Though Spacechem isn't for really young kids, and isn't "cute". However, you'll learn some basic concepts of programming, including basic sequencing of actions, resource management (time and space), and even thread coordination.
"Coding" as a subject is emerging with all the requisite teacher training materials, state board approved curricula, etc. It bears about as much resemblance to actual software engineering or even hobbyist programming as the AP CS exam does ;)
The best experience I've had so far is just creating simple games and simulations in Processing (P5JS) with kids. The online IDE is very forgiving. But as of yet, I don't think there is really a set of instructions that allow them to think like a Computer Scientist. In many aspects, 1980s style Turtle Graphics and DOS BASIC were more advanced "mind-openers"
My 6 year old and I often boot up the old 8-bit machine that I have reserved in a corner of my lab just for this purpose. I have to say - there is no better way to teach a 6-year old to code than to fire up a BASIC-running 8-bit machine from the 80's and let 'em at it. Something so satisfying about hearing him read out his code .. "10 ... do this .. 20 .. do that .." ;)
This, and other recommendations in this thread, are marvelous. I'm hopefully going to start volunteering at my kids' school teaching coding to ~10-12 year olds, and this will be a great tool for anyone who needs something more challenging.
I tutor kids in my free time from ages 4 up to college. I find that Processing/p5.js is a great tool for teaching younger kids how to use their imagination through the vessel of built-in functions + tweaking arguments to instantly see their input on the canvas in the form of bright, flashy colors/shapes. It requires a much more hands on approach and can really only be done well in 1 on 1 settings. While I wish there was a way for me to be less of a navigator in terms of the amount of code that goes on the screen, I have come to find that kids are generally exceptional at pattern recognition. Even my student that is 4 (although he’s a smart kid) is capable of writing his own scripts now without much guidance in his logic/syntax. I had my own start with micro worlds as a kid, and played with netlogo in a college class. That made me a staunch supporter of kids getting into code through agent/turtle based environments
I used to teach kids to code and REPL.it's multiplayer mode was the best tool! It was a little buggy sometimes, but in general collaborative coding tools are excellent for teaching.
The kids and I play MineCraft with the fantastic open computers mod (http://ocdoc.cil.li). Doing this gives a good base understanding of what is easy to program and what is not. When I'm programing they are pretty interested in whatever problem we are solving, and suggests ways we could solve them.
I'm somewhat a believer in teaching kids things when they want to learn them. So I'm teaching my daughter who is six years how to code, even though I've not taught her older siblings yet.
For actually getting started teaching though, I just use the JavaScript console in Chrome. You get live feedback, and there's a lot of stuff to make happen.
Functions are monsters that hold arguments in their hands and either make things happen, or transform into something else. Variables are boxes. My six year old literally calls her programing "playing with the monsters".
On another tangent, I think the kid's world right now in professional America has a little too much emphasis on STEM. It's worshiped like the football team in coal America or being a doctor twenty years ago in Asia-American circles. I love coding, breathe coding, and can't help but pass on, but I know that my kids have unique, individual gifts. I'm not going to force them code. I'm just going to support them if they want to, and coding is always going to be around the house simply because that's what I do.
Last year I added a touch of programming to my 9 year old son's home school activities. We tried several learning tools, starting with Scratch. I don't have anything negative to say about the various options we tried. However, the most positive exercise was him going through the "Prof Stef" tutorial built into Pharo. He really got into exploring and interacting with objects using tradition Smalltalk inspectors and workspaces (Do it, Show it, Inspect it). He loved that he could close the environment and open it the next day with all his play right where it was.
As a father, I loved that I didn't feel like a fraud as I could easily help him dig around and answer just about any question on what's really going on.
Oddly, the kids I mentored in FIRST loved the command/subsystem framework. I kept trying to convince them to do some procedural code to make things simpler (they had little experience coding, even for high school robotics kids), but command/subsystem was their comfort zone and they didn't want to leave it.
Minetest was the vehicle through which I first introduced my youngest son to programming around 7-8 years ago (iirc). The way his eyes lit up when he wrote some code to change the game and then played it was just magic. He still—as a freshman CS student wrapping up his first year—fondly remembers those magical feelings today.
I love this because it works on getting kids into the wonder and power of coding before they hit the CS meat grinder later on. Falling in love with it and getting some experience before they hit more rigorous learning down the road. It will help a lot of other CS & engineer majors in their first year. I hope that made any sense.
The most traditional tool we've used is probably http://www.codecombat.com Also PBS has a Crash Course in Computer Science video series that's excellent for ages 10+ -- we pause it a lot to make sure they caught the main points.
I also show them what I'm working on for fun and invite them to help with parts of it. Usually Arduino and 3D printing/modeling. We've started (but not finished) a few web-based games together. I don't know if either of them will ever catch "the bug" like I did at their age (9 and 11 now), but I want it to be an option for them if they do.
In my experience, kids already get plenty of opportunities for screen-based STEM stuff. Mine have Hour of Code that offers block programming tutorials that are relatively fun. If they're anything like we were, they'll self-teach computer stuff when they're ready.
So I don't do much of that, and instead find other, more hands-on things I'm curious about and we can explore together.
I have some friends whose kids are approaching the computer-capable age. I've been keeping my eyes open for environments that might intrigue and inspire them. I'm adding yours to the list.
I like the idea of it being Python, so that perhaps they might smoothly transition from fun to "real" problem solving (which is, I find, the most fun of all).
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