Microsoft is promoting a new programming language aimed at kid's called KPL (Kid's Programming Language). KPL can be used to code many different types of applications, but there is a strong focus on games to draw their initial interest. And of course it's free, kids need free.
I have two kids (almost 7 and 12). My oldest has been trying to get started coding, we bought him a kid's programming guide to Dark Basic, but I think this will help him more.
The Kid's Programming Language, or KPL, was developed under the direction of Jonah Stagner, and his colleagues, ex-Microsoft program manager Jon Schwartz and former NCR engineer Walt Morrison. The three run the software consultancy Morrison-Schwartz Inc.
"One of the things we realized is that we all learned programming on some flavor of BASIC when we started. You're not going to learn how to program in BASIC anymore," said Morrison, in an interview. "We wanted something that isn't 20 years old; modern technology that uses an integrated development environment, so we can take our kids and move them directly from this to the .NET environment."
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IDE Screenshot Sample
Sample Game
