Is your child creative? Looking for a new skill to channel their creativity with? Explore how this top Hatch Coding student is using her coding canvas as a new medium for her artistic expression.

Samantha’s summer camps got cancelled due to COVID-19 last July. Samantha's mother, Patricia wanted to find a new skill for her daughter to learn, to avoid boredom over the summer.  She wanted her daughter to learn a skill that could be useful for her future. That’s when Hatch Coding came to mind. Her older daughter and nephew had taken classes a few years ago and really enjoyed them. Now that Samantha was older and could read and type, Patricia asked Samantha to give coding a try. She agreed and signed her up for Hatch Coding’s two-week free trial. Patricia was surprised that Samantha developed a passion for coding and she admits, “We did not expect her to be interested in coding past the summer holidays. She enjoyed it very much and seemed to be picking up coding steadily so we decided she would benefit from continuing the program.”

The Artist Discovers a New Medium: Meet Samantha

Samantha, age 9, loves to draw and has many artistic and athletic talents. When asked what motivates her to keep coding she enthused, “The points! There are so many different projects in the Project Library to choose from and I can work on them anytime on my own to get more points. I like that I achieve points every time I finish a project or challenge.” Samantha is proud to share that in only seven months of her coding journey she’s earned 193,000 points and over 58,000 challenge points! And on top of that she’s also written over 2,000 lines of code and is working on her Hatch Certification Level 2 of 4. Way to go, Samantha!

When not coding or doing school work Samantha can be found baking with her mom and sister, playing outdoors in the snow in the winter and skateboarding and riding her bike in the summer. She also loves to play badminton and play Roblox online with her friends.

How Working with Hatch Coding Coaches Supports her Learning

We asked Samantha what she likes best about learning to code with Hatch Studio. “I like the private meetings because it is fun and I get to learn more.  Also, my coach has more time to answer my questions and help me to understand.” She shares. Samantha meets one on one with her coach, Dylan, once a week for an hour. They review the projects she’s working on that week and he helps her with any difficulties she’s having with them. He provides her with a lesson plan each week that includes project suggestions for her to try on her own.

We asked Coach Dylan about his observations on Samantha’s coding progress and he enthused, "Samantha is by far one of the most artistically-inclined students I've seen on Hatch. Like all great students she first tries to finish her projects without breaking down any instructions, and then she goes above and beyond, adding in her own personal flairs. Her attention to detail is astounding, with Samantha not batting an eye at making sure everything looks pixel-perfect."

In addition to one on one coaching, Samantha also codes with a team once a week with her Team Coach, Veronica. “My experience with Dylan and Veronica has been great. They are fun and help me when I have technical difficulties with my computer and programs. And they are both supportive and encouraging.” Samantha comments.

Samantha loves the social interaction she gains in her team meetings and the ability to have fun with other kids. She always looks forward to the Kahoot learning games that start each team class and enjoys both giving and receiving feedback from her teammates on code projects. Samantha is a true team player, as Coach Veronica observes, “She supports her teammates by giving helpful feedback and always contributes her ideas during group projects.”

Translating her Ideas into Code: Creating Pixel-Perfect Projects

Samantha has a flair for art, design and precision. She works tirelessly altering her code until her design and images look just right. For her latest project she was tasked to draw her own personal logo with no example to follow, just requirements that needed to be met. She started with an idea in her head. From there she began to code the shapes and colours into her canvas and then put them into position with the x and y values. She then altered the height, width and alignment continuously until it looked exactly how she envisioned it.

For this project she experimented with if statements. These statements check whether something is true or false. If it is true, something happens. If false, it doesn’t. She notes, “I really like coding an if statement because it’s interactive. I think it’s cool because there is a surprise waiting for you.”  

Check out her Teddy Bear Logo Project in action.

Samantha is always excited to share her completed projects with her family. And Patricia loves to see her daughter channel her passion for art into her projects. “Samantha loves to draw.  It’s nice to see her creativity and love of art translate onto the canvas onscreen using math and writing skills.” Patricia observes.

Check out more of Samantha’s top projects CN Tower and Camera Phone where she earned extra points for her creativity!

Building Confidence and Independence One Project at a Time

All parents want their children to be confident in their learning and work towards independence. What does Patricia hope Samantha will gain from her time learning with Hatch Coding?

“Samantha has already gained a lot from Hatch Coding these past seven months. She’s become more independent and confident in her work. She’s learning to think logically and keeps working on each project until it’s finished. I hope the skills that she develops with Hatch Coding will prepare her for anything she chooses to do in the future,” Patricia remarks.

Is your child artistically inclined? Are you looking to have them learn and appreciate how technology works? Kids ages 8-18 can choose from over 350 themes for a custom full-language coding experience with Hatch Coding. Whatever they’re interested in, we have it!

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