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Hour of Code
Course: Hour of Code > Unit 2
Lesson 1: Hour of Code (for teachers and parents)Using Hour of Code with your child
What is Hour of Code on Khan Academy?
On Khan Academy, we offer multi-hour, self-paced courses in JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and SQL. For Hour of Code, we have curated one-hour introductions to each of those topics.
You and your child can check out all of our offerings here:
Here's a breakdown of what you'll pick from:
- Hour of Drawing with Code: This hour teaches your child to program using JavaScript, one of the world's most popular programming languages. They'll use JavaScript to program drawings and finish with a fun project to draw either a snowman, animal, or self-portrait. Requires good typing skills and a keyboard. Recommended ages: 8+.
- Hour of Webpages: This hour teaches your child to make their own webpages using the basics of HTML and CSS, finishing with a holiday greeting card. Requires good typing skills and a keyboard. Recommended ages: 8+.
- Hour of Databases: This hour teaches the fundamentals of databases, which are how apps store data about users and content. Your child will use SQL to create tables with data in them and query them, finishing with a project to create a database for an imaginary store. Requires good typing skills and a keyboard. Recommended ages: 12+.
Each option includes the following content:
- Instructional videos and “talk-throughs”. Talk-throughs are like videos, but you can pause them and play with the code in realtime.
- Coding challenges, which give your child a chance to practice the concept and give us a way to automatically grade them and award points.
- A final project, a way for your child to use what they’ve learned in a more creative, free-form way.
We believe that it will take your child about an hour to get through any one of the options. However, we also believe on Khan Academy that your child should be able to learn at their own pace, so we encourage you to give your child more than an hour (like 1.5-2 hours), or make it clear that they don’t need to finish the entire lesson.
What is Hour of Code?
Hour of Code is an initiative to encourage students to spend an hour learning to program and takes place annually during CS Education Week in December. Our hope is that many students will want to keep going with many more hours of computer programming and computer science.
How can I use Khan Academy's Hour of Code lessons with my child?
Before Hour of Code
- Make sure you have good Internet access, as you will need that to access Khan Academy content, particularly the videos and talk-throughs. See this guide for more info.
- Make sure you have a compatible browser installed on the computers. See our list of supported browsers.
- (Optional) If you plan to do the 'Hour of drawing with code', print out the graph paper handouts.
- (Optional) Sign up as a parent on Khan Academy and add your child (see this guide for instructions).
During Hour of Code
- If you want to let your child pick whichever tutorial appeals to them, direct them to the
- Hour of Code landing page:
www.khanacademy.org/hourofcode - If you've picked a tutorial for your child, direct them to that specific tutorial:
Hour of Drawing with Code:
www.khanacademy.org/r/hour-of-code
Hour of Webpages:
www.khanacademy.org/r/hour-of-webpages
Hour of Databases:
www.khanacademy.org/r/hour-of-databases - Watch the welcome video together, and then encourage your child to do the rest of the tutorial at their own pace.
- (Optional) Help your child complete the tutorial (like by pair programming on the project), or complete the tutorial yourself in your own account to model lifelong learning!
After Hour of Code
- Print out a certificate for your child. Download a PDF here
- Encourage your child to continue learning to program on Khan Academy, using our full curriculum. Everything on Khan Academy is free, so all you and your child need to do is signup!
- Share your stories with us! We'd love to see photos or videos of your children working through our lessons or screenshots of the projects they make. Share them on Twitter or Instagram, tagging @khanacademy #hourofcode.
Thank you for encouraging the next generation of computer scientists!
Frequently asked questions
Feel free to post additional questions or comments in the discussion below.
Is the curriculum translated into different languages?
In translated languages, the talk-throughs are dubbed, and challenge instructions, project descriptions, and error messages are translated. Interactive talk-through transcripts in these languages are also available so learners can go at their own pace, in their own language.
Is the curriculum accessible to deaf students?
Yes, there is a transcript option available for the talk-throughs. Click the gear menu next to the play bar and select "Interactive Transcript." Students can pause the talk-through if it is going too quickly.
Is the curriculum accessible to blind students?
