Hello, and welcome back to Bringing IT Home, the vlog series that teaches you how to talk to your children (or any youth in your life) about technology and programming. If you haven’t watched the first episode yet, now is a good time to go back and check it out! If tech seems scary to you, just think of it like this: Development is just like writing poetry or stories, except you are doing so through code and logic. This series is meant to help you feel at ease!
In today’s episode, I am going to go over:
- What is an app?
- Who makes apps?
- How to install an app on your computer/ device.
Before our programming activity (don’t worry, this one is low-tech), get your creative juices flowing. Think of an app that could make your life, or the life of someone you know, easier and more enjoyable.
- What would you call it?
- Who would your users be?
- What platforms or devices would this be on?
- What sorts of features would you want it to have?
Activity
Be an app developer! For this activity you will need:
- Paper
- Writing utensils
- An engineering spirit
Step 1: Draw a button on a sheet of paper (A rectangle will work just fine!).
Step 2: On another sheet of paper, write a direction for when the button is pressed.
Ex: When the button is tapped, giggle.
Step 3: Hand direction and button sheets to your user, and have them execute the directions.
Step 4: Now it’s their turn to write their own direction!
Ex: When tapped, giggle, then stand!
Step 5: Go back and forth, adding functionality, while also adding to the hilarity.
Step 6: If you want something to happen when the user doesn’t follow directions, you can add conditional directions!
Ex: If user doesn’t stand, they must sing the ABCs!
Check back in, in the next few weeks for our next video and activity!