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Errata for Invasion of the Alien Ducks.

Hello and welcome! Why have I started this site? I run a Code Club in a library in rural Norfolk in the UK which I thoroughly love. One of the biggest challenges I've found is in having suitable materials for the children to work through; particularly when delivering the sessions on library computers that are completely locked down (and old). All of the lessons I deliver are done using tools that can be run in a browser on a relatively low specification computer. Also, the materials and tools I use are free to minimise costs.

Even though there are plenty of materials out there, they are often hard to find in the ocean of the world wide web. I have also found that some platforms are better supported than others and the quality of materials available varies a lot.

This site is a curated list of quality materials from other sources that I use in my sessions and some that I have produced myself to help you on your coding journey. The materials are presented as structured pathways to help you develop your skills in a progressive way.

I regularly make updates to this site. See recently changed for the most recent changes and roadmap for the planned materials for the next year.

My recommended pathways are:

Exploring

Start your coding journey with blocks using the free online tools Scratch and Snap.

Head over to Exploring to get started.

Progressing

Progress to Building more advanced block based projects with the free MakeCode platforms MakeCode Arcade and BBC micro:bit, amongst others. The MakeCode platform provides the next level in blocks based coding which can be downloaded to run on your very own device.

Head over to Progressing to get started.

This level also opens up the opportunity to experiment with physical computing. A fantastic way to start to explore this is using the BBC micro:bit, a low cost microcontroller packed full of sensors. A fantastic way to use those sensors is to Building an escape room with MakeCode. Head over and follow the instructions which will take you through the steps of building an escape room. This is an excellent group activity.

Head over to Escape room to get started.

Advancing

Advance to be a coding legend using Python and CircuitPython. Work your way through all the materials here and you will be coding like a pro.

Head over to Advancing to get started.

Recently changed

April 2025

I've added in some of my old BBC micro:bit materials in the progressing section. Head on over to here for more information.

March 2025

Fancy building an Escape room? Head over to Building an escape room with MakeCode. The instructions will take you through the steps to build an escape room; a great group activity. I'm still adding lots of additional content to that part of the site so keep an eye on this recently changed section for updates.

January 2025

The original pathways Beginning, Progressing and Advancing have been reworked as Exploring, Progressing and Advancing as well as made more generic. This has also merged the physical computing materials with the non-physical computing materials.

December 2024

The PyGame Zero game Muncher had some modest re-working to reduce the amount of editing existing code in order to make the instructions simpler to follow. It also now has the code for each step provided at the start of the step if students get stuck. This is now considered final quality.

The PyGame Zero game Smash was put on the site along with a couple of sub-tasks. It is a complete project and considered final quality.

The site moved has to new hosting environment that supports HTTPS.

November 2024

The Python pathway has been extended significantly to add in an extra 8 modules based on Al Sweigart materials. See here

Added links to the updated Halloween 2024 project, including references to my CircuitPython framework pico-interactive. See Advancing for more details.

Roadmap

I did not have anywhere near as much time in 2024 to dedicate to updating this site, mostly because of the massive amount of effort I needed to put in to pico-interactive and the Halloween 2024 project. Next year will be a bit different though as I have quite a few overdue improvements and extensions to add. This is the planned roadmap (subject to change)

MakeCode Arcade - H1, 2025

This is my primary materials goal of 2025. Previous experience has highlighted that producing good visual materials based on MakeCode Arcade is very time consuming.

  • Complete overhaul of all existing materials so they are updated with the newer UI and Blocks.
  • Add a section on the MakeCode Arcade environment and how to do common tasks.
  • Add a section reviewing various MakeCode Hardware platforms as I get asked this a lot.

Code Club AI - Q2, 2025

  • I loved the Hands on AI session at the Clubs Conference and will be building these materials into my Blocks pathway ready for the students to pick in 2025.

Physical Computing - Late 2025

Adding more physical computing contents is my secondary goal of 2025. I love working on these projects and the students love doing them.

  • Rework and add in my existing projects (micro:bit and Pico)
  • Add in Lego projects using the Pico and Inventor board.
  • Explore and review some new online IDEs and make recommendations that work in libraries.

Python - late 2025

  • Add a section on starting with Replit; including how to easily work within the 3 repository limit for free accounts.
  • Add more Python challenges.
  • Complete Module 1 of More Games with PyGame Zero.
  • Rework the MakeCode Arcade Python games with the updated IDE.