A Decade of Making and Coding
Posted on September 25th, 2026 by Jaqster
🎂 Happy 10th Birthday Microsoft MakeCode!
This month, we’re celebrating this 10-year milestone to reflect on the impact MakeCode has made, to thank the community and partners who made it possible, and blow out the candles to make wishes for the future!
When MakeCode began, we had a simple idea: everyone should have the opportunity to learn computer science by creating something meaningful.
We wanted to make programming approachable for beginners without making it less powerful for those who were ready to go further. Blocks could provide a welcoming entry point, while JavaScript and Python could give learners a path toward text-based programming.
But we also know that coding is most exciting when you can see your ideas come to life and the end artifact is something you’re proud of sharing.
That’s why MakeCode has always connected programming with things young people love to build and explore - gadgets, games, Minecraft, music, and art.
Over the past decade, that vision has grown into a family of products used in classrooms, libraries, camps, clubs, homes, and maker spaces around the world.
Learn more about MakeCode at makecode.com
Worldwide Impact
The mission of Microsoft MakeCode is to inspire new generations of technology creators. We are incredibly proud of the impact MakeCode has had on the lives of young people around the world.
Over 100 million students have used and hopefully been inspired by MakeCode since it launched. And it’s had a truly global impact – used in 37 different languages and over 156 different countries, and in 51 of those countries over 10,000 students are using MakeCode regularly every month. Just yesterday, students spent 128,175 hours combined working on their MakeCode projects – that’s over 350 years of learning in a single day! And in a month, 70,239,275 blocks or lines of code are created in MakeCode by students – for comparison, the Linux operating system is 42M lines of code!
It takes a village
A milestone like this isn’t really about a product though… it’s about people.
It’s about the teacher who spends the extra time prepping for a physical computing activity to engage a student who never thought coding was for them.
Elizabeth Bacon is a middle school computer science teacher at Wildwood School in Los Angeles who is using MakeCode Arcade in a “Build a game for a friend” project to strengthen user-centered design skills and practice collaboration and empathy in the classroom. She is also using MakeCode for micro:bit in the class’s capstone project of a mini-golf Putt-Putt Course. We met with her class last week to learn more about the student projects.
Ms. Bacon’s 6th grade class joining with the MakeCode Team
Stu Lowe is the Learning Technology Specialist at Beacon Hill Elementary School in Hong Kong and a longtime MakeCode user. Here’s a short video he put together on why he uses MakeCode in the classroom.
It’s about the student who spends an afternoon debugging a function until it finally works.
Prabhath is an 11-year-old who has spent time creating MakeCode games and learning on his own. We got the chance to meet this young man recently and were inspired by his passion and motivation for game development! He also gave us some really good product feedback and ideas for new features.
Prabhath’s MakeCode experiences
It’s about the parent who drives their child every week to a Code Ninjas center.
It’s about the librarian, camp counselor, volunteer, and instructor who creates a space where young people can experiment and ask, “What happens if I try this?”
It’s about incredible partners who have helped shaped and expanded what’s possible with MakeCode.
A huge heartfelt ❤️ Thank You ❤️ to all of our Partners – especially the Micro:bit Educational Foundation and the Minecraft Education Team. We would not be here without you. But also to Adafruit, the Blockly Team, Calliope, Chibitronics, Code Ninjas, ElecFreaks, Forward Education, GitHub, Kitronik, Kittenbot, Lancaster University, Makey Makey and many more! Thank you all for taking a bet on us!
And, finally, it’s about the incredible community members who translate, share projects, answer questions, submit issues and PR’s, contribute ideas, create extensions, and help others get started.
Here’s a story from one of our MakeCode Forum members –
The first time I used MakeCode was through the Project Lead The Way program in elementary school. We played with Micro:bits. It was a short, maybe one week activity. Then, in middle school, one of my friends introduced me to Makecode Arcade, and I have been making games ever since.
I joined the MakeCode forum when I was 13 and posted very little for 2 years. Then, one day, I started helping people solve their bugs… and it was super fun! Helping others with their code is one of my favorite things to do on the forum now. The puzzle of finding the error, and the satisfaction of fixing it, are what have kept me solving bugs on this forum for so long, not to mention the amazing community, devs, and MakeCode Arcade itself!
The other thing I learned while using MakeCode was JavaScript. Writing code in blocks, switching to the JavaScript editor, and looking at what the block code turned into was a big step in learning JavaScript and written code in general. Reading the JavaScript code running behind each block helped me better solve peoples’ block code issues too, and now I also make extensions!
Now I’m in college majoring in Computer Science, and I owe it all to MakeCode Arcade.
To everyone who has taught with MakeCode, learned with MakeCode, built with MakeCode, contributed to MakeCode, or simply encouraged someone else to give coding a try: Thank you. We are so grateful for your trust in this product and for your help in inspiring the next generation of technology creators.
The next 10 years
The world of technology has changed dramatically since MakeCode launched. Artificial intelligence is transforming how we interact with computers and build things. The need has never been greater for people of all backgrounds and perspectives to understand computational thinking and to be able to use technology creatively to help us shape the future together.
We want to continue making computer science fun and accessible to more learners, supporting educators with high-quality classroom experiences, and giving students opportunities to explore AI and emerging technologies through hands-on creation while preserving the process of learning and discovery.
We’re excited about where MakeCode can go next, and especially about what you will build with it!
Please share your birthday wishes for MakeCode here: https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/KxJ5V6Cp
Happy Making and Coding!
The MakeCode Team