First Coding

Plan Tully's walk to the lettuce with arrow stones, then tap Go.

Which garden?
For grown-ups

Your child plans a walk for Tully the turtle: tap arrow stones to fill the plan, then tap Go, and Tully walks one square per stone. Tap a stone in the plan to take it out. If the plan goes wrong, Tully stops, the stone to look at stays bright while the screen dims around it, and the plan stays so your child can fix it. There is no losing, no timer and nothing to collect. A round is 6 gardens, then it stops.

Child lock: tap the lock at the top right. The ways out hide and the back button stays in the game. To unlock, hold the lock for 3 seconds and answer a sum.

Short walks (age 4): a small garden, 1 to 3 steps. Around rocks (age 5): rocks to walk around and sometimes a flower to visit first. Repeat (ages 6 and 7): longer walks with repeat stones that walk one arrow 2 or 3 times. On a computer, the arrow keys add stones, Backspace takes the last one out, and Enter is Go.

Evening look (dimmer and warmer)

Why it's good for your child, what they learn, and how we designed it

Free, no ads, no sign-in. We count plays without names or anything that identifies your child, and your child is never recorded. Pictures: Microsoft Fluent Emoji (MIT license).

Why it's good for your child

In studies by Marina Bers' lab at Tufts and Boston College, children from pre-K to grade 2 got better at putting steps in order after a short coding unit, and children as young as 3 learned sequencing and simple repeats. The same work found hands-on blocks taught more than screen-only coding. This game is a small, calm practice to use alongside talk and real-world play, never a replacement for them.

What they learn

Putting steps in order, planning before acting, finding and fixing the one step that went wrong, and a first "repeat". These match the K-2 computer science standards 1A-AP-10, 1A-AP-11 and 1A-AP-14 (CSTA).

How we designed it for ages 4 to 7

The plan stays on screen after a wrong walk, so a mistake becomes a fix, not a fail, and after two tries the screen dims around the right arrow; there is nothing to collect and no timer, and a round stops after 6 gardens (Radesky 2022). Arrows mean up, down, left and right on the screen, because turning left or right is still hard at 4 and 5, and the stones are big enough to tap or drag (Hiniker 2015). Tully walks one slow step at a time, one thing moving at once, so children can follow their own plan with their eyes: fast-paced screens lowered 4-year-olds' attention and self-control (Lillard & Peterson 2011).

About the game

First Coding is a free first coding game for ages 4 to 7, with no reading needed. It works like the screen-free robot toys in many classrooms: press arrows in order, press go, and the robot follows your steps. Here the robot is Tully the turtle, and the goal is a lettuce leaf.

Your child taps arrow stones, and each one fills the next slot in the plan while the voice says it: "Up." "Right." Then Go. Tully walks one square per stone, slowly, and the stone being run is outlined, so your child can follow their own plan with their eyes.

How a round goes

Pick a garden. Short walks are 1 to 3 steps on a 3 by 3 garden. Around rocks has a 4 by 4 garden with rocks to walk around, and a few gardens with a flower Tully smells on the way. Repeat has a 5 by 5 garden and walks of up to 8 steps, with repeat stones: put a repeat 3 stone in the plan, tap an arrow, and Tully walks that way three times. That is a first loop. A round is 6 gardens, shortest first, then "All done" shows the 6 paths with a line for you to talk about together.

When the plan goes wrong

This is where most of the learning happens. Tully stops where the plan ends or at a rock, the voice says what happened, and the stone where the walk went off course stays bright while the screen dims around it. The plan stays on screen. Your child taps that stone to take it out, puts the right one in its place, and taps Go again: that is debugging. After two tries, the screen dims around the right arrow in the tray.

Questions parents ask

Is First Coding free?

Yes. There is no sign-in, nothing to download and nothing to buy. It runs in the web browser on phones, tablets and computers.

Does my child need to read?

No. The stones are arrows, and the voice says each one as it goes into the plan.

How long is a round?

6 gardens, then the game stops on an All done screen. Nothing starts by itself.