30 Python Projects For Beginners and Advanced Learners (2023)

So you’re done with your first Python programming course? Congrats!

Now you’re probably wondering:

How can I practice my Python skills now? What Python projects for beginners can I build next?

Now that you know the basics of Python programming, it’s time to put your skills to good use and build something useful. This is when the fun part of learning Python starts!

But where can you find Python project ideas that are easy and fun to build?

The truth is: the sooner you start building your first Python projects, the better.

You should start practicing on fun and easy Python projects asap. This will help you understand how the language works much better as you create something on your own, step by step.

Building your own Python projects is the only way to put together a stellar portfolio, which is your #1 goal if you want to become a Python developer and start a career in tech.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your projects are, as long as you’re building them without following a video tutorial or a book every step of the way. You need to work independently as much as you can to learn how to apply your skills on your own.

To help you get started, I’ll walk you through 10 fun Python projects for beginners in this post. All of them are easy, fun, and perfect for you if you are relatively new to programming.

By the end of this article, you will be armed with a bunch of Python projects for practice to take your skills to the next level starting right now!

Here are a few related articles about Python programming:

What is Python?

If you are not familiar, Python is a high-level, object-oriented programming language.

Python is a multi-purpose programming language, so it’s very versatile. Companies use Python for a plethora of projects in areas like:

Data collection and database creation
Data analysis and science
Machine learning algorithms
Artificial intelligence
Web development
Scripting and automation

Hence, if you are new to coding and not sure what area you wish to specialize in, Python is a tool you can use for a plethora of different projects in the future.

Python is relatively easy to learn, too. Its syntax is clean and clear, and it reads a lot like English.

If you are new to programming, you will spend less time troubleshooting your code and more time learning and building projects.

These are just a few reasons why Python is the perfect first programming language to learn.

Because of its advantages, Python has become one of the most popular coding languages worldwide; Python currently ranks at #1 on the TIOBE Index, for example:

The most popular programming languages worldwide – TIOBE Index December 2022

Also, over 48% of respondents in the 2022 Stack Overflow Survey had used it.

Because Python is so popular, it’s also in high demand on the job market.

On average, Junior Python Developers earn $96,697 annually according to Indeed.

Junior Python Developer Salary in United States (December 2021)

I’ve written more about my own Python journey in my guide on how I learned Python in 4 weeks (with no experience).

10 Python projects for beginners

Now that you know what Python is, let’s look at some interesting Python projects you can build as a beginner.

Once you have learned the basics of Python, the most important thing is to start using it for solving small problems asap.

If you have finished your first Python tutorial or online course, you’re a more capable programmer than you may think.

You have a basic sense of how Python works and how you can model real-life situations in small programs.

I encourage you to keep a running list of small Python project ideas of your own in Google Sheets or Trello, for example.

Think of simple web apps you would want to create, small data sets you could analyze, or basic 2D video games you would like to program, for instance.

If you’re short of ideas right now, let’s go through a few project ideas for inspiration!

Here are 10 simple Python projects for beginners to build:

Odd or Even?
Guessing the Number
Horoscope
Rock Paper Scissors
Hangman
Acronym
Password Generator
Word Count
Pong Game
Tic Tac Toe

Make sure you share this post with others and pin it for later!

Fun Python project ideas for beginners - Learn Python programming online

1: Odd or even?

Let’s start with a super easy project you can build right away. Write a small Python program that asks the user for a number and tells them if it is odd or even.

To help you get started, here’s a good article about the Modulo operator in Python.

2: Guessing the number

Making a user guess a number is another easy Python program you can write in just a few lines of code. It should generate a random number between, let’s say, 0 and 100. The player then needs to guess what that number is.

Should the user guess wrong, the program should respond by telling them their guess is either too low or too high. When the user guesses right, your program should ask them if they want to play again.

For a little added challenge, you can limit the number of guesses to 5, for example.

3: Horoscope

Create a simple horoscope program that asks the user for their star sign and outputs a fun horoscope for them. Bear in mind that your program should display an error message if the user types in their sign wrong.

4: Rock Paper Scissors

Rock Paper Scissors (or RPS) is one of my favorite Python projects for beginners. It’s simple enough but still challenging since you need to think about how to turn the game rules into logic for the program.

The rules are simple:

Paper wins over rock
Rock wins over scissors
Scissors win over paper

Have your program generate a random answer for the computer – but don’t display it. Then, ask the player for their answer.

5: Hangman

Hangman is one of the best Python projects for beginners who want a bit of a challenge. The game is about guessing a random word with a limited number of guesses.

Although Hangman may sound rather simple, you need to consider a few key points, such as:

You need to set a maximum limit for guesses.
The player needs to be notified about the remaining number of guesses.
Your player needs to be able to input their guesses.

To get started, you need a way to generate random words to be guessed. The best way is to simply create a separate text file where you store the words or short phrases.

This Python project will probably take you a bit longer, but it’s great practice. You will have to think about random choice, variables, boolean values, inputs and outputs, strings, length, and much more.

To build a very basic text-based Hangman game, here’s a step-by-step tutorial video for some helpful tips:

6: Acronym

An acronym Python program will take a given phrase or text and convert it into its acronym. That is, a word that consists of the first letters of each word in the text.

To make your acronym easier to read, go ahead and turn the letters into uppercase with Python. Also, think about how the program will take text as input from the user while separating that user input from the logic itself.

7: Password Generator

Create a Python program that generates a random password for the user. Make sure your program takes a few inputs from the user:

How long should the password be?
How many characters should there be?
Should it have both uppercase and lowercase letters?
Should it include numbers and special symbols, too?