We try to support screen-readers on the KA website, but there are many aspects of the coding experience that are not yet optimized. We instead recommend the accessibility-optimized Quorum Hour of Code.
Do the tutorials work on ChromeBooks?
ChromeBooks use the Google Chrome browser, which is one of Khan Academy's supported browsers, so yes, all of the tutorials should work well on a ChromeBook.
Can students continue working on the lesson after Hour of Code?
Yes! They can work on it at their own pace at any time. They should sign up for an account (or use an account you've created for them) if they want to easily pick up later from where they left off.
Do students need a Khan Academy account to use the curriculum?
They do not need a Khan Academy account, but they may enjoy it because having an account will allow them to track their progress and earn points and badges.
Want to join the conversation?
Maybe I'm just not seeing it... but nowhere in the email or this page can I find WHEN the hour of code is?(20 votes)
Its a week long event from Dec 8 -14 - http://hourofcode.com(17 votes)
My daughter is very interested in the JS course and the Web Page one, but we are on vacation from Dec 8-14. IS there any way we can do it before Dec 6 and after Dec 15?? Please help(12 votes)
It is available from: https://www.khanacademy.org/hourofcode right now. You don't need to do it at 12/8 - 14.(5 votes)
When I got this email, I clicked on a link that said sign up your kid. Can I sign up?(6 votes)
Khan Academy is not limited to just children. Anyone can learn! Of course you can sign up too! You can sign up here: https://www.khanacademy.org/(12 votes)
- Since I don't see it in the FAQ or on this page, I'm going to ask it here.
Can my 10-year old register for more than one course? I haven't asked her yet but I think she will be thrilled to be doing the Hour of Webpages as well as the Hour of Drawing with code. Of course she would have to finish one before starting the other.
She is currently registered at KA and doing the Intro to Javascript and she is enjoying it immensely. That's why I think she would be thrilled to know she can learn to build webpages as well.
Thanks.(3 votes)
Yes, there is no limit. It's an awareness campaign more then anything and all activities will likely remain open past the week in which the campaign runs. Well done for introducing your child to programming concepts, it will pay dividends later in life.(13 votes)
- I'm a parent and planning on hosting 8 kids to do the hour of code for 2014. do i need to create accounts for all of them? or can they all just use my login for simplicity sake?(4 votes)
- I would strongly recommend you create accounts for each of them. Here's why: when an activity is completed on one account (one of the challenges, for example), the Khan Academy website remembers this and marks the activity as completed, so it cannot be done again. If one child goes at even a slightly faster pace than the others, he/she will get to do all of the activities but all the others will not. Therefore it would be best to create an account for each of them, which you can do easily from the home page.(9 votes)
- what age are those tutorials are god for? my son is 6 in 1st grade.. is it suitable for him?(3 votes)
- My son just turned 13 and we gave him a laptop for his birthday. He has no experience/knowledge of computers whatsoever. I don't even know the difference between programming and coding. He plans on taking Computer Science as a subject to obtain Cambridge IGSCE/AS. Thank you for your support. Where should we start?(3 votes)
- Note that programming and coding are synonyms, there is no difference.
If your kid wants to learn computer science, this is a fairly good place to start. A 13 year old will be able to catch onto the concepts this site teaches, and use them to advance their career. This site is not designed for high level coding, but does a great job of teaching the basics. I suggest you have your child learn as much as they can from the coding on this site, before moving to a more professional platform such as Unity. That will more than prepare him for a CS class at high school or university level. The occasional textbook helps as well.
I wish your kid good luck with this career path!(5 votes)
how would you code to make a 3d game(3 votes)
That would fall under Advanced Javascript. If you have not done so, watch all the Intro to JS videos, complete all the challenges, and do some projects BEFORE you proceed to the advanced level.(2 votes)
What age group or range is this appropriate for?(3 votes)- After the week of an hour of code is over, can they still learn it on this link?(3 votes)
- According to Steven Zachary who's answered a similar question above, "All activities will likely remain open past the week in which the campaign runs".
Oh, also note the FAQ above:
— Can students continue working on the lesson after Hour of Code?
— Yes! They can work on it at their own pace at any time. They should sign up for an account (or use an account you've created for them) if they want to easily pick up later from where they left off.(0 votes)