Finding simplicity in complexity - it's the root of all good programming, cutting through the clutter to get to the heart of what you want to do. While working on my winter SEP lesson plan, I'm finding Kodu has a very cool way to create variables and stored procedures to use to add "levels" or "chapters" to your project that I think makes the most sense to new programmers of all the animation platforms I've used to teach so far.

Check out this Google doodle overview, too. It's a  nice history and "day in the life" of a doodler, who came from a non-progamming background. So for all of my students, just playing around with animation design and programming can take you far, think about it! People do do this for a living ;)

And, did you know, if you have a Google account, if you provide your birth date, Google will send you a personal doodle? I'll send you a link to mine in the next couple of weeks.