The best part about this small Python project is that you can actually use it for generating strong passwords for your own user accounts across the Web!

7: Word Count

Write a Python program that takes a text file as an input and outputs how many times each word occurs in the text.

You can start small by counting the number of words in a list, for example. Use the Counter collection for this.

Once you understand how the collection works, move on to more advanced inputs, such as longer text files. You can access complete book scripts for free at Project Gutenberg for this.

8: Pong Game

Creating a simple Pong game is one of the easiest projects to learn how to use Python for simple video games. You can use the Pygame library to speed up your workflow for designing and writing your game.

Using Python to build simple but fun games is definitely one of the most enjoyable ways to learn the language. Moreover, you will get more ideas for developing your game further and adding new features while you’re playing.

If you’re ready to start building your first video game with Python right away, here’s a full video course from freeCodeCamp including a Pong game tutorial:

9: Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe is a fun Python project to build in a single day. It’s the game where two players take turns marking the 3×3 grid with cross and circle symbols.

The player who gets three marks in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row is the winner.

This little Python project is fun to build but it requires you to think about the logic of the game in your code.

The players need to take turns and the game needs to keep going until (1) someone wins or (2) the grid is full, for example.

Hence, before you start writing actual Python code, map out the different features of the game.

First, write down all the steps your program needs to go through. Only then start writing out those steps using Python.

If you want to build your Tic Tac Toe game right now, here’s a beginner-level walkthrough tutorial from Clever Programmer:

10: Data analysis with Python

Conducting data analysis with Python is a great idea for an intermediate Python project.

Python supports a number of powerful libraries you can use for analyzing, visualizing, and mining data.

Small data analysis projects will familiarize you with a few popular Python libraries, such as Matplotlib, NumPy, and Pandas, for instance.

My first Python book, Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes, had a fun project where I learned how to do data analysis with Python. If you’re looking for an all-in-one Python book for absolute beginners, I definitely recommend checking it out.

If you learn better by watching videos, here’s one of my favorite videos for learning the basics of Matplotlib and Pandas for absolute beginners:

20 advanced Python project ideas

If the projects above feel too easy, you may be looking for more advanced Python project ideas.

If you are familiar with the fundamental Python libraries and a few external libraries, you should know how to install external libraries and use them for your projects.

If that’s the level you are at right now, here are 20 advanced Python projects for you:

How to build coding projects in Python?

Now that you have a few ideas for practical Python projects for beginners, let’s go through a few essentials about how to go about building them.

What you want to do first is to make sure you find good resources for learning the basics of how Python works.

You can choose books, online courses, or Python YouTube tutorials for this. Choose whatever method fits your learning style the best.

Next, you should study the code you see in your tutorials or books. Familiarize yourself with how the syntax works and how it follows a certain logic in each program. This step is super important for understanding how to solve problems with code.

Step-by-step, you will start feeling more comfortable with reading and writing Python code yourself. And by this, I mean very simple programs, nothing too advanced.

Once you have solved a few small exercises, you’re pretty much all set for building small programs on your own.

Hence, I strongly encourage you to break away from your tutorials and try to solve a few small problems by yourself using Python.

How to finish your Python projects faster by breaking down your problem

Are you ready to start building your first Python project? Great!

The most important thing to keep in mind is to start small. You don’t want to set your expectations too high. Otherwise, you will just end up feeling overwhelmed and disappointed.

Now, before you start writing Python code, let me walk you through a few helpful tips first.

Essentially, this is what it all boils down to:

For any Python program you write, you need to understand the underlying problem and figure out how to solve it with Python step-by-step.

If solving problems feels fun to you, programming could just be your thing!

So what you want to do when you start a Python project is:

Figure out your problem
Break it down to smaller steps
Map out the individual steps your program should perform
Solve each step individually

These four steps will help you stay focused on what you’re supposed to do. Also, they will keep you motivated as you solve smaller parts of the main problem one by one.

Final thoughts: Python projects for beginners and advanced learners

The fun Python projects for beginners above should keep you busy building your own programs for a while.

Start with the first ones since they are the easiest.

Then, challenge yourself to learn Python by practicing with more complex projects. They are still quite easy, but they include more steps to solving the main problem.

Therefore, you will need to think more about how to construct your program to perform all the necessary steps.

All in all, building Python projects boils down to learning how to solve problems by yourself using Python code.

There are tons of project ideas to explore and you will probably come up with a few ideas of your own as you go.

I hope you found a few Python project ideas in this post. If you have an idea I should add to the article, drop me a line in the comments below!

If you are looking to learn Python for machine learning, check out these machine learning project ideas for Python, too.

To learn more about Python, here are a few related posts for you:

If you liked this article about Python projects for beginners, please leave me a comment!

P.S. If you found my Python project ideas useful, please share this post with others! Thanks for your support!

Happy coding!
– Mikke

30 Python Projects For Beginners and Advanced Learners

Share this post with others:

Pin11K

Share

Email

11K Shares

About Mikke

Hi, I’m Mikke! I’m a blogger, freelance web developer, and online business nerd. Join me here on MikkeGoes.com to learn how to code for free, build a professional portfolio website, launch a tech side hustle, and make money coding. When I’m not blogging, you will find me sipping strong coffee and biking around town in Berlin. Learn how I taught myself tech skills and became a web dev entrepreneur here. And come say hi on Twitter!

30 Python Projects For Beginners and Advanced Learners