Ayub has been learning coding at school for the past 5+ weeks. Started from scratch. Zero knowledge of code and programming. His final project was to create and code his own video game. So, together with a teammate, he created ‘Bats vs Ghost’ and it is the most awesome thing in the world! I am positively bursting with pride.

The kids learn programming from scratch

Ayub attends Acton KL and it is the most awesome child-led school ever. I love it so much. Their curriculum is broken up into 6-week sprints, with a specific topic each time. So this sprint was about programming.

The kids got accounts on code.org and started learning from there, with discussions led by their guides, journal writing on their own,  field trips to learn from professionals, and team games. You can follow their journey on this quest at the school blog.

This is what the dashboard in code.org looks like:

Dark green means that Ayub has completed those levels, light green means he completed it but used more lines of code than was necessary.

It is so fun. One evening he asked Mr Ninja and I to help him complete a level. The level was a square of sunflowers with one bumblebee. You had to program a bumblebee to collect nectar 20 times from each flower. We tried and tried and tried. The kids brushed their teeth and got ready for bed. We were still trying. The kids went to bed. We continued to try. Kids snoring. Still trying.

Finally we figured out the code. It’s super challenging. It was an elementary school level. We kinda suck.

This wasn’t the level. I can’t remember where it was. This is another one. You have to program that little fella to walk on the path, collect the corn on the way, and reach the pumpkin.

I would have no idea how to start but Ayub did it.

The creation of ‘Bats vs Ghost’

There’s actually only one bat and lots of ghosts but whatever. Ayub worked with his friend, Abhi, in creating and coding his first ever video game.

Check out the code!

I don’t understand it but it looks cool. It ends with ‘repeat forever’. Haha.

One of the best parts is the webpage they created for it:

I love this part:

WHAT IS THIS GAME ABOUT?

This game is about a bat who has to shoot the ghosts with fireballs.

DESCRIPTION

Ayub is 8 years old and Abhiram is 6 years old. Ayub was the one to make the game and Abhi gave feedback and made the game better. It took them four days to make this game. On the first day, they planned their game. On the second day, they started programming it . On the third day, they finally finished the first version of their game and got feedback to make it better.

They used a bat character because ghosts come out in the night and so do bats. To earn points, you must throw a fireball at the ghosts.

Ayub said that it was challenging to make the game because it was hard to debug (fixing the problems). They wanted to make a very fun game so that everyone could enjoy it and play it. They are aiming for at least 50 people to try to play this game. They really hope that everyone likes it.

Play ‘Bats vs Ghost’ now! Wheeeee!

Click to play ‘Bats vs Ghost’ 🙂 Have fun!

Also, as a reward for getting over 1,000 unique users to play their games, the kids are being rewarded with a trip to Kiddomo Universe at Starling Mall. Hohoho.