Move the Turtle. Learn to code App Review
App Info
Price: $3.99
Overview
Move the Turtle is the second app in the Geek Kids series. The Geek Kids series is a series of apps to keep kids interested in technology, math, science and computers. Move the Turtle is a universal app designed to teach children, as young as five, basic programming commands.
Based on the Logo programming language, which has been around since the 1960’s, the app uses the turtle commonly associated with Logo programming. Logo became widely used for teaching programming concepts; the turtle helped students visualize the movements they wanted the turtle to make.
As I mentioned, this is a universal app and it works well on either device. The interface is a little different on the smaller screen, but still easy to use. The design of the interface makes this app feel more like a game than the standard methods for learning programming; at least those that I’ve encountered.
Being the design of the app is more like a game, there is not any narration, for feedback or instructions, in the app. The user will need to be able to read or have the information read to them by an adult. I cannot see many kids under age 10 completing the levels in the Play portion of this app by themselves as the difficulty in the levels progresses rather quickly; however we did have fun working on the levels together. My programming background did come in handy, because I understood the concepts, but it is not required. Once you learn the basics of programming, you can apply those concepts to pretty much any language.
The Compose section is for those that want to play around, but not go through the tutorial. Also available is Projects which is where already completed projects or procedures are stored. You can view them (press play and watch the turtle to see what happens) or you can copy them to your library.
Multiple users can be set up under Accounts making this ideal for schools or multiple family members wanting to play at their own speed. This app is not just for kids; it’s a great way for adults to let out their inner Geek.
Move the Turtle does not contain any ads, in-app purchases, external links or social media links.
Bottom line
Move the Turtle is a kid-safe environment for building your child’s problem-solving skills and to learn basic programming commands.
