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"If you've been keeping up on edtech news in the past decade, you might have noticed that coding courses have been targeting younger and younger students every year. Starting in college? Lost cause. High school? Behind! Elementary school? Perfect. The younger and younger the lessons will start, until we learn how to pre-program babies to be tech geniuses. While this might seem like micromanagement of children's destinies to some, we must all face the truth: coding is the new writing. As computer programming skills become more and more crucial to future careers, coding will become more prevalent as a required skill for high school graduation. So, once we've faced the music about the need for students to start programming instruction young, where do we begin? Coding camps are all the rage right now, and well worth the expense, but not all parents can afford the additional cost of instruction. So, we took a look at a few of the more affordable coding games out there to see just what the worldwide web has to offer"

"There's a lot of effort to attract women to the computer sciences at universities and the workforce. But to shift technology's gender imbalance we might need to focus on a younger crowd. Much younger - like 6-year-olds. For the first time, research from the University of Washington shows that by first grade, children are already embracing the stereotype that boys are better than girls at robotics and programming. At the same time, the kids believe that girls and boys are equally good or their own gender is better at math and other sciences. And girls with the strongest negative stereotypes about their genders' tech abilities also reported the least interest and personal skill in programming and robotics."

"As we head towards a world where coding is considered a necessary skill, teaching pupils the basics of programming has never been more crucial. Unlike the common belief that coding is a specialised skill only applicable to selected areas, programming is actually used in almost all industries. Coding is not for young adults and 'geeks' anymore; even elementary students can easily dive into this complex world with the use of modern day technology. The qualm that people have against teaching coding so early usually involves lack of space in the current curriculum and the lack of confidence (in the child or teacher's) ability to code themselves. Thanks to the rise in popularity of mobile technology and apps, even the most inexperienced user can easily learn the core concepts of coding. Below are great apps which you can utilise to learn and teach basic programming."

"Before the advent of the uber-popular show Mythbusters or the push for more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in schools, parents and their kids were doing at-home science experiments. Now, the trend continues to blossom, although many of the experiments have remained somewhat the same…and always awesomely exciting! If you're a parent and you want to do something with your kid that isn't related to cleaning the toilets or forging through homework, check out these 20 great science projects that you can complete in the confines of your humble abode. Most of them use around-the-home items that you probably have on hand, although some will require a little bit of shopping ahead of time. To help you decide which are best for your children's needs, the 20 have been divided into projects for younger students and projects for older ones."

Free Anatomically correct 3d Human Anatomy site. Kevin Jarrett reminds us in the comments that if you're going to use Visible Body with younger students be aware that Visible Body is 100% anatomically correct. In that case it's probably best to use Visible Body as a teacher-directed exercise and not a individualized activity.

Good activities for younger students to do with phonics. From letter recognition though to spelling and antonyms.

adolescents reading of e-books/use of the library

"Popular mobile devices may come and go, but the iPad has remained a hit in the K-12 classroom. But even though they're in schools, our work with teachers has led us to understand that while many of them would like to use iPads meaningfully in their classrooms, they can't because of time, access, and training. So for the past year and a half, we've both been working with teachers and university students integrating iPad technology into the classroom in a controlled way. While doing this, we came across several outcomes that made us question and dig deeper into what the research actually says about using them in the classroom. Do students and younger teachers use them more effectively? Do they work better for some student populations? It's probably not giving much away to say that the most important learning outcome we found was that experience is the greatest teacher."

"There's only one thing more satisfying than being part of a 3D printing project, and that's teaching others how to get involved with the additive manufacturing game. A few weeks ago, Netherlands-based 3D printer manufacturer Ultimaker launched its ambitious 3D printing Pioneer Program through which school teachers and university staff can share useful tips and resources for bringing 3D printing into the classroom, but Thingiverse, MakerBot's huge 3D printable file hub, has a fair amount of educational content of its own. MakerBot Learning, the educational division of the 3D printing company, has sifted through the database to identify the best STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) 3D printing lesson plans submitted by Thingiverse users. The various lessons, from which we have selected 15, include step-by-step instructions, photos, 3D design files, activity sheets, and more. Some of the lessons are targeted at high school students, while others are more suitable for younger learners."

"Before the advent of the uber-popular show Mythbusters or the push for more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in schools, parents and their kids were doing at-home science experiments. Now, the trend continues to blossom, although many of the experiments have remained somewhat the same…and always awesomely exciting! If you're a parent and you want to do something with your kid that isn't related to cleaning the toilets or forging through homework, check out these 20 great science projects that you can complete in the confines of your humble abode. Most of them use around-the-home items that you probably have on hand, although some will require a little bit of shopping ahead of time. To help you decide which are best for your children's needs, the 20 have been divided into projects for younger students and projects for older ones."

"Juan Carlos Galindo, a Wheaton High School ninth-grader with attention-deficit disorder, always had difficulty managing academic demands when he was younger. His mother, Virginia Munoz, a single mother of four, regularly found her son asleep with homework in his lap. She knew he was struggling, and she worried he would become a checked-out, rebellious teenager. In seventh grade, however, Juan Carlos was invited to participate in a maker learning partnership between Parkland Middle School in Rockville and the KID Museum in Bethesda. The maker philosophy emphasizes hands-on, self-guided projects to build kids' technical skills and confidence through tinkering, inventing and designing."

A search site for younger kids - dictionary, facts, gov't, etc.

"When the gift-giving season for 2011 came around, the dreaded word 'iPad' appeared on the wishlist of nearly half the children in America. Parents across the country feared that the expensive handheld would become just another video game console tossed in the toybox. Now, while the flashy graphics and wide array of entertainment apps can paint that sort of picture, many app designers are actually tending toward interactive learning tools for their younger users. Was this portable PC really designed with education in mind?"

"One of the toughest challenges for any teacher charged with younger grades education is finding a way to teach phonics awareness while also keeping short attention spans engaged. "Phonics Genius," a simple app for the iPad and iPhone, offers a way to do just that, as well as work on fluency and decoding skills that are all instrumental to literacy skills."

"During our Hour of Code celebration, my ninth and tenth grade students reviewed all of the resources available and selected the apps that they liked for teaching younger students how to code. Many of the students selected Tynker as their preferred tool. Two student mentors shared their experience teaching:"

"Learning doesn't have to be boring. It can be enjoyable with the right tools and approach. If your child has a new iPad or a new hand-me-down model, check out these 10 apps that'll make learning their letters, state capitals and math facts fun. You can also check out this longer list, which includes games and other apps for younger kids, teens and beyon"

"Last year, we took a shot at understanding how twitter could be used across a range of "cognitive actions," which yielded the "twitter spectrum." langwitches.org has done something similar-albeit a bit broader in nature. In the graphic below, they start with the idea of why a teacher should tweet with students (literacy, citizenship, etc.), then moves on to the idea of a "twitter routine" which helpfully offers some ideas for introducing younger students to twitter."