An error message is a clue. Read the last line, find the line, fix it.
An error message is a clue from the computer. It says what happened and where. It is not a telling-off, and nothing is broken.
Read the last line first. It names the kind of problem.
Just above it is a line number, which says where the computer got stuck.
Look closely at that line, change one thing so you know what helped, and run it again.
These are some of the questions on the sets. The printable sheets have more and an answer key.
The last line. It names the kind of problem.
IndexError. The boxes are 0, 1 and 2, so there is no box three.
A typo in a name. The computer cannot find that name.
Run it again. It works, or you get a new clue.
SyntaxError. A piece of the line is missing.
Ask a grown-up to write a short sentence with one tiny slip, like a missing letter or a missing full stop. Read it slowly, from the last word back to the first, to find the slip, just as a coder does with an error message.
When your child meets an error on a real screen, ask them to read the last line aloud to you and then say the line number before touching the keyboard. It builds the habit of treating it as a clue.
