Coding is an activity that every child should experience at least a few times in their life.
Not every child wants to sit in front of a computer and program all day. For more hands-on kids, coding can be brought to life with other hands-on coding activities like this birthday coding bracelet. This bracelet contains the binary numbers in a child’s birthday, which is a fun way to celebrate a child’s special day and help them learn at the same time.
This activity is fun to do any time, but it is especially fun at a birthday party or sleepover.
Birthday Coding Bracelets
Kids will love this simple coding activity where they make birthday coding bracelets.
You’ll need just a few things for this coding activity:
- Small beads
- Binary number chart
- Elastic string
Decide if you want to use two colors only, or use another color of bead to separate each part of the date. Since binary numbers tend to be pretty short, we decided to use the double-digit form of each number, so one would be 01 like you often see on birthday forms online.
We used the following date pattern:
01012017
If the kids are really young, they might not know their birthdate. This is a fun time to help them memorize their birthdate while making the bracelets. If your kids don’t want to wear bracelets, they can make the bracelet into a zipper pull or key chain.
Follow the binary number chart to thread the beads onto the elastic string following the binary pattern. Once you are finished, tie the bracelet into a knot and the bracelet is ready to slip onto your wrist.
After making their names, ask your kids if they want to code any other important dates or if they want to try coding something with letters.
Coding Apps and Games
Brenda is a full-time writer and homeschooling mom to two girls. Brenda blogs about STEM activities and ADHD homeschooling at Schooling a Monkey. When she isn't working, you'll find Brenda sipping on coffee with her nose in a book.
