​With Scratch Jr, young children (ages 5-7) can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer. Scratch Jr currently works on iPads, Android devices, and Chromebooks. Get started with these activities or this curriculum.
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KIBO is a robot kit specifically designed for young children aged 4-7 years old. KIBO gives children the chance to make their ideas physical and tangible—exactly what their young minds and bodies need. And KIBO does all this without requiring screen time. Children build their own robot with KIBO, program it to do what they want, and decorate it. 
​There are a number of free instructional coding apps for tablets (iPads and Android devices). Two examples for early elementary are The Foos and Kodable, both of which require no reading.

Vicky Sedgwick, a K-5 teacher in SoCal, has curated information about many different iPad coding apps.

Scratch is a free programming language and online community where users can create their own interactive stories, games, and animations by snapping together programming blocks. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for life in the 21st century. Get started with this Creative Computing curriculum guide.
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Code.org has developed four levels of elementary school curricula that allows students to explore computing. The courses blend online, self-guided and self-paced tutorials with “unplugged” activities that require no computer at all. Each course consists of about 20 lessons that may be implemented as one unit or over the course of a semester. Even kindergarten-aged pre-readers can participate. Code.org coding tools: Play Lab and Draw Something.
Less than 1% of girls study CS.  Made w/ Code aims to change this by inspiring girls to learn CS. All students (not just girls!) can learn how to code through creative projects, involving animation, music, fashion, and more. Users can also watch inspirational videos and connect with other coders. 

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​Sphero is a durable, baseball-sized robot that kids can easily program. Tickle is a tablet app that provides a blocks-based programming language to control the actions of Sphero and other robots.
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​Dash & Dot are robots with a number of sensors that allow them to connect to the outside world. Kids can program them using free Wonder Workshop apps on iPad or Android tablets.
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Bee-Bot is a robot designed for use by young children. This colorful, easy-to-operate, and friendly little robot is a perfect tool for teaching sequencing, estimation, problem-solving, and just having fun! Simple directional keys are used to enter commands which send Bee-Bot forward, back, left, and right. 

Additional Resources

  • ​Computational Thinking for Educators: a course to help teachers integrate computational thinking into humanities, math, and science
  • CS Unplugged: off-the-computer activities to learn computing concepts
  • Tynker: a blocks-based language with integrated curriculum & lessons
  • Hopscotch: a blocks-based language for creating art and games
  • Blockly Games: blocks-based programming games (puzzles)
  • Turtle Academy: an online adaptation of the LOGO programming language (supports turtle geometry)
  • Coding Corner: reviews of additional coding platforms & resources
  • Skype in the Classroom: search by subject and age group to arrange a time with a volunteer guest speaker best suited for your class
  • CS Custom Search: search Google for additional materials (such as lesson plans, tutorials, activities, and videos) to support your classroom
  • CSTA's K-8 CS Google+ Community: an online community and discussion forum exclusively for K-8 CS educators

Physical Computing