The most important thing in teaching children to program is to consolidate new knowledge in practice. When a child learns to program in Python, he will quickly be able to try his hand at not only exercising, but also creating real applications and small toys. We've put together five such mini-projects that will help aspiring developers hone their skills and improve their Python skills.
1. Random number generator
This small program can be used as a dice simulator with any number of faces. Fans of board games may like this high-tech replacement for a regular dice, which, moreover, will never touch the chips on the table. In any case, such modules are used in a wide variety of applications, so the ability to create a random number generator will be useful to any developer.
From a functional point of view, the program should be able to take a number within a given range and display it on the screen. After receiving the result, the user should also be able to roll the die — get a new result.
To write such a generator, it is enough to know the very basics of programming: working with integers, random selection functions and output the result. Such an application is the best option for a child who is learning Python. It combines an understandable purpose and simple code.
2. Guess the number
This minigame continues the idea of the previous one, adding one important point: the user must enter numbers. And the program needs to check whether this number matches the one on the random number generator and give an appropriate answer. As an additional feature, you can also provide hints to the player — “the right number is over/under”.
To create such an application, your child needs to know the topics from the previous paragraph, and also be able to work with If/Else variables, loops, and conditional operators. In general, this program is also great for the first steps in Python programming. You can start it without “warming up on cats”.
3. Text generator
The next program on our list could be fun for a group of friends. Programming for kids is an opportunity to show off their talents in front of their peers, and this app will serve exactly that purpose.
The principle is very simple: you first need to prepare a template for the text, and then offer the program words that it will put in the gaps. At the same time, the application should have such questions that users are guaranteed to provide data in the right form. For example, the template is: “______ came to visit and brought ______ as a gift. The hosts looked at him and said: “__________”.
An example of data entry requests in this case:
- “Who came to visit?” — Sasha.
- “What did he bring as a present?” — A book.
- “What did the hosts say to him?” — Thank you very much.
Result: “Sasha came to visit and brought a book as a gift. The hosts said to him: 'Thank you very much'.”
You can make such an application as complex as you like, add new steps and chapters to fill the story with new details and sudden twists of a tricky plot. In the process, the child will gain a complete understanding of the important mechanics of Python programming, including working with different types of variables and combining several lines of data into one sequence (concatenation).
4. Text quest
If a child wants to develop their own games, this program will provide them with their first experience. He will be able to come up with his own adventures with an extensive plot, send characters on trips to fantasy worlds, and come up with adventures on his own or with friends.
This game describes the user's environment and asks what actions he plans to take:
- You're in a room with three doors. For the first, you hear street noise, for the second someone growls, for the third, silence. Where are we going?
- Door number 1.
- You went outside. Across the street, you spotted a strangely dressed man... etc. — virtually ad infinitum.
This project is suitable for both novice developers and children who are already well acquainted with the basics of Python programming. They will be able to use their experience from the tasks we talked about above. For example, a random number generator can determine weapon damage in battle, and dialogues can be changed by substituting words according to the plot.
Creating such a game can be a multi-month project, because the story can be continued on and on, changing old chapters and complicating game mechanics. This experience will be useful not only for future game designers, but also for writers, screenwriters, and anyone who makes a living from stories.
5. Guess the Word (Hangman)
Everyone knows this game — there's a word that only knows the number of letters, and you have to guess it by offering one letter at a time. After a certain number of errors, the game ends.
This program is the most difficult project on our list for beginning Python developers, so it's a game worth taking on when you've already figured out the basics of programming. The application should take a word from a list (that is, work with a database), check the data received from the user, reveal the guessed letters, and count the number of errors. You can even add a picture of a “hangman”, as in the original game that many of us had fun at school — with every bad guess, the figure should have new elements.
These five small projects will help your child learn the basics of Python programming and provide a practical overview of what app developers do. With such a database, it will be easier for him to move from simple questions to more complex ones in order to understand the topics that interest him most.
