Ed. note: App of the Week picks are now being curated by the editors of Common Sense Education [1], which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. Click here [2]to read the full app review.
Codemoji [2]
What’s It Like?
With Codemoji, the inner workings of websites are demystified as students get hands-on experience building webpages and animations. The “emoji” part of Codemoji is exactly that: a library of relatable emoticons that represent specific, text-based commands in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (for example, an HTML Head Tag is represented by a panda head emoticon). Emoji are strung together to create lines of code that follow standard coding logic and syntax. Run the Codemoji in the Live Display box to instantly see the webpage or animation in action. The Show Tags tab displays the text version of the code.
Price: Free
Grades: 2-8
Rating: 4/5
Pros: Sequential lessons on core web technologies, great tutorials, and instant access to student-made websites and animations.
Cons: Design elements are limited to images, videos, and sounds contained in Codemoji; teacher dashboard can be buggy.
Bottom line: Emoji-based lessons engage learning and empower kids to explore web design and animation, with instant website creation.