Create an obstacle course in the gym. Have students write a program for navigating through the course. Then, try it out. Ask students to volunteer to navigate through the course following the program as written. Debug, iterate, and take turns!
Throw a dance party. Working in pairs, students code their own dance, program other dancers, and put on a performance!
These similarities between music and computing – both linguistic and structural – make music theory, including musical form, a natural instructional tool for computational thinking. Below you'll find both plugged and unplugged ideas for getting your music students involved in the Hour of Code. And here's a fun video of an iPhone orchestra to get your students excited!
Plugged
Bitsbox: Students create their own nano piano and are challenged to compose their own song.
Tynker (Beginner, grades 3+): Students code their own music video.
Scratch (grades 3+): Students can use Scratch to create songs like this version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."
Pencil Code (grades 3+): Students make music with a simple drag-and-drop coding interface.
Unplugged
Code a repetitive song on paper. Repetitive children's songs make a great instructional tool for coding. For example, here's how one teacher coded "The Hokey Pokey."
Want to go beyond the Hour of Code? Google's CS First program has an entire 8-week music + sound coding curriculum.
Rarely do we link art and computer science in the same thought. One is typically associated with boundless creativity while the other seems to bring to mind rigid, logical thought. However, growing fields like graphic design, 3D modeling/simulation, user interface design all require an artistic mind. Even traditional art (think: repetitive strokes) can be created using robots. So who says the Hour of Code doesn't belong in the art classroom? Here are some plugged and unplugged ideas...just don't spill paint on the iPads!
Plugged
Pencil Code (grades 3+): An open studio for students to create their own drawings with a simple drag-and-drop coding interface.
Khan Academy (ages 10+): A structured Hour of Code lesson that guides students as they create their own drawings.
Bitsbox (K-5): A structured Hour of Code lesson where students create their own painting studio app.
Code.org (all ages): A way to explore the geometry of art with the Frozen and Artist Hour of Code lessons.
Unplugged
CS Unplugged (ages 8+): Students "program" their partner to create specified drawings.
CS Unplugged (ages 8+): In this lesson, students learn to represent digital images the way computers process them.