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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 in a structured pathway 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 exploring coding using blocks with Scratch and Snap.
  • Progressing - Progress to Building bigger and more advanced projects with blocks using the MakeCode platforms. This pathway also introduces physical computing.
  • Advancing - Advance to a coding legend using Python and CircuitPython.

Recently changed

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 (CircuitPython) 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 - First half of 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 - Spring 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 - 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.

And taking it just a step further...

At the Clubs Conference, I was super impressed and inspired by the talk on building an escape room. This is something that I am going to run as a bigger project with my group and also hopefully get a local primary school or two to also run something similar. I will keep a full commentary as I go along. Full details to follow but these are some of the inspiration:

  • https://github.com/brggs/Fix-The-SpaceShip-Escape-Room
  • https://curiouscoders.substack.com/p/build-your-own-escape-room-puzzle

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.