Coding has become the wave of the future. Children can start learning coding with CodeMonkey very early on. They offer a curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade with plenty of great coding lessons for kids.
If you want your children to get a solid start with coding, CodeMonkey is one of the options. Before you choose this learning platform, read our full CodeMonkey review below.
What is CodeMonkey?
Simply put, CodeMonkey is an educational game-based environment geared towards children. It’s designed to help kids learn to code. As children complete award-winning coding courses, they can navigate through the world of programming and gain confidence.
The website offers educational resources for students of many different grade levels. Each level offers more challenges for students as they gain more skills and knowledge.
A Review of the Courses Offered by CodeMonkey
There are seven total courses to choose from with CodeMonkey. These courses cover bloc-based coding, text-based coding, and advanced coding and creation. While each course is targeted at a specific grade level, students can work through the course at their own pace.
CodeMonkey Jr.
Students can learn the basics of coding with this block-based coding game. The game includes a world filled with bright colors and unique creatures. Students will join the monkey and go on a mission to unlock a treasure chest at the end. Bananas will be collected throughout the game and learn the basics of coding along the monkey’s journey.
This course offers the foundations of code. Students learn block-based coding, which helps to simplify computer programming. Instead of writing out code, students will drag and drop coding blocks. These blocks represent code. They are graphical and interlocking blocks, meaning the student doesn’t have to write.
Younger students learn the basics of coding without any messy syntax, which can make learning code difficult. CodeMonkey Jr. offers four chapters with more than 30 total challenges. The concepts covered include:
- Logic
- Loops
- Counting
- Direction
- Sequencing
- Algorithms
The lessons are easy to understand and provide fundamental skills for coding.
Beaver Achiever
The next level in CodeMonkey is called Beaver Achiever. this level will teach block-based coding, just like CodeMonkey Jr. does. It’s the next step for students and includes the beaver’s natural habitat in three coding courses filled with plenty of fun.
The Beaver Achiever level is geared towards first and second graders. However, if your student has completed the CodeMonkey Jr. and isn’t in first grade yet, they can probably move on to this level.
Students will assist a beaver with many different tasks. They will earn sequencing and loops, along with conditional loops and if/else conditions through the many challenges. There are more than 100 challenges at this level for students to complete.
DoDo Does Math
The next level of coding course from CodeMonkey is called Dodo Does Math. At this level, students will start to practice math and coding with puzzles throughout the game. It features a Dodo bird and you will help the bird reach the eggs.
Each challenge will use CoffeeScript code, which allows students to learn a real-world coding language. It’s a self-guided course that allows students to practice math and coding together.
Students will learn distance, angles, multiplication, and more with 60 total challenges throughout. The DoDo Does Math level is geared for second to fourth graders.
Coding Adventure
Students get to learn text-based coding as they help a monkey catch his bananas at this level. Coding Adventure allows young students to enjoy a coding game as they learn coding skills.
It starts with the fundamentals of coding. Students will help the monkey catch bananas throughout many different challenges. The second part includes functions and conditions, which introduces new characters and more advanced concepts of coding.
The final part of Coding Adventure includes logic and events. Students will learn coding concepts and take on the greedy gorilla in this portion of the game.
Coding Adventure is geared towards second to fifth graders. It’s a great choice for learning the basics of writing coding with a challenge builder. The coding concepts students will learn include:
- Objects
- Looks
- Variables
- Functions
- Triggering Events
- Return Values
- Comparisons
- Array Indexing
- Boolean Logic
- And more!
You will also receive teacher resources with this course.
Game Builder
When students reach this level, they actually get to learn the fundamentals of game design. They will use CoffeeScript to learn how to design online games. With a multi-faceted process, students can actually create real computer games.
It starts with Platform, which allows students to get creative with game design. Frogger, a classic, is next and will help students learn how to control the touch interface. Finally, Sprite Animations offers the option for students to bring creations to life.
The course offers more than 80 exercises. Students will finally get to do something super fun on their own at this level. They get to create games they can actually play!
Banana Tales
For ages 11 to 13, Banana Tales offer a game-based python course for kids. It’s a fun game that will teach many coding concepts including:
- Sequencing
- For loops
- Variables
- While loops
- Functions
- Boolean Operators
- Lists & Indexing
- If/Else Conditionals
- Classes
- Input
- String manipulation
- 2D lists
- Bubble sort
- Advanced data types
These concepts are all found in the Banana Tales course. It’s an easy-to-follow option with new animals getting introduced every few challenges.
Coding Chatbots
The final level from CodeMonkey offers the opportunity for students to learn Python by actually programming a chatbot. Kids learn actual real-world computer programming at this level. They will learn to code in Python, create a chatbot, and learn about outcomes and expectations.
This level is for ages 13 and up. The curriculum includes more than 70 exercises to teach many different coding concepts. The coding learned at this level can be used to build apps, games, and websites in the future.
CodeMonkey Review of the Costs
There are two types of plans from CodeMonkey: The Home Plans and The Teacher Plans. Whether you want your child to learn at home or you’re a teacher trying to add to your classroom, there’s a plan for you.
Home Plans
The home plans allow homeschoolers and other parents to help their children learn coding at home. All plans will include block-based, text-based, and python coding courses. They will also come with game creation courses, the game builder, mini courses, and the challenge building. Future releases are also available in all the plans.
Home plans offered include:
- Individual – For $9 a month on a quarterly plan or $6 a month on an annual plan, you get one child account and one parent account. This plan also comes with progress tracking and online support.
- Family – For $18 a month on a quarterly plan or $12 a month on an annual plan, get everything in the individual plan, along with two additional child accounts for a total of three.
- Home School – This plan comes with five student accounts and two teacher accounts. It also includes a classroom dashboard, lesson plants, solutions for all the exercises, and online support. The cost is $27 per month on a quarterly plan and $20 per month on a yearly plan.
Whether you have one child or several children that want to learn coding, there’s a plan for you.
Teacher Plans
All teacher plans include a classroom dashboard, lesson plans, video tutorials, mini courses, automatic grading, solutions for all the exercises, single sign-on, easy roll-out, and online support. These plans are perfect for one classroom, an entire school, or even a school district.
Teacher plans include:
- Classroom – For $349, you get three teacher accounts and 35 student accounts. All coding courses come in this plan, along with lesson plans, standard alignments, and more.
- School – This plan offers unlimited teacher accounts with student usage reporting. It comes with custom course selection options and requires a requested quote based on how many students you have.
- District – Offering the features you need for multiple campuses with bulk discounts, the district plan provides everything you need. You will need to request a quote for this plan.
If you want to start teaching coding at your school or in your classroom, these plans are a great option.
A Final Review of CodeMonkey
CodeMonkey offers everything your child needs to learn the basics of coding. You can even give it a test drive with a free trial. As one of the leading coding options for kids, you can’t go wrong with CodeMonkey.
The levels fit well with specific grades, but students can work through the challenges at their own pace. This allows students to advance as fast or as slow as they prefer. More than 10 million kids have used CodeMonkey, along with over 75K teachers.
Finding the right options for homeschooling or to help supplement your child’s education isn’t always easy. With CodeMonkey, kids can learn the fundamentals they need for one of the most popular skills in today’s world. Coding will allow them to go into computer programming, gaming design, and much more later in their education.
Jordan Fabel
Covering different 'paths' that people's lives can take. Creative, foster parent, ticket dismissal, you get the idea. Exploring the requirements, certifications, exams, and obviously, approved courses along each path. I, personally, am the high school dropout son of two teacher parents. So how did I get here? That story is coming soon!