Coding for children is the one subject where the free options are the best options. Scratch is free for everyone and is used in schools worldwide. Code.org publishes a free K to 12 curriculum. Apple gives away Swift Playgrounds. The paid apps are competing against genuinely excellent free ones, which is unusual and good for parents.
What the paid options sell is sequencing and supervision: a path, a dashboard and a reason for a child to come back tomorrow. Whether that is worth $180 a year depends entirely on whether your child needs a path or just needs the tools.
The bigger mistake is starting in the wrong place. A five year old put in front of Scratch will leave in four minutes. An eleven year old given ScratchJr will feel patronised. Below, every tool is placed by what a child needs to be able to do before it works.
What to start with, and when
| Tool | Start it when your child | Ages | Price | Needs reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ScratchJr | Can drag things on a screen deliberately | 5 to 7 | Free | No |
| Blockly Games | Can read simple instructions | 7 and up | Free | Yes |
| Code.org | Wants a course rather than a sandbox | Grades K to 12 | Free | Some levels |
| Scratch | Has an idea they want to build | 8 and up | Free | Yes |
| codeSpark Academy | Is too young to read but wants puzzles | 3 to 10 | Not published | No |
| Tynker | Needs a guided route from blocks to text | 5 to 18 | $15 a month billed yearly | Yes |
| Swift Playgrounds | Is ready for real code on an iPad | 10 and up | Free | Yes |
Where Children Get Stuck Learning to Code
They cannot read the instructions yet
Most coding tools are text-driven under the surface even when the blocks are pictures. A six year old who cannot read a sentence will be stuck not by the logic but by the wording, and a parent watching will conclude their child is not ready for coding. They are ready. The tool is wrong.
Nothing they build is theirs
Puzzle-based tools teach sequencing efficiently and run out of appeal quickly, because solving someone else’s puzzle is not the same as making something. The children who stay interested are the ones who get to a point where they can build a thing they thought of.
The jump from blocks to text is a cliff
Block coding is genuinely programming, and the skills transfer. Typing is where children lose heart, because a missing bracket looks like nothing and breaks everything. This is where a guided path earns money, and it is roughly the only place it does.
1. ScratchJr
ScratchJr is where most children should start. It is free, works on a tablet, requires no reading, and a five year old can make a character move across a screen in their first minute.
Highlights: free with no account; nothing to read; works offline; the concepts are real programming concepts, just drawn as pictures.
Watch-outs: children outgrow it at about seven, and the step up to full Scratch is a real jump rather than a continuation.
2. Blockly Games
Blockly Games is a free set of puzzle games that teach the logic of programming, and it is unusually good at the bit between ScratchJr and Scratch. It runs in a browser with nothing to install.
Highlights: free; no sign up; short puzzles that fit a fifteen minute session; ends by showing the equivalent text code, which makes the eventual jump smaller.
Watch-outs: it is a series of puzzles rather than a place to build, so it holds attention for weeks rather than years.
3. Code.org
Code.org gives away a complete computing curriculum from kindergarten upwards, and it is the closest thing to a free structured course. The Hour of Code activities are the usual entry point and work well as a first taste.
Highlights: genuinely free including the full course; well sequenced; huge library of themed activities that get reluctant children started.
Watch-outs: it is built for classrooms first, so a parent at home works around a teacher dashboard and progress tracking meant for a class.
4. Scratch
Scratch is the one that matters most. It is free for everyone, it is where a child can build the game they have been describing at dinner, and it has enough depth that teenagers still use it.
Highlights: free with an optional account; effectively unlimited ceiling; a very large community of shared projects to learn from; runs in a browser or offline.
Watch-outs: it teaches by exploration rather than by lesson, so a child who wants to be told what to do next needs a course alongside it. The community is moderated but it is still public.
5. codeSpark Academy
codeSpark Academy describes itself as the number one learn to code app for children aged three to ten, and its distinguishing feature is that it uses no words at all, which makes it usable before reading.
Highlights: completely wordless, so a pre-reader can work independently; a guided sequence rather than a sandbox; a free trial is offered.
Watch-outs: no subscription price appears on the product page, so you find out the cost after starting a sign up. ScratchJr does the wordless part free.
6. Tynker
Tynker is the most complete paid path here, running from picture blocks through to Python and JavaScript, which is the transition free tools handle worst.
Highlights: a genuine route from blocks to text; courses for ages five through eighteen; works on web, iPad and Android.
Watch-outs: $15 a month billed yearly, which is $180, and that is a lot next to Scratch being free. The free tier is very limited. Buy it for the blocks-to-text transition, not for the beginner content.
7. Swift Playgrounds
Swift Playgrounds is Apple’s free app for learning real Swift code on an iPad or Mac, with interactive lessons rather than a text editor.
Highlights: free; real code with real results; the puzzles are well designed and the progression is gentle for something teaching a production language.
Watch-outs: Apple devices only, and it assumes fluent reading. This is a ten and up option, not a first step.
Picking a First Tool by What Your Child Can Already Do
Ignore age ranges and answer two questions.
Can your child read a short instruction unaided? If not, the list is ScratchJr or codeSpark, and ScratchJr is free. If yes, Blockly Games or Code.org.
Do they want to solve puzzles or build something? Puzzle-minded children do well on Blockly Games and Code.org. Children who describe games they want to make should go to Scratch as soon as they can read, because the puzzle tools will frustrate them.
Age bands help for everything else, and we set out what changes year by year from three to ten if coding is one of several decisions you are making at once.
Pay only when you hit the blocks-to-text wall, usually around ten or eleven. Everything before that point is available free at a quality the paid tools do not beat.
If your child is curious about how any of this works but not ready to write code, the explainer on what coding actually is covers it in plain language with a quiz at the end, and the wider Explore section does the same for the internet, apps and AI. Neither asks for an account.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What age can a child start coding?
Five, with a wordless tool like ScratchJr. The concepts of sequence and repetition are within reach well before reading is, and a five year old making a cat dance is doing genuine programming.
Is Scratch free?
Yes. Scratch states that it is free for everyone, with no paid tier. An account is optional and only needed to save and share projects online.
Do I need to pay for a coding app?
Not for the first few years. ScratchJr, Blockly Games, Code.org, Scratch and Swift Playgrounds are all free and cover ages five to twelve between them. Paid tools are worth considering at the point a child moves from blocks to typed code.