Excited About Coding! – An Introduction To Coding Using Scratch 2 Software On The Raspberry Pi 4 Computer

Learn to code on a child-friendly (no Internet), low-cost Raspberry Pi 4 computer (released June 2019) with MIT’s Scratch software (designed for kids)!

“EXCITED ABOUT CODING!” is a great starter book for children (ages 9 and up), teenagers, and adults who want to get a quick and fun introduction to the world of coding (also called computer programming). Using the wildly popular Scratch software and the tiny Raspberry Pi computer (over 25 million sold), the student is guided through computer setup with detailed illustrated Step-By-Step instructions, and quickly engaged in creating computer games that teach the basics of software design and coding. Scratch was developed by MIT’s Media Lab for teaching children how to code, and has an intuitive user interface that is similar to connecting colorful Lego blocks together. The coding lessons in this book have easy-to-follow numbered steps with very detailed diagrams that show exactly what the student needs to do to get their code working. NOTE: Children of ages 9-11 may need some assistance from an adult or older child in reading this book and doing the coding projects.

In addition to teaching the student to write code, this book also introduces computer hardware concepts and software engineering principles such as requirements definition and coding from a software design. The student learns to think like a software engineer, and has fun at the same time. At the end of the project chapters, there are exercises (with answers in the back of the book) that test the student’s knowledge and make fun changes to the code.

An attractive feature of this book for parents, home schoolers, and public educators, is that the Raspberry Pi computer is not connected to the Internet (in our usage), so you will be creating a simple “child-friendly” computer learning lab that requires no maintenance, is 100% protected from hackers, and eliminates the risk of children getting into inappropriate content on the Internet.

Includes detailed Raspberry Pi 4 setup instructions!

For households where the Raspberry Pi will be the student’s personal computer, they will have the satisfying feeling that they have “built their own computer”. During the simple computer assembly (which is described in detail in this book), the student gets to see the Pi circuit board up close, in all of its amazing miniaturized glory, and will gain an appreciation for the computer hardware that is hidden from view inside the opaque plastic case of a tablet, laptop or desktop computer.

The Raspberry Pi and Scratch were both developed specifically for children to learn about computers, and together they are the perfect combination for beginning computer education. The Raspberry Pi 4 comes with Scratch 2 included when you purchase a kit that contains the Micro SD memory card.

Hardware Requirements

• Raspberry Pi 4 kit
  • Pi 4 computer (2GB or 4GB RAM)
  • Power cord
  • Micro SD memory card with NOOBS software (Verify that the kit has this!)
  • HDMI video cable
  • Heat sinks
  • Plastic case
• TV or monitor (preferably with HDMI port)
• Keyboard (USB)
• Mouse (USB)
• Sound – Use one of these:
  • A TV
  • A monitor with built-in speakers
  • External AC-powered speakers
  • Headphones

Reviews

Chloe (student, 13 years old)
— “I just completed the book! It was pretty fun to play the paint pong game with my sister.”
— “It was fully understandable.”
— “Thank you so much for the great opportunity to get to code on a raspberry pi computer.”

Cecilia (parent)
— “Congratulations! You have truly inspired them.”

Heather (software engineer)
— “This book is excellent. Fun, informative, extremely well done.”