A Software Engineer’s Review – Box Island - Award Winning Coding Adventure Review

I'm a software engineer and have been doing programming for past 18 years. I searched for some early programming training apps and found a few. "Box Island" seemed more attractive to my 5-year-old daughter so I kept it. I didn't want to push her into programming but just wanted to see if she is interested or not. She loved the game and was able to finish the free version (Hour of Code) in a day or so and we were so pleased when she got the code.org certificate! It's a great achievement/motivation for a 5 year old! It was then that I thought this game is worth purchasing. I already knew that my daughter is interested in programming but I got surprised when I saw her finishing every level in a few minutes! I only allow her to play around half an hour every day and she is now on level 40 after about a week. Now I'm certain that she is talented in programming and that is definitely something I would consider more seriously. It's good to know what your kid's talents are. Right? The Game: The problems get harder slowly and I see that there are some breathing (easier) levels after several hard ones. This is to keep the kid encouraged and maybe practice the technics they have already learned. This game makes the kid think and learn problem-solving and analytical skills. Some of the problems even make me think! Every level may have more than one correct solution. Sometimes when u ask her to show me how she solved a problem she comes up with a new solution. Verdict: This app is a real programming course that teaches some basic aspects such as patterns, sequence, and loops and more importantly systematic thinking. That said, it is worth way more than 8 bucks. I highly recommend this to all parents! Hint: Have your kid to play the free levels (Hour of Code) first and then purchase the full version if he/she is interested. Update (9 months later): Level 90+ got much harder (e.g. Nested loops with conditions) and my now 6-year-old had difficulty finishing them on her own. However, she was able to complete all 100 levels with a little hint from daddy.
Review by Am4tureReviewer on Box Island - Award Winning Coding Adventure.