What is Hour of Code?

Hour of Code is an initiative by code.org to encourage more participation in computer science through providing a collection of simple, quick activities for getting started with programming. According to code.org, tens of millions of students have done lessons in over 180 countries.

When is Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code website is live throughout the year, although most Hour of Code events take place in December, around Computer Science Education Week. On the Hour of Code website, teachers and students can find hundreds of free coding activities for students. Hour of Code activities can even serve as an excellent sub plan for computer science teachers throughout the school year, as the activities are usually short and self guided.

Can anyone do Hour of Code?

There is no age limit on Hour of Code activities, and there are free coding lessons available for elementary, middle, and high school students. Activities include block coding, Javascript, and Python, as well as other free activities about computer science geared towards beginners.

What should I teach after Hour of Code?

For teachers, sometimes it's a challenge to figure out where to go after a successful Hour of Code. Pickcode offers a number of free guided lessons available with an account. Our free Intro to Python sequence is one of the best online coding courses for beginners, as all 40 activities in the course are totally guided. In the lessons, students are given example code snippets and explanations of how each Python feature works.