About eighteen months ago I sat down with my eldest and decided we would both try to learn to code together. He had been asking about it for a while, and I thought it would make a decent project to do alongside him rather than just pointing him at a website and leaving him to it. What I did not expect was how much I would get into it myself.
I am not a developer. My background is in tech from a consumer and business angle, not a programming one. But spending a few months working through Python basics with my son was one of the more genuinely satisfying things I did that year. Not because I became a programmer (I did not), but because it fundamentally changed how I think about the software and devices around us. And it gave us something to do together that was not just watching things on screens.
If you are thinking about learning to code yourself, or helping your child get started, this is the guide I wish I had had at the beginning.
Which Language Should You Start With?
This question stops more people than any other. There are dozens of programming languages, and the internet will cheerfully tell you that each of them is the one you should learn first. Here is the simple version of the truth.
Python is the best starting language for most adults in 2026. It reads almost like English, it handles a huge range of tasks (from automation to data analysis to web development to AI scripting), and the community is enormous, meaning there is a tutorial or answer for virtually every question you will ever have. Python is also one of the most in-demand professional languages if you eventually want to use this skill at work.
JavaScript is the language of the web. If your goal is to build websites or web apps, JavaScript is where you need to go. It is slightly less beginner-friendly than Python but not dramatically so, and the payoff is seeing your code run immediately in a browser, which is satisfying in a way that purely text-based Python output is not.
Scratch is worth mentioning for younger kids (roughly ages 7 to 12). It uses visual blocks rather than typed code, which removes the barrier of syntax errors entirely. It is a legitimate introduction to programming logic, not a toy. Many professional developers started on Scratch.
For a parent and child doing this together, a combination of Scratch for younger kids followed by Python once they are comfortable with the concepts is the path I would recommend.
The Best Free Resources in 2026
You do not need to pay anything to learn to code to a useful level. The free resources available today are genuinely excellent.
freeCodeCamp (freecodecamp.org) covers HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and more through structured projects. It is thorough, well-maintained, and completely free. The JavaScript curriculum is particularly strong.
CS50 is Harvard’s introduction to computer science, available free through edX or directly at cs50.harvard.edu. It is demanding but not impenetrable, and completing it gives you a proper foundational understanding rather than just surface-level syntax knowledge. It has changed a lot of lives. Worth at least starting, even if you do not finish the whole thing.
Khan Academy has a good computing section aimed at beginners and younger learners. It is gentler than CS50 and works well for teenagers or adults who find the Harvard course a bit intense.
Codecademy has both free and paid tiers. The free content covers the basics well. The paid Pro tier is around £15 a month and adds projects and quizzes, but you can get surprisingly far on the free content.
Scratch is at scratch.mit.edu and is entirely free. For primary school age children, this is the right starting point without question.
YouTube is underrated as a learning resource for coding. Channels like Traversy Media, Corey Schafer (for Python specifically), and The Net Ninja are excellent, well-organised, and free. The ability to pause and rewind while following along is genuinely useful when you are learning something new.
How Long Does It Actually Take?
Honestly? It depends enormously on what you mean by “learn to code.” Here are realistic timelines for a beginner spending about 30 minutes to an hour a day.
To understand the basics and write simple programmes: 4 to 8 weeks.
To feel comfortable enough to tackle small personal projects: 3 to 6 months.
To be genuinely employable as a junior developer: 12 to 24 months of consistent, focused work.
Most people reading this are not aiming for employment. They want to be able to automate a boring task, understand what is happening when they look at code, or share something with their kids. For those goals, a few months of casual learning is genuinely sufficient.
The biggest mistake beginners make is trying to learn by watching or reading without actually typing code. You have to write it yourself, make mistakes, read error messages, and fix things. Passive consumption of tutorials does not stick.
Setting Up Your Environment
For Python, the setup is simple. Download Python from python.org (it is free), then install Visual Studio Code (also free, from code.visualstudio.com) as your editor. Add the Python extension inside VS Code and you are ready to start writing code within about ten minutes.
For JavaScript, you do not need to install anything. Open a browser, press F12 to open the developer tools, click Console, and you can run JavaScript directly in the browser.
For Scratch, go to scratch.mit.edu and start in the browser. No installation needed.
Common Problems and Fixes
Error messages feel overwhelming. This is normal and never fully goes away. Error messages are not failures, they are the computer telling you precisely what it does not understand. Read them carefully, Google the exact error message if you do not understand it, and you will usually find the answer quickly.
I understand the tutorials but cannot write code on my own. This is the most common plateau. It happens because following along feels like understanding, but it is actually just recognising. The fix is to close the tutorial and try to build something small from scratch, however imperfectly. Even rebuilding something you just did from memory without looking is useful practice.
I do not know what to build. Start with problems you actually have. Automate something repetitive. Build a simple to-do list. Make something that fetches the weather. The project does not need to be impressive, it needs to be yours.
The Family Angle
Doing this alongside your kids is genuinely worthwhile, even if you are both beginners. It models the kind of learning behaviour you want them to have: curiosity about how things work, willingness to be confused and keep going, and the habit of looking things up rather than giving up.
For school-age children, coding is increasingly part of the curriculum. Many UK schools now teach Python from Year 7 onwards. Getting ahead of that, even a little, makes a meaningful difference to how comfortable they feel in those lessons.
At home, a shared project is a good motivator. Building a simple game together, making a quiz about something they are interested in, or automating something in your household is more engaging than both of you working through a tutorial independently. If coding feels too abstract, exploring the Raspberry Pi with younger kids is a wonderful gateway. It is a tiny computer costing around £40 that makes the connection between hardware and software tangible and hands-on in a way that a laptop screen does not.
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