NEWS$show=/search/label/news

Here's where you'll find all the latest news about technology for children. We love to follow cool new inventions on Kickstarter and we hunt out all the latest announcements about tech toys and gadgets for the coming Christmas holidays. You'll also get our take on children's technology stories in the media.

REVIEWS$show=/search/label/review

Our kids technology product reviews are intended to help you work out whether a toy, gadget or kit is a good fit for your child or family. There's lots of cool stuff available, but is it the right choice for the child or teenager that you are buying for? We'll help you make the right choices and get the best value for money.

GIFT GUIDES$show=/search/label/gift%20guide

Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends assemble. We create gift lists to help you make good choices for kids technology which helps them develop the right skills for the future. We research the best in Coding Toys and Games, Making / Craft Tools and Kits, STEM/STEAM related gifts, Programmable Robots, Electronics Kits and Gadgets for Tech Age Kids and Teens.

PROJECTS$show=/search/label/project

Get crafty with technology. Here we'll post all our ideas and projects using technology to get creative and making with kids. You'll find anything from making a lemon battery to a glow-in-the-dark Minecraft sword. Our projects are tried and tested on our own kids or at events we run, so we are sure you can have a go at home with your kids. Some of our projects use specific tech gadgets which we provide links for you to purchase.

STEM$show=/search/label/stem

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In recent years there is an increased focus in these areas of study. We like to include Art and Design too, so we often talk about STEAM (A stands for Art). At Tech Age Kids we believe Coding is a new literacy and children need to understand how technology works, practice making skills and grow in their curiosity to make a better future for us all.

CODING$show=/search/label/coding

Coding is increasingly being recognised as an important skill for children to learn. Some will learn to code at school or at a coding club, but it's brilliant if they get support at home too.

ELECTRONICS$show=/search/label/electronics

We think it's really important for kids to get hands-on with electronics and learn how to make circuits and write code to control hardware. Younger kids can start with conductive playdough. For kids who like to combine craft and tech, littleBits are fab. And we love SAM Labs wireless electronics components for making it easy for kids to make Internet of Things inventions. Lots of electronics kits for kids have support for the Arduino microprocessor environment. The DuinoKit Jr is one of our favourites. Arduino is a fab skill for older kids and teens to develop.

ROBOTICS$show=/search/label/robotics

We love robots at Tech Age Kids, especially programmable ones. We've got lots of them and write reviews and projects that use them. Our programmable robots for kids buying guide is a good place to start if you're not sure what's available. Roby the mBot Meccano robot dog is one of our popular projects and has been with us to lots of events. Our Ozobot LEGO trailer is fab for kids who love LEGO and robots.

MAKING AND CRAFT$show=/search/label/making

We're advocates of the creative use of technology, but this needs to be balanced with developing physical skills such as papercraft, woodwork, clay modelling, technical drawing and soldering. If children don't develop these skills as they grow up then physical making projects can become frustrating rather than fun. The Maker Community uses the term 'making' as a broad term to include all sorts of artisan skills or craft activities. Being able to make things can lead to life-long hobbies or even careers. It's a great feeling to be able to take a project from an idea in your head to a real object that does something. We're particularly interested to explore products that combine maker skills with tech skills such as electronics but others focus purely on the physical making skills that are still important to modern making.

Why Should Kids Learn HTML and CSS? (And What are They Anyway?)

Why should kids learn HTML and CSS?
HTML and CSS are the languages that are used to write content for the web. Does it make sense for children to learn HTML and CSS? If so, at what age?

Lots of coding clubs and schools around the world are teaching children to write webpages using HTML and CSS. If your child has been learning HTML at school you might be wondering what it's all about. You might be thinking about whether to try and get your child into a club where they can learn web creation skills. Or you might be considering finding resources that will help your child to learn at home.

Of course there are lots of things that children should be learning. Is HTML + CSS a high priority? Let's take a look at whether it makes sense for children to learn to create web pages using these languages. And if it is, at what age.


What is HTML?


HTML is the HyperText Markup Language and it wraps content in tags so that a web browser knows how to display it.

