Learning to code from a young age has many benefits beyond teaching youngsters useful technology skills for the future.

That’s according to Sajid Shariff, head of WhiteHat Jr. North America, who recently spoke to Moms.com about the benefits of teaching children to code. He cited research conducted in China, which found that children who learned to code improved their creativity, logical thinking and work ethic.

Mr Shariff told the publication that if children start to learn coding from the age of around six or seven, they “instill these skills for life and therefore have a greater opportunity to apply their elevated way of thinking to all the subjects they learn in school and beyond”.

This means that, regardless of what career path your child chooses to pursue later in life, they will pick up valuable skills from coding that could help.

The Straits Times recently reported that China intends to introduce coding to the curriculum for all primary and secondary school children in the country from 2021. Many schools already teach coding as part of their curriculum, the news provider noted, due to its value within IT and its broader applications.

“Learning coding is not designed to encourage students to become programmers, but to cultivate their abilities to think logically and solve problems,” Chongqing Municipal Education Commission told the publication. In 2018 it required all primary age children to receive at least 36 hours of coding instruction from third to sixth grade (ages eight to 12).

If you’re keen to help your children develop their coding and other skills, you might find our coding classes for kids are the ideal place to start and help them develop an understanding of coding and how it can serve them.