Learning Map Where we’re up to

When I grow up…

I want to make video games

Your child wants to make games. Here's what that is made of at primary school.

Ages are guides, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home → · See it on the map →

What this is, really

A game-maker builds the worlds, rules, and characters inside a video game. They give the computer clear steps, spot patterns, and tell a good story. Then they try their idea again and again until it's fun.

The seeds are already on the map

23 real skills your child can already meet at primary school, grouped into 5 strands. Every one links to its full page.

ComputingMathematicsLearning to LearnEnglishScienceLife Skills

Telling the computer what to do

Computers do just what you tell them. Clear steps make things work.

Step-by-Step Instructions Computers in Everyday Life AI in Computer Games Data and Information for Computers Patterns and Classification

Patterns, logic and numbers

Games are built from patterns and rules — spot them, then make your own.

Spotting mathematical patterns Spotting Patterns Describing Rules & Patterns Shape patterns Patterns & Sequences

Shapes, space and coordinates

Where things sit on the screen, and how they move and turn.

2-D shapes First Quadrant Coordinates Transformations on a Grid Turns & Directions

Telling a good story

Characters players care about, and a world worth exploring.

Simple Stories with Beginning and Ending Narrative Writing Planning Narratives Character Traits and Motivation

Trying, failing, trying again

The heart of making games: test it, see what's broken, fix it, repeat.

Simple Design Problems Fair testing Learning from Failure Trying a New Approach Persisting When It's Hard

See all 23 seeds lit up on the map →

What it looks like at each age

Ages 4–5 · preschool

Your child makes up rules for their own games. Inventing the rules is exactly what a game-maker does.

Ages 5–7 · F–Year 1

They follow and give step-by-step instructions, and love a game with a clear goal.

Ages 8–10 · Years 3–5

They can spot and build patterns, plan a simple story, and place things on a grid.

Ages 11–12 · Year 6

They can think in rules and steps, and keep improving an idea until it works.

Try this together

Free, low-key, and doable tonight — no special supplies.

Invent a board game together with your own rules. Play it, then change one rule to make it better.

Be a 'robot' your child programs with spoken steps to cross the room. What happens if a step is wrong?

Draw a game level on grid paper — where's the player, the goal, the traps?

Try a free block-coding site like Scratch and make a sprite move.

After primary school

Making games can mean learning to code, draw, write, or design sound — and there's a path for each. Some go to university, some to TAFE, and plenty teach themselves and build small games at home. High-school maths, art, and computing all feed in.

The quiet truth

About 52% of what a game-maker needs at primary school also lives inside other dreams on this site — reading well, a feel for numbers, noticing patterns, and sticking with hard things. Dreams change: that is the point of being seven. Nothing your child learns here is wasted.

Why every dream shares the same seeds →

This page is a map, not a plan. It shows what a dream is made of at primary school — it does not say your child will or won't do this one day, and it measures nothing about them. Explore it together, follow what they love, and let the dream change as often as they like. Learning Map original · CC BY-SA 4.0