Free printable unplugged coding activities
Four pages of the book, one from each stage: read a four-arrow code and draw the robot's path (activity 18), write the code for a drawn path (activity 36), shorten a long code with two loops (activity 62), and find the two swapped steps that walk the robot into a wall (activity 82). The arrows key is printed on every sheet. Each page carries our mark and this address where the book prints its page number, and is otherwise the page as printed. Nothing plugs in.
US Letter · 4 pages · black and white · no signup
What is on the sheets
Print at actual size (100%), not "fit to page". The target sizes on these pages are chosen for a particular age of hand, and scaling shrinks them.
Using them well
Be the robot
The child reads their code aloud and you walk it, exactly, including the wrong step. This is the most useful thing you can do with these sheets.
Let the bug stay in
The debugging page is the point. A wrong code the child finds is worth ten that were right first time.
Arrows before words
Do not translate the arrows into sentences. Reading the notation is the skill.
Questions
Do these coding sheets need a computer?
No. Nothing on them connects to anything. The child needs a pencil, the printed sheets, and an adult willing to be the robot.
What ages are these activities for?
Four to six. Following four arrows and drawing the path suits a four-year-old. Writing a code is five. Shortening a code with loops and fixing a swapped pair are for five and six.
What do the arrows mean?
Up, down, left and right, one square each. The key is printed in the corner of every sheet, and it is the same four arrows on every page of the book, so a child who learns them on the first sheet can read the last.
Do I need to sign up or pay?
No. One PDF, four pages, no email address. They are activities 18, 36, 62 and 82 of the book, pages 26, 46, 74 and 97, made by the same build that makes the book.
Guides that go with these
Unplugged coding for preschoolers: where to start
Four ideas underneath every programming language, none of which need a computer, and the order a four-year-old can meet them in.
Choosing a bookWhich activity book for which age: 3, 4, 5 and 6
The maze book lists from three. The others list from four. Here is what sits inside those ranges: the book for each age, the page to open it at, and the sign that says move up.
For grown-upsHow to sit beside a child doing a worksheet
The most challenging part of an activity book is not on the page. It is sitting there while a four-year-old gets it wrong.
How we make themWhy our activity books are printed in black and white
The research behind it, the one finding that argues against it, and what the child gets in return.
Where these came from
These are 4 pages out of 100.
Sequences, loops, conditionals and debugging, written in arrows on paper. No app, no tablet, no login. A locked symbol set of arrows and a grid. The child reads a code and traces it, then writes a code of their own, then shortens it with a loop, then finds the one wrong step in a code that does not work.