HTML markup example


HTML is not particularly human-friendly and many people use visual editors to create it so that they don't have to work with the clunky angle brackets.


What is CSS?


CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and it is used to add layout information to HTML. You use CSS to control where items appear on the page, their colour, size, etc. 

CSS style example


CSS is powerful because it can be written in one place and automatically applied to lots of HTML elements.


Why Should Kids Learn HTML?


Most HTML isn't written by hand these days. It's either written using a graphical editor (with a word processor style interface) or it's generated using a programming language and content stored in a database. There are people who prefer to write HTML by hand, but it's not a necessary skill to produce a content-based website.  

So why are kids learning HTML? Does it make sense? One argument is that the web is so prevalent in daily life that kids really should understand what makes it tick just as they should know the basics of car engines and electricity.  This is a valid argument but there is more to it. 

In most cases even if you do use a graphical editor, the HTML will show through at times - often those times when something goes wrong! In those cases it's really valuable to have an understanding of HTML so that you can fix things. Being able to work directly with HTML also gives you much more control than working with a graphical editor (they have a tendency to mess things up and put stuff in that you don't want or need.)

There are also lots of cases where you will want to embed a widget or feature from another website into yours (such as a weather widget) and typically you'll be provided with a chunk of HTML to include in your website. It's useful for website creators to understand what this is and not be fazed when they come across lots of angle brackets. 

Once you add in CSS then the reasons for learning HTML become more obvious. If you understand the structure of HTML then you can add style instructions that apply across a whole website. This is very powerful.

Most websites have interactive features. Many of these are features are coded by modifying HTML and CSS - you need to understand HTML and CSS well to do this. So learning HTML is a really important part of being able to write interactive websites.  

Remember that we said that a lot of HTML is actual generated by code? Well the people who write that code need to understand HTML so that they can generate it. 

HTML and CSS are very useful skills for future employees. Lots of jobs now involve creating online content.


Is HTML Really Coding?


Some people get hung up on whether writing HTML is really programming. Well no, not in the sense of a programming language such as JavaScript, Python, Scratch or Ruby. 

It is code though. And it teaches kids about structuring data and being precise. CSS is fantastic for teaching abstraction and modularity skills. All good stuff. 

You don't learn HTML and CSS instead of a programming language. They are complementary.


At What Age Should Kids Learn HTML?


We'd suggest that age 10 is about right in most cases. Many 8 year olds will be capable of the basics. Some eager kids will be very capable of writing HTML at a younger age and that's brilliant!

Kids should have the following skills before starting to learn HTML:

  • Experience using a web browser and clicking on links
  • Good reading skills
  • Able to use a mouse (or trackpad) and keyboard 
  • Able to copy and paste (we call it reuse or remixing!)
  • The better they are at typing the less painful the experience will be
  • If they are going to be publishing content online then they also need to understand how to be a good web citizen and be capable of understanding rules for using images and other content that has been created by others. 

Code Club starts at age 9. Go Berserk has been teaching children from age 8+ and we've tried starter activities with children as young as 7.


Won't HTML be Replaced Soon?


We always hear that technology changes at a rapid pace. Will HTML still be around when today's 8 year olds are looking for jobs or will it have been replaced with something else? 

This is a valid concern. HTML has proved pretty resilient so far though. It's been in use since the early 90s and it's so deeply embedded in the web that it's not going to disappear quickly. HTML is being updated all the time to keep up with new demands so it's likely to keep changing and adapting. 

Even if HTML does get replaced, the skills learned will be transferable. 


HTML and CSS Learning Resources for Kids

Why not see if there is a children's coding club near you. 

Coming soon: HTML and CSS learning resources for kids to use at home.

Follow Tech Age Kids on Twitter for the latest articles and news.








24 days of Scratch coding book cover and cute penguin
Name

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Tech Age Kids | Technology for Children: Why Should Kids Learn HTML and CSS? (And What are They Anyway?)
Why Should Kids Learn HTML and CSS? (And What are They Anyway?)
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Tech Age Kids | Technology for Children
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