Looking for an extracurricular activity to keep your child engaged and challenged this winter? Explore how this top Hatch Coding student is staving off boredom with creating his own games.

Dev, age 9, was looking for an at-home learning option during COVID-19 school closures and decided that coding would be a really good skill to try and learn. He signed up for Hatch Coding and loved the independent approach to learning, combined with his coach’s guidance. The best part? “The ability to learn at my own pace,” he enthused.

Dev’s parents, Amit and Sumita shared with us; “Dev’s interest and speed of learning has surprised us. It has allowed him to think through a complex problem in a process-oriented and logical manner. The learning has been all the more important during COVID-19 lockdowns, as it has kept Dev engaged over these past few months.”

Math-Lover turned Code Ninja: Meet Dev

Dev loves math and he was surprised to learn how interconnected math and coding are after kickstarting his coding journey with Hatch Coding nine months ago. He’s since coded 198 projects, 460 challenges and 52 of his own projects! And if you think that’s impressive, he’s also coded 6,821 lines of code and has a whopping 419,300 points. Now, that’s brag-worthy!

When Dev sets a goal, he reaches it. He has already completed two Hatch Coding Certifications; Writer and Author. He’s currently working on his third Certification - Intern - and we have no doubt that it won’t be long until he achieves it. The Intern Certification is a great accomplishment and confirms that Dev would be ready to become a co-op student with Hatch Coding.

When not coding or doing school work, Dev can be found playing and watching basketball, gaming or playing chess.

How Working with a Coach Keeps him Challenged to Learn More

Dev is thriving in his coding skills with the help and guidance of his Hatch Coding Coach, Veronica. “Veronica has helped me generate new ideas and develop them. She has been very patient and has encouraged me to keep going,” he shares with us. He meets with her twice a week for their private coaching session, where she reviews his projects, helps him with the tricky bits and gives him challenges to further grow his coding skills.

Veronica remarks; "Dev really enjoys coding and is always challenging himself to complete more and more projects on Hatch Studio. He is really good at decomposing code problems and breaking them down into smaller parts."

To further his coding skills, Dev decided to join a team with other Hatch Coding students for team coding. They meet for an hour each week with Veronica to plan a project together and divide up the work amongst themselves. Dev is both a team player and leader, as Veronica observes; “He's taken on the role of team leader, and can effectively communicate and work with others."

Coding has proven to be the perfect extracurricular for Dev and is helping him to succeed in his remote learning. He shares with us; “During my virtual school, TDSB introduced us to code using code.org and my knowledge from Hatch Coding has helped me in understanding those concepts.”

Check out Dev’s top three code projects that he designed, planned and created! He loves gaming, so go ahead and give them a try!

Who needs Netflix when you’ve got DevFlix? To play this game earn coins to buy animations to watch. Give it a try!

Aliens are invading your planet! Try and save yourself from them!

Work on your reflex skills in this concentration game - Try Curser! To play, click on the margin that matches the text at the bottom of the screen.

Sharpening his Cognitive Skills One Game at a Time

All parents want their children to be engaged in their learning and to give them healthy challenges that stimulate their brain. What do Amit and Sumita hope Dev will gain by learning with Hatch Coding? “Dev has shown interest in continued learning and likes challenges. We think coding will continue to challenge him and propel him to learn more," they shared.

Dev has become a firm believer in the power of coding and shares: “Coding is great for brain development and the logical flow of thoughts. It allows you to bring your ideas together and create something that is unique.”

On deck for his next challenge is to create a new awesome click game for a chance to win first place for Hatch Coding Game Jam Coding Competition. And you can be sure that he's going to bring his 'A' game!

Is your child an avid gamer and wants to learn how to create their own games? Sign them up and give them a challenge that they’ll have fun accomplishing.