2 kids fundraise on Kickstarter to create video story that teaches children how to code

One can never be too young to get involved in mobile app development. That’s certainly the case for Christian, 11, and Shannon, 10. The kids are using Kickstarter to raise USD500 to create The Spy Who Coded (see Kickstarter page), an iPad story that makes picking up programming fun for children.

The tale will be available as downloadable content on the upcoming version of SingPath Mobile, an iPad app that teaches coding. The story will be part of a game where learners can unlock video scenes after solving coding-related questions. Christian and Shannon will be involving in writing and producing the content, as well as acting in it.

Christian and Shannon are students at the K12 International Academy in Singapore. Their dad, Chris Boesch, is a professor at SMU’s School of Information Systems.

He and his wife Sandra have been teaching on various technology subjects and organizing app development tourneys around the world, like PyCon US, PyCon Asia, and RedDotRubyConf. SingPath Mobile is the mobile version of SingPath, a website that teaches coding. The app is developed by students at SMU.

“Sandra and I are trying to help as little as possible so that the kids get a feeling for doing a project on their own. In Christian’s words — ‘It’s going to be for kids by kids’, said the proud dad, while noting that the kids aren’t involved in the actual coding at this point.

The siblings are no strangers to mobile development. They were involved in making Mini Musical Star, a mobile app that lets users create their own virtual musical by recording their own scenes. The musical used is Buy One Give One, produced by Christian and performed at the Singapore YMCA in 2011.

The Kickstarter campaign, administered by a relative in the United States, ends on 20 December.

Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter have become popular ways for artists, developers, and entrepreneurs to raise money for their projects. There are even native crowdfunding platforms in Asia, which are being used by indie artists to fund their work.