21.05.12
"Using Mar is like snapping together Lego blocks... and within a few weeks Nirekh created his first videogame based on his darling cartoon Avatar - The Last Airbender," she says.
Dasika might have had the advantage of being from the software bustle, but with the availability of simple graphic-based tools, parents are judgement out that they don't have to be programmers to teach coding to kids. "With kids simplicity is the key," says Archana Nayudu, mammy of 11-year-old Yashmit who built his first robot at the age of eight.
An editor with a B2B publication, Mumbai-based Nayudu didn't have any programming experience, but when she came across Carnegie Mellon's Alice.org, she knew that the frank programming tool - with its 3D interface would be something that would appeal to her son.
Alice lets kids father small programs and games with tiles that come with simple instructions like 'boost', 'turn right', 'turn left', and so on.
Kids due need to combine these and build a story by making characters effect actions by stacking the tiles on top of each other.
Source: Times of India