This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.

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For those people wanting to build Web pages, apps, or games, Code Avengers is a great resource to learn all the skills you need.

Code Avengers has been designed for beginners or those with very limited experience and each course takes only 12 hours to complete.

As you learn, you can create apps, games, and even websites, taking you beyond simply reading information, but using your new skills in practical applications.

The introduction courses are all free, but to go beyond the intro, you will have to pay a fee. Courses include JavaScript, HTML5 & CSS3, and Python 3.

This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were one of the first Universities to get on the MOOC scene with Open Courseware and they have materials from over 2000 courses online to help support self-learning.

You can find the computer programming courses under the topic Engineering and the Computer Science sub-topic.

As you scroll through the amount undergraduate and graduate courses of offer you will realize just what a rich resource this is. Courses include C++, Java, graphics, animation, computer science fundamentals, and lots, lots more!

Of course there are lots of other MOOCs out there that will teach you about computer coding such as www.coursera.org and www.edx.org and www.futurelearn.com but MIT Open Courseware gets the main mention here as it was pretty much the first of its kind.

This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.

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The Code Player (or TheCodePlayer) offers a unique option for learning HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript BUT it is probably better-suited for those who have at least a basic knowledge of coding.

Rather than a traditional course with tutorials, exercises, and videos with TheCodePlayer you can log on and see someone make a program from scratch, and watch as they work through the process of creating themselves. To be fair, this type of training is not for everyone but it might suit some styles of learning.

Once you have picked a walkthrough, you can toggle the settings to make it go faster, or slower depending on your needs. You can also pause the tutorials, as well as toggle between HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.

Most of the tutorials are free, and if you sign up with your email, you can unlock more walkthroughs and tutorials on the site. There is a cost associated with some of the more advanced tutorials. 

This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.

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Kahn Academy is famous for its math’s tutorials but over time it has expanded under its tagline ‘you can learn anything’ to produce a range of digital courses in math’s, science, history, art, economics and computer programming.

Khan Academy is a big player in education circles with some very prestigious partners including NASA and MIT.

The Kahn Academy computer programming course includes drawing and animation, SQL, HTML/CSS, JavaScript and a few others (resources are being added all the time). Once you have picked a course, the website guides you through a series of exercises, videos, games and other learning material to help you master the skills you need.

It's a completely free (and ad-free) service, with courses in about 40 different languages. 

This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.

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Developed in 2011, the main focus of Code Academy is to teach you how to code so that you can transform your career.

It contains a whole variety of on-line courses including how to make Interactive websites. You can take interactive courses in Rails, Angularjs, Rails Auth, The Command Line, HTML & CSS, JavaScript, iQuery, PHP, Python, and Ruby. As well as the tutorials the site also features a number of success stories from individuals who knew little to nothing about coding but due to Code Academy have gone on to break into the software industry.

All of the courses on Code Academy are free and you can get started by creating a free account and browsing the tutorials, forums, and sandboxes, where you can test out your code. You can also earn digital badges as you progress though the various tutorials.

This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.

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Launched in 2013, Code.org is a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science by making it available in more schools, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color.

The code.org vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. They believe computer science and computer programming should be part of the core curriculum in education, alongside other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra. 

Code.org offers their own Computer Science Curriculum where you can be taught by people like Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook).

Although many of the courses are quite basic the High School Curriculum offers a bit more (including programming in JavaScript) they whole website is also incredibly child friendly.

The Code.org studio and the Code.org Video Library also offer additional resources.

This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.

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Made with Code is a free resource from Google that is primarily aimed at getting young women excited about learning to code and close the gender gap in the tech industry. The idea behind it is to show girls that the things they love, from apps on their smartphones to their favorite movies are made with code, and they can apply the skills they learn to their own individual passions. Although primarily aimed at girls it is a pretty good resource for boys as well!

There are some lovely simple projects built into the web resource such as designing an LED Dress (good into to the Internet of Things), Animating digital characters and a ‘selfie’ Accessoriser. All of the projects use a visual programming language and the resource provides a pretty good introduction to tools / resources like Scratch, Code.org or Code Academy.

One of the best things about the website are the case study videos – they are beautifully shot and simply just inspiring.

This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.

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Barclays Code Playground is a pretty good fun website to start with. Its free and works across a variety of devices. The idea is simple you click on a sprite and you can then modify the code in your browser for instant results / feedback.

Originally designed to be used in conjunction with training events it is now a stand-alone resource that is useful to get across some of the basic ideas / principles of coding without using a visual programming language (eg: Scratch). Also pretty good fun!