Best Coding Tools for High School Students

Top Pick

Coding is an invaluable literacy applicable to virtually any future career or field of study. These high school-level tools will help students build this essential 21st-century literacy by learning how code works and how to write code themselves. Once they're up to snuff, coding will give your students a new way to demonstrate knowledge and express themselves. And teachers, take note: There are tools here for those brand new to code as well as those looking for more of a challenge, so make sure to pick and choose to give every student a window into the world of programming.

If you're looking to begin coding lessons in your classroom, check out our Teaching Strategies for how to Get Started With Coding in Your Classroom.

Block-Based Programming

Code.org Visit Website: http://www.code.org Popular games, big names get kids and teachers pumped to program	Grades K-12 Type Website Price Free Common Sense Rating 5 Teacher Rating 4
Scratch Visit Website: http://scratch.mit.edu/ Jump-start future programmers with adaptive sandbox tool	Grades K-12 Type Website Price Free Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 4
Kodu Game Lab Publisher: Microsoft Open-ended game design and programming tool for visual thinkers	Grades 3-12 Type Game Price Free Platforms Windows, Xbox 360 Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 4
Made with Code Visit Website: https://www.madewithcode.com/ Enticing projects and inspiring videos offer anyone an intro to coding	Grades 4-12 Type Website Price Free Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 4
Cargo-Bot Publisher: Two Lives Left Challenging game helps kids learn to think like programmers	Grades 5-12 Type App Price Free Platforms Android, iPad Common Sense Rating 3 Teacher Rating 4
Appinventor.org Visit Website: http://www.appinventor.org/ Great mobile app creation site has solid teacher resources	Grades 6-12 Type Website Price Free Common Sense Rating 5 Teacher Rating 4
Human Resource Machine Publisher: Tomorrow Corporation Addictive, unique way to supplement coding instruction	Grades 6-12 Type Game Price $4.99 (app), $9.99 (Steam) Platforms iPhone, Linux, Mac, Wii U, Windows Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating Not Yet Rated
Lightbot : Programming Puzzles Publisher: LightBot Inc. Simple design, but challenging fun for budding programmers	Grades 6-12 Type App Price $2.99 Platforms Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch Common Sense Rating 3 Teacher Rating 4
MIT App Inventor 2 Visit Website: http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/ Fun programming site gets kids to build their own mobile apps	Grades 6-12 Type Website Price Free Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 4
GameSalad Publisher: GameSalad, Inc. Great interface, flexible publishing options make game-making a snap	Grades 7-12 Type Game Price $19+ per month, discounts for educators Platforms Mac, Windows Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 5

Text-Based Programming

CodeCombat Publisher: CodeCombat Dungeon-crawling adventure where code is king	Grades 4-12 Type Game Price Free, Paid Platforms Mac, Windows Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 4
CodeMonkey Visit Website: http://www.playcodemonkey.com/ Puzzler's use of real code fills niche in crowded learn-to-code genre	Grades 4-12 Type Website Price Free to Try, Paid Common Sense Rating 5 Teacher Rating 4
Mozilla Thimble Visit Website: https://thimble.mozilla.org/ Inspiring platform teaches coding through remixing	Grades 4-12 Type Website Price Free Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 4
Swift Playgrounds Publisher: Apple Fun, intuitive iOS-coding app great for newbies or pros	Grades 4-12 Type App Price Free Platforms iPad Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating Not Yet Rated
Mozilla X-Ray Goggles Visit Website: https://goggles.webmaker.org/ Remix tool reveals code, can strengthen kids' understanding of the web	Grades 5-12 Type Website Price Free Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 5
Code Avengers Visit Website: http://www.codeavengers.com/ Challenging puzzles teach with real code; best for more advanced kids	Grades 6-12 Type Website Price Free to Try, Paid Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 4
Hack 'n' Slash Publisher: Double Fine Productions Zelda-inspired puzzler lets players peek behind the code curtain	Grades 6-12 Type Game Price $13.37 Platforms Linux, Mac, Windows Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating Not Yet Rated
Codecademy Visit Website: http://www.codecademy.com Terrific hands-on coding practice with live feedback	Grades 7-12 Type Website Price Free, Paid Common Sense Rating 5 Teacher Rating 4
Construct 2 Publisher: Scirra Standout, pro-caliber game-dev tool still great for novices	Grades 7-12 Type Game Price Free, Paid Platforms Windows Common Sense Rating 5 Teacher Rating Not Yet Rated
Codea Publisher: Two Lives Left Well-thought-out coding platform for real game programming	Grades 8-12 Type App Price $14.99 Platforms iPad Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating 5
Vidcode Visit Website: http://www.vidcode.io/ Cool coding tool tuned to teen girls' passions aids creativity	Grades 8-12 Type Website Price Free to Try, Paid Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating Not Yet Rated
Code School Visit Website: https://www.codeschool.com/ Awesome interactive coding lessons can make anyone a programmer	Grades 9-12 Type Website Price Free, Paid Common Sense Rating 5 Teacher Rating Not Yet Rated
Treehouse Visit Website: https://teamtreehouse.com/ Fun, self-paced web development and coding lessons offer high value	Grades 9-12 Type Website Price Free to Try, Paid Common Sense Rating 4 Teacher Rating Not Yet Rated

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Block-Based Programming

Text-Based Programming

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