How to continue digital making while at home - our tips
Posted on 20th December 2022 at 09:00
When you are not at one of our digital making activities, you may be wanting to create your own projects at home. The team at the Keeping Digital Foundation have produced this handy guide to help you continue making at home!
Maybe it's a school holiday, or you have a free hour on your weekend, or maybe even after homework, and you want to create a new project and further develop your digital skills... but where can you begin when at home?
There are many different resources that can support you in making at home, and you'll be glad to know they are completely free.
So if you can't attend any of our activities in York, Harrogate or Northallerton, we've got you covered!
Coding with Scratch
Scratch is one of the main programming languages we use at York CoderDojo, Northallerton CoderDojo, Harrogate Pi Jam and also York Pi Jam, providing younger people with the beginning steps to getting started with programming.
Scratch is aimed at young people aged 8 to 16 and they can easily create games, animations and art using the drag and drop block code editor, which can be accessed for free via the Scratch website.
Young people can also save their projects through a free Scratch account, and they can also view projects from other Scratch users for inspiration.
There are many projects that young people can choose, either from our Projects page or the Raspberry Pi Foundation website. These tutorials go through the project step-by-step and are useful in explaining why the young people are selecting the blocks they need to create the project.
Coding with Python
Python is a slightly more advanced programming language and is text-based meaning you have to type every line of code into the editor.
You can download the official Python editor from the Python website for free, but you can also use Trinket.io and their free online account to code and save your projects from your internet browser meaning you don't have to download any software.
Similar to Scratch, there are loads of projects young people can choose from, with the tutorials supporting young people (and adults) in creating projects as well as understanding how each bit of code makes the program run.
With the language being text-based, it's vital you spell each bit of code correctly otherwise your project will error and not run as expected, making this language perfect for people who want a bit of a challenge.
Coding with HTML/CSS
Interested in making websites? HTML and CSS is for you!
You can use the preinstalled Notepad app on your computer as a text editor, or you can use Trinket.io and their free online account to code and save your projects from your internet browser.
There are slightly less tutorials on this language, but nonetheless they are extremely fun and challenging.
Getting inspiration
So you've picked the programming language you want to use, excellent! The next step is getting inspiration to create your own project.
You may want to create your own idea by playing around with the language, or you may want a little more support through the form of online tutorials.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation's Project website is a hub of some amazing tutorials for Scratch, Python, HTML/CSS and explain the project in amazing detail, not only helping you build the finished product but also teaching you many different skills and reasoning behind your code.
We highlight some of these tutorials on our Projects page, and these are the tutorials we work through at our digital making activities every month.
If you are coding in Scratch, you can also use the Scratch website to look at the projects made by other Scratch users. You can then 'remix' them to see the code behind the project and have a play to make it your own.
Our team are always happy to help you and answer any questions you may have! Drop us an email at hello@keepingdigital.org.uk, or bring your project into one of our in-person digital making activities across the region.
Luke
Founder and Community Coordinator
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