Best coding apps for kids (9-12)

[Jackpot]

Does anyone have any tried and tested suggestions for coding apps for children? (Preferably for iOS)

Previous stuff we have tried have been too easy, repetitive or not enough levels/deep enough.

Is there anything anyone can suggest to satisfy the above - or even a bit more meaty with a soft intro to real coding languages?

They like duolingo so anything like that for coding would be ideal.

Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[Arv]

https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en

https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/collections/scratch

 

[Jackpot]

Thanks Arv - that looks really good! Will give it a go

 

[Calimori]

I bought an mBot2 from makeblock

https://www.makeblock.com/pages/mbot2-coding-robot

It uses their code based on scratch but can be programmed in Python. I build a taster session for 11-13 year olds and went into a school and taught it to give a bit back. I was surprised how many kids got involved. A moving object, where the code shows speed or angle, allows them to recognise something and make changes, which was key for me when I did more coding.
Younger kids can just drag and drop code and slowly build routines.

 

[Calimori]

And this if you don't get a robot, similar drag and drop but gets more indepth as you go through.
Python, so a good gateway language.

KS3 Codemaker index

 

[Wizcat]

Good suggestions above. Python is a good first language these days, and there are plenty of professionals using it too, so lots of potential if they take to it.

Possibly a bit simplistic, but https://edublocks.org/ might be worth a look if they're still at a foundational knowledge stage. It has decent visual blocks to build up programming logic, and has a side-by-side view of the python code.

 

[Jackpot]

Amazing - thanks @Calimori and @Wizcat as well.

@Arv - the boys tried your link and scratch programming - they were engaged for quite a while so a promising start. Really great suggestions - I appreciate all the quick advice on this very much!