOPPER: LEARN TO CODE is a collection of progressive interactive lessons that guide users from understanding what coding is all the way through making their own animations. Each lesson teaches a discrete bit of information, from a specific command to a type of coding logic (such as a loop or a conditional statement). There are quizzes to pass along the way and kids earn trophies and achievements as they progress. It includes four courses: What Is Code?, Fundamentals, Animations, and Animations II. Kids will need to pass each one before moving on to the next. There is also a Code Playground where kids can put their new skills to the test by building out their own pieces of code.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

While many apps teach kids about coding logic, learning actual code is both empowering and fun. Grasshopper: Learn to Code makes learning JavaScript playful and accessible as it sneaks in a lot of important info. It starts off with a colorful set of lessons that teach kids how to draw various flags using code, which is a huge improvement from where many coding lessons begin. There are some lessons that feel like big leaps of information, and many kids will need help understanding and digesting the info. There's also the danger that the focus on interactive puzzles to teach code sometimes leads to missing the bigger picture of what's being taught. And occasionally the lessons feel too scripted, not leaving room for mistakes. Figuring out where your code went wrong is a huge part of programming, so a bit more flexibility in accepting answers can't hurt. But beyond those minor complaints, you can't really go wrong with Grasshopper: Learn to Code for getting started with JavaScript. It might be just the thing to springboard your child into a love of coding and computer science in general.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the coding logic in Grasshopper: Learn to Code. How does a computer read and understand instructions? How is that the same and/or different as how people understand instructions?

  • Discuss coding as a profession. What types of things do programmers do? How can you combine your other interests with software engineering or web design?

App Details

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