12 Soft skills that children acquire through coding

Learning soft skills is essential for everyone, including kids, if they want to communicate effectively in the 21st century. In general, children learn some sort of soft skills in kindergarten, but most of these cognitive skills are learned from peers and family members outside the classroom environment. However, there is a fun way to develop soft skills in children, which is educational too: coding!

1. Creativity:

Contrary to what most people think, coding is not boring. In fact, coding enables children to make their own games, apps, stories, and cartoons.

2. Patience:

Like learning any other new skills, learning to code requires patience to master it and face the upcoming challenges when they are working on a particular project.

3. Problem-solving:

A computer program needs constant troubleshooting. By coding, children learn how to find the problem and solve it on their own. Even sometimes, the gamified coding platform brings up a situation in which children are asked to solve the main character’s problem.

4. Research:

If kids are unable to solve a problem on their own, they need to use a coding book or search for the answer on the Internet. An excellent way to change this into a habit!

5. Communication:

In addition to communicating in the language of computers, coding helps children to establish communication with their peers. In short, they need to exchange their information and use forums that exist for this job if they want to thrive.

6. Confidence:

When children start making their own games and stories, their level of confidence will absolutely increase.

7. Positive self-image:

Learning new skills improves children’s positive self-image. If you enable them to learn to code, they can do something that most of their peers may be incapable of.

8. Algorithmic thinking:

Coding is done by taking several steps to perform a task. In other words, children need to make decisions and follow steps to get to a proper solution.

9. Computational thinking:

Coding improves logical thinking. It requires planning certain steps to reach a possible solution in “your head.” Applying necessary actions to accomplish a task is part of the challenge children face in the process.

10. Collaboration:

Why programming improves collaboration in children may seem like a mystery to you unless you believe that coding is not a solo activity. In this case, you are right! In coding bootcamps and classes, children need to learn to code together as a team. Working with others and collaborative problem solving is a skill that children certainly will need for their future.

11. Visual Processing

Coding empowers children’s brains to receive, assess, and process visual information at a faster pace. Reading, writing, and math are the areas that need faster visual processing. 

12. Focus

This one sounds obvious! As they start coding, they need to focus on what they are doing in order to run the code properly.

Embassy.education makes programming fun. We use block-based coding for kids that lets even preschoolers find their way through coding. They can start with our ScratchJr course and then move up to our Scratch and Minecraft courses. If you need further information on coding, check these two articles coding for kids: where to start? And  What type of computer should I invest in?  Please share your ideas, questions, or concerns with us in the comment box.

Editor: Michael Mitryakov | Writer: Negin P

Did you Like this article? Hit the button: