Parents' Guide to

Tynker

By Amanda Bindel, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Coding concepts empower kids through courses, games.

Tynker Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 8+

Based on 10 parent reviews

age 6+

What Tynker Really Is Like - For Parents Looking for a Good Coding Website

Tynker is an absolute ripoff. Coding websites such as Scratch or Cospaces are much better. My kid was also very, very dissapointed and constantly complained that Tynker was boring and he was better off doing something else. All families looking for a good coding website for your kids: Tynker is not for you. You'd be better off with Cospaces or Scratch.
age 7+

Tynker is a Rip off of Scratch: From front to back.

Tynker is pretty weird. I initially started with it as my first programming language. My friend's brother a while later was using Scratch and I thought it was Tynker. I asked him what it was and he said it was Scratch. Scratch had come out way before Tynker and I was very impressed with Scratch's interface. It was basically Tynker but way better. More options, more sharability, better block concepts. Everything. Tynker literally copy-pasted Scratch in its entirety and changed one or two things to where it's "Different" and had "More blocks" You can easily recreate said blocks in Scratch with little to no effort. Not to mention Tynker's interface is buggy and it will crash a lot. The fact that Tynker is about $20 a month for a worse version of an online program that is literally free, I think it is pretty obvious who is the winner. The reason I'm not giving it 1 star is only because Tynker is Scratch but bad, meaning it at least accomplishes something right. Scratch is a fantastic platform and Tynker just pulled a mobile game rip-off kind of deal. Do not get Tynker. Scratch is free and does everything better.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (10):
Kids say (21):

This is a treasure trove for kids who are interested in learning to code, whether beginner or more advanced. Tynker does a lovely job of inviting kids in, especially younger users, with colorful and fun dashboards and plenty of cute characters to code with. If anything, the experience may be too overwhelming. With so many choices and courses that don't explicitly state what they teach, it may be difficult for kids to choose what to do next. Newer users would benefit from a clear lesson progression. Older kids may appreciate the more streamlined experience. And those who are ready to use real code will have no trouble locating the courses they need.

Tynker includes a nice range of topics so kids who aren't gamers will still find fun things to do, such as art and music-related lessons. The biggest win may actually be the open-ended coding tools that allow kids to use either real code or block code to create whatever type of game or activity their imagination can conjure up. So many coding activities for kids lock them in to predetermined actions that Tynker's sandbox coding options are a breath of fresh air.

Website Details

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