For this week’s experiment, we’re going to be taking a look at the newest of the brand new EdTech tools we have in our store. Developed and manufactured in France, Marbotic is an interactive way for early learners to get familiar with numbers, letters, and technology. So far, they’ve created three different kits and we were lucky enough to receive them in our office just in time for this week’s Eduporium Experiment! We decided to focus on the Marbotic Bundle for this post, which includes both Smart Letters and Smart Numbers.
Marbotic describes their products as interactive toys for tablets that teach kids multiple forms of literacy (numerical literacy, spelling literacy, and even digital literacy) through interactive play. The Smart Letters and Smart Numbers Kit comes with all 36 characters (A-Z and 0-9), which have magnetic clips so kids may stick them to their tablet screen when prompted. You do need your own tablet, however, and Marbotic is compatible with inly iPads at the moment.
There are a few different modes in which children can use Marbotic, but I’ll cover a couple of basic examples so you get familiar with the concept. One of the simplest ways to use Marbotic to learn is through interactive math problem solving. The app displays a simple equation (7-5, for example) and kids solve the equation by stamping the physical No. 2 onto the tablet screen before being congratulated and moving on to the next problem! Of course, I had no trouble solving the equations (at least you can’t prove that I did), but the system also takes the time to be sure children know how to read and write each number as well, which adds a great amount of value to the product overall.
There are a number of different games that help kids learn how to count using larger numbers, too, as they group bubbles into six groups of 10 and then add five more from another column to display the number 65, for example. They then stamp the corresponding digits onto the screen to complete the challenge in the same way as the other program.
For reading and spelling literacy, kids can stamp any letters onto the screen and Marbotic will sound out the sound it makes. When they provide a combination of letters, it will then sound out both sounds. And, finally, when kids place a whole word onto the screen, Marbotic will sound it out and let them know that they’ve just done some spelling on their own! This type of real-time feedback is especially powerful to young students and Marbotic is a valuable learning tool for building literacy skills as early as possible!
Marbotic is designed for kids as young as 3 years old and offers challenges tough enough for children as old as 8. There are currently six different educational apps that work with Marbotic, which are all free to download. So, before kids enter kindergarten, help them get prepared for the challenges they’ll face by using Marbotic to help them learn to write, count, and calculate with ease! Check out the Marbotic kits—now in the Eduporium store!
If you're going to be at ISTE 2017 next week, be sure to monitor our Twitter and Instagram accounts for your chance to win cool Marbotic prizes as part of our flash giveaways! And, don't forget to check out next Wednesday's edition of the Eduporium Experiment featuring the Code-a-pillar.