Miles Kelly Get Set Go Computing for age 5-7: Wipe-clean Activity Books

We've developed a set of wipe-clean books about Computing for children aged 5-7 in collaboration with the children's publisher Miles Kelly.

Miles Kelly specialises in affordable non-fiction books for children. Their Get Set Go range already includes books about English and Maths and we loved the idea of adding Computing.

This had been a really fantastic project to work on. The books are designed to be used by a parent (or another adult) and child together which is an approach we love.

The books were published in July 2018.

The books are wipe-clean and there's an activity on every page which helps to make sure that children really engage with the topic and learn by doing. Don't worry, answers are provided when necessary!

Computing is a topic that many parents didn't study in detail when they were at school so we hope these books will help fill any gaps in their knowledge and help with any nervousness about technology. For parents who are confident with technology then the books will act as conversation starters.

The books support the UK National Curriculum for KS1 (and similar specifications for other countries) and also cover knowledge that is important for everyday life with technology. You'll also find some interesting historical facts and some ideas about what the future might hold.

There are four books in the series:

1. Digital Skills

   Get Set Go: Computing - Digital Skills ? @ Amazon
   This book focuses on understanding how to use a computer to do useful things and how to start thinking about staying safe online.
   
   The activities encourage discussions between parent and child and get children thinking about what computers are good at and how they can learn useful skills.
   
   Parents and children are encouraged to think about different kinds of screen time and how children can be creative with technology.

2. How does my tablet work?

   Get Set Go: Computing - How does my tablet work? ? @ Amazon
   This book takes a look inside a tablet to see how it works. Many children in this age group use a tablet or borrow a parent's phone.
   
   It's important that children ask questions about how the technology around them works and this book will help parents to answer those questions.
   
   The book also looks at how computers communicate with each other including how the internet works. 

3. Logic and Data

   Get Set Go: Computing - Logic and Data ? @ Amazon
   This book covers Computational Thinking, the set of skills needed to understand and simplify a problem or task so that a computer can help with it.
   
   There are lots of fun puzzles and activities that help children develop logic skills and start to think about data. Computational thinking skills are also useful in everyday life especially when so much of it involves interacting with computers.

4. Algorithms and Coding

   Get Set Go: Computing - Algorithms and Coding ? @ Amazon
   Computers need detailed and precise instructions written in code to be able to do anything useful. First, we need to precisely describe what we want a computer to do with an algorithm, then we turn that algorithm into detailed instructions in a programming language that a computer understands.
   
   The book is packed with opportunities to develop early algorithmic thinking and coding skills using wipe-clean activities.  

We really enjoyed developing the books and working with the fantastic team at Miles Kelly. We also love the purple sparkly book covers!

We hope you'll consider the Miles Kelly Get Set Go Computing books for any young people in your lives.