Why teach kids coding? Compared with their parents, today's kids absorb information and use new technologies like they're old hat. No better group is more prepared to learn coding than children.For kids, taking a coding class is not just a process of learning to code, but also a process of coding to learn.

Unfortunately, most of North America's public schools do not offer computer programming courses until Grade 11 or 12. And even if your local school system offers computer science courses, chances are those courses are electives that won’t count toward core science or mathematics credit.

There are, however, schools like homesweetlearning.com that offer online classes that teach kids coding. They have online coding class such as Java For Kids and Mobile Game Programming For Kids, from which kids can learn Java and mobile game programming in a fun and engaging way.

For most children coding is an interest that they already have and for which you just need to foster. For kids 9-15, the impetus of code learning is strong: every kid dreams of making a game or an animation and doesn't even question that the tools are within her reach. For example, Sam Blazes and Wilfried Hounyo, the two winners in the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge, say their passion for computer programming leads them into a wide range of future professions.