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I know there's some competition out there for whiz high school kids, but I'm looking for something more geared towards an advanced middle schoolers. The problems should be simpler than Project Euler or SPOJ and be language agnostic (or at least accept Python).

Alternatively, if no such sites exist, are there any programming challenge "packages" for setting up your own site and filling it with problems you create yourself?

Update: I'm not looking for a programming language for children. I'm looking for challenges I can point a child at in order to learn their language better.

Kijewski
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drysdam
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  • If you just want an easy site to setup then wordpress is super easy to setup – Kurru Apr 02 '11 at 09:53
  • @Kurru, something like [codepad](http://codepad.org/about) would be a better fit than wordpress, I think. :) – sarnold Apr 02 '11 at 09:58
  • Codepad is a good idea. I'm starting a challenge for him now there and we'll see how it goes. Also, pythonchallenge.com seems pretty good for him so far, but he's only two problems in. It might get too hard pretty fast. – drysdam Apr 02 '11 at 15:14

2 Answers2

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Before I started university they recommended: Scratch from MIT. I haven't used it heavily but it was fun and you get a feel for programming. How does that look?

Paul R
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ale
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  • scratch is great as a programming language, although my middle schooler is beyond it now. But scratch does nothing to address the programming *challenge* I'm looking for. – drysdam Apr 02 '11 at 10:00
  • ok cool, will let you know if I come up with something better :). – ale Apr 02 '11 at 10:01
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I cut my teeth with Logo on an Atari 800. Sure, it was almost 3 decades ago, but that doesn't mean Logo still isn't a great choice. It was developed to be used in early education, after all. Pen up, pen down, move forward, turn... simple stuff that is easily visualized for kids.

Looking at its Wikipedia page it looks like there are modern versions available. Do a Google search and you should be able to find all sorts of example problems and solutions, too.

Shaggy Frog
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