Community reviews for Tynker: Coding Games for Kids

Tynker is a very nice app. 5-9. I use it for classes. There are different, fun coding activities. It is great to have activities in Python and Java. We use it with fun. I'm opening accounts by matching it with Google Classroom classes. This is also a very practical application.

The app is very engaging for students. There are lots of choices which help to keep students interested in the coding process. Tynker offers a nice variety of activities for any level. Students can work through fun activities to strengthen their problem-solving skills. They get feedback and are rewarded by moving through levels and seeing their actions come to life on the screen. Students have the opportunity to be successful and learn that coding has a purpose and is relevant in their world.

Tynker is incredibly engaging for students. The game-like activities will engage students and enough activities are included to keep students occupied for many sessions. The ability to go to the workshop at anytime is nice because students may tired of the step-by-step tutorial activities. They will think they are ready to move on. Let them give it a try. Eventually, they will run into a wall as they try to add a new command. Guiding them back to the tutorials will show them that it is a building process. The teacher features are nice, although I hope that eventually the web-based teacher dashboard and the tablet-based Tynker for Schools app will interface a bit more. I would love for students to complete teacher assigned lessons in the app.

I really like Tynker for introducing the concept of coding. There are a variety of activities for all levels and interests. I prefer it to other sites where you cannot create teacher or student accounts. It would be preferable it the site also included off-line lessons (much like Code.org does.) This way it would be a comprehensive curriculum that would be useful in teaching students all about coding. The students really enjoy the games and that is definitely a benefit to this site. When I use it, the students are super-focused and really enjoying themselves.

I think it's an excellent app. It gives students a different way to move the coding blocks. Personally I wish it was free. There are online resources that are free, and I really wish this was one of them.

Tynker is a great app. Because it has different components it really can be used by a wide range of students. The app says from ages 9-11, but I can see a much younger student student completing some of the easier sections in the "Play" area. The "Create" section was engaging for my 12-13 year olds in my class. So it is more versatile than suggested. In my opinion the "Create" section has a lot to offer if you are willing to put time and effort into teaching students how to use Blockly to animate the characters. You can integrate other content subjects through what the characters are doing if you are willing to be creative. Take the time to investigate the app and plan that awesome lesson. Don't just put it in front of the students without good planning. You will be happy you did.

I was most impressed with how quickly they were able to pick up on the concept AND that when they finished each class, students didn't feel like they were learning. It was a great way to introduce coding concepts without having to use a foreign language. Kids were engaged with going the furthest in the challenge and collecting stars. They worked independently, but also reached out to their classmates to help when they struggled to string the correct code together (especially with the [repeat] command). It was sufficiently challenging to keep them engaged (grades 3-7) and easy enough to allow them to be successful. The only negative I see is that I was unable to determine individual student gains or mastery because we share iPads. The app will collect "star" information (similar to other gaming apps such as Angry Birds or Candy Crush), but once a student accomplishes the challenge in three stars, there is no going back. Ideally, each student would have their own device in order to use this app as an assessment tool. I will, however, be able to take screenshots of their progress and incorporate them into further assessments.

The web version is more robust than the app version, but for the iPad classroom, the app version is convenient. It would be helpful if the program required more detail to assignments before giving students completion credit and allowing them to move on to the next lesson.