Should Kids Still Learn to Code Now We Have AI?

By Dr Tracy Gardner, founder of Tech Age Kids and creator of Flock XR

It's one of the most common questions I get asked. And I think it deserves a more interesting answer than most people are giving it.

I've spent over a decade running Tech Age Kids, helping parents and educators find the right technology for children. In that time I've watched trends arrive with enormous fanfare and quietly disappear. I've seen tools that promised to transform education come and go. And I've tried, through all of it, to focus on what actually matters: giving young people the opportunity to create with technology, not just consume it.

Two years ago I started building something myself. I had worked on projects to teach teenagers how to create with professional 3D creation tools such as Unity, Unreal and Blender. It became clear that there was a gap for young people who weren't quite ready for the professional tools but were familiar with and motivated by 3D concepts. I was also seeing more and more use of extended reality and spatial computing in industry, bridging the digital and physical worlds. I built Flock XR to allow learners around age 6–14 to create with modern technology on the devices they have access to. Yes, it includes coding — but let's take a look at the bigger picture.

What is the point of technology education?

When I was at school, computing wasn't available to me. What I studied instead was technology — electronics, pneumatics, nuclear power. The first two were practical, the latter was taught using real world case studies. I never went on to work with most of those technologies — a bit of electronics aside. But what stayed with me was the ability to learn new technologies and consider the impact of technology on society. The specific technologies weren't the point.

This is what I keep coming back to in conversations about coding and AI. The question isn't whether children should learn Python or prompting or anything else specific. It's whether we give them experiences that develop the thinking — the curiosity, the precision, the judgment — that will serve them whatever technology looks like in ten years' time.

What is happening in industry?

Different industries and businesses are changing at different rates, but AI adoption is significant. Increasingly we're seeing product engineers instead of software developers. These professionals do understand code but spend more time reading and reviewing it than writing it — AI handles that last step. But AI doesn't take responsibility for the code. It doesn't make the ultimate decisions about what features should be added. It doesn't own the vision or the responsibility of ensuring that what is built is right for the business, its customers, humanity and the environment.

I spend a lot of time talking to other senior technical leaders in industry. What we're seeing is an increased need for people who combine technical skills, industry-specific knowledge (retail, health, finance, fashion, entertainment), creative thinking and the ability to evaluate options and take responsibility for decisions. While AI increasingly supports all of these activities, we need humans to orchestrate and decide. What we need is people with the passion and expertise to use technology to create a positive future for humanity.

Experience It, Change It, Learn It

The specific skills involved in creating with AI today are different from those six months ago and the pace of change isn't slowing. My focus is on enabling young people to create with technology in a way that is meaningful to them now and to develop the broader skills that will enable them to put tech to good use in a future that is changing faster than ever. Prompting has its place, but I don't think we should put too much emphasis on teaching 6–14 year olds prompting 2026 style.

Learning comes from just the right amount of friction, from shared experiences with others and from the emotional wow moments that make new concepts stick. Learning comes from being inside the process — trying something, experiencing how it responds, understanding something you didn't before, and making it better. That tight feedback loop between action and result is where real learning lives. It's where mental models form, where judgment develops, where confidence grows.

This is the principle behind constructionism — the idea that we learn most deeply by making things, not just reading or hearing about them. It's not a new idea. But it's the right one. And it's more relevant now than ever.

Why 3D, Why Now?

Flock XR is a 3D creation tool. That's a deliberate choice, and not just because young people love 3D games. The same technology that is used to make games is being used much more widely.

We're entering an era of spatial computing — where three-dimensional, interactive environments become the canvas for work, play, communication and creativity. Extended reality is moving from novelty to infrastructure. The young people who understand how to create in 3D, who have built intuitions about space, interaction, physics and experience, will be genuinely well prepared for what's coming.

Flock XR puts young people inside that world as creators. They use visual tools and block-based coding to get immediate feedback as they build. Customisable and programmable 3D models give the right balance of structure and freedom — enough to bring their own interests and style without the paralysis of a blank canvas. Modern features like physics interactions, particle effects and character animations are accessible from the start.

Because everyone works within the same set of concepts and tools, young people can talk to classmates, siblings and friends about what they're making. They can learn together, build on each other's ideas, share a creative vocabulary. Community learning only works when there's a shared starting point — and that's something I was very deliberate about building in from the beginning.

Ready for Whatever Comes Next

The specific tools and techniques used in industry will keep changing. They always have. What endures is the thinking that good creative experiences develop. The technology education I experienced decades ago is still serving me well now because it taught me how to learn and linked technology to real world impact.

The ability to code has never been the whole story, and it's an even smaller part of the picture now. What young people need most is the experience of being genuine creators of technology — developing the curiosity, precision and judgment to decide what they want to make and why it matters.

I'll continue to evolve Flock XR, adding and updating features only where they genuinely serve that goal — enabling learners to create with modern technology and be ready for whatever the future brings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should kids still learn to code in the age of AI?

Coding has never been the whole story. What matters is whether young people get the chance to be genuine creators of technology — developing the curiosity, precision and judgment to decide what they want to make and why it matters. The specific tools will keep changing. What endures is the thinking that good creative experiences develop. Coding with high-level building blocks is a good way to develop logical thinking as part of a wider skill set. 

What is constructionism in education?

Constructionism is the principle that we learn most deeply by making things, not just reading or hearing about them. You learn by being inside the process — trying something, experiencing how it responds, understanding something you didn't before, and making it better. That tight feedback loop between action and result is where real learning lives.

What is spatial computing and why does it matter for children?

Spatial computing refers to three-dimensional, interactive digital-physical environments that are becoming the canvas for work, play, communication and creativity. Extended reality is moving from novelty to infrastructure. Young people who understand how to create in 3D — who have built intuitions about space, interaction, physics and experience — will be genuinely well prepared for what's coming.

What is Flock XR?

Flock XR is a 3D creation tool for learners aged 6–14, built to work on the devices young people already have access to. It combines visual tools and block-based coding to give immediate feedback as students build. Customisable and programmable 3D models give the right balance of structure and freedom, and modern features like physics interactions, particle effects and character animations are accessible from the start. Find out more at flockxr.com.

What skills do children need for the future of technology?

Young people need to develop the ability to spot opportunities where technology can help; to think with precision about what a system should do; to understand the broader systems and impacts of technology; and to make informed decisions about what technology is for and what future they want it to help build.

Is teaching children to use AI prompting enough?

Prompting has its place, but it keeps you at arm's length from the material. The specific skills involved in creating with AI today are different from those six months ago and the pace of change isn't slowing. The deeper learning comes from being inside the process — a tight feedback loop between action and result — rather than describing what you want and receiving an output.