Block coding lesson 1: Step by step: moving forward

For parents: how to use this lesson

You don't need to know anything about coding. The lesson explains each step on screen, the way Mr Babbage, our Head of Computing, likes it: watch Myrtle first, then have a go. Programs are made from blocks – no typing – and every answer is graded straight away.

1. Before the screen: Play "robot": one person gives step-by-step moves and the other follows them exactly.
2. Press Start the lesson below and watch the worked examples together. Press Run and say what each block does before Myrtle does it.
3. Let your child do the practice on their own. When Myrtle goes the wrong way, that's a clue, not a failure – press Run again and watch which block it is on.
4. Finish with the talk question: “Why does a computer need the steps in the right order?”
5. Later that day or the next day: the homework (10 minutes), then a practice test.

Watch out for

• Counting the start square as one of the steps. Put a finger on Myrtle and hop: one, two, three – the start square is not a hop.
• Thinking Myrtle can guess what you meant. It only follows the blocks. Change the blocks to change what it does.

Miss Lovelace's tip for home: ask your child to be Myrtle. Read out the blocks and let them walk it on the floor. If they can act it out, they understand it.