The Holiday Season is a time for selflessness and gift giving to let those in our lives know how much we care about them. As our focus has always been on education, however, we sometimes tend to go a little overboard in recommending that parents get their kids gifts that combine fun and learning—and there’s nothing wrong with that! Thankfully, so many of today’s best STEM solutions double as fun toys so kids won’t even realize they’re reinforcing key developmental skills while they play. Here’s a list of some of our favorites—some old and some new—to stick under the tree in 2016 and set children up for continued success for years to come.
Dash and Dot
The Dash and Dot, if you are not familiar, are an engagement-filled robot team that resemble the likeness of minions. They’re not yellow—in fact, far from it—but each of them has one big eye in the center of their heads just as the minions do. Oh, and they help kids learn the basics of coding! The Dash and Dot can work together or independently to help kids see and feel just what it’s like to program a robot. Each of them is agile and swift, making it possible for kids to program the Dash and Dot to execute all sorts of exciting maneuvers as they glide around the floor! Kids can start simple and program the Dash to move around the circumference of a circle then progress up to tougher challenges, like having the Dash recognize and chase the Dot around!
By combining a toy that has a great deal of visual appeal with a STEM-focused way of learning, the Dash and Dot make a perfect Holiday gift for kids aged 6-12. Both of these friendly robots are programmable with an extremely simple programming language that genuinely translates to students learning the basics of coding through trial and error. The Blockly programming language is composed of small, rectangular blocks that each represent a command. Note: We recommend using the Blockly app option for the Dash and Dot (there are a few others as well) because the Blockly language is becoming extremely common in programming robots, especially throughout early education. The commands kids will find within the Blockly app include drive, look, light, sound, animation, control and variable commands. For example, the ‘drive’ commands tell the Dash and Dot which direction to move as well as how fast to travel. The control commands work with an ‘if this, then that (IFTTT)’ approach, so kids can program the Dash and Dot to perform some action if it recognizes a specific command in its environment!
Now, of course, we wouldn’t recommend the Dash and Dot Robots as a Holiday gift if it didn’t have a bunch of real-world benefits for kids! Among them, as we mentioned before, are the genuine coding simulations kids can experience while programming with the robots. They will also gain a basic understanding of how robots work and how they're able to function. The Dash and Dot help kids learn what it’s like to design algorithms (the block-based programs) and see robots execute a string of specific commands. They’ll also be able to observe command sequences and control all of the movements of both the Dash and Dot as well as be introduced to conditionals in programming (the IFTTT events we touched on earlier). Besides all that, the Dash and Dot can each help your children learn about robotic sensors, using creativity to solve real problems (like avoiding obstacles), and how to program robots using the simple technology found on an app—all while they have fun through productive play!
Ozobot
Next up on the nice list is the Ozobot. While it’s second on our list of recommendations, we’d be hard pressed to find and EdTech tool more popular with kids of all ages. Ozobot is a tiny, optical robot—no bigger than a ping pong ball. It’s equipped with a series of small sensors on the bottom of its surface that are able to read colors and color-coded combinations. It can recognize and react to the colors black, red, blue, and green and follow lines it’s placed on while lighting up in that particular color to reflect that it sees it. Where it gets really good, however, is in its potential to teach programming. Ozobot is able to read and respond to hundreds of pre-programmed cues in the simple form of color combinations (like red-blue-red, for example).
To create these codes, kids can place the custom Ozobot stickers on their courses where they want the Ozobot to execute a command or they can draw the codes themselves using most markers. When the Ozobot comes to a code, it will perform that action, which may be speed up, slow down, turn, tornado, or something else! The whole time kids are playing with the Ozobot they’re learning how to code. The color codes represent and introductory form of coding, which kids of all ages can practice at any time! As they get more comfortable with programming, kids can incorporate a tablet and the Blockly app to begin programming with the Blockly language and control the Ozobot without needing it to follow drawn lines! From their computer or tablet screen, kids write the program using blocks that each have a specific value, load it onto their Ozobot, and watch as their programming prowess is displayed right before their eyes! .
The Ozobot will help your child expand all kinds of meaningful skills, including problem solving, coding, and critical thinking just to name a few. With the Ozobot, kids are creators—not just consumers of technology—as they use their creativity to make the Ozobot execute all sorts of innovative actions on originally designed courses. What makes the Ozobot truly great is that kids of all ages can use it—and it’s still age appropriate. Kids in kindergarten can enjoy the same benefits of introductory computer science as high school students can. As kids engage with the Ozobot and observe its ability to follow the programs they create, they’ll build a genuine interest in computer science, technology, and STEM education—just one of the reasons why Ozobot will make a top-notch gift for your top-notch kids!
COJI
COJI is a fairly new robot tool that helps kids learn how to program using a language they’re already all too familiar with—emoji’s! Designed to offer children as young as five with a high-impact, low-stress entry into the world of coding, COJI has incorporated a brand new dimension to the way that children learn. Since its foundational programming language is Emoji’s, COJI is able to engage kids right away, offering an immediate aesthetic attraction as soon as they open the box. COJI works with a tablet (iPad is best) and the COJI app. Kids simply program COJI with Emoji’s and it reads and reacts to the emoticons it sees! Want to make COJI sing? It’s as simple as supplying the microphone Emoji and it will start serenading you on the spot!
COJI is unique in the sense that it’s able to teach kids important skills without them feeling like they’re learning at all. It’s one of those multi-faceted tech tools that will keep kids excited for hours. COJI makes use of visual communication and intriguing interactions to grab and hold the attention of young children. At the same time, they’re building key 21st century skills that they can use in the real world—and they don’t even know it! First and foremost, when playing with COJI, kids can learn the basic principles of coding, such as that when one input is supplied, it translates directly to a particular output. Through this kind of hands-on play, children can reinforce their problem-solving skills and learn a thing or two about the real-world applications of simple computer science.
With a combination of cute sounds and faces, physical actions, and app programming, COJI is ready to leap into your child’s playroom! Engaging and playful on its own, connect COJI to its app and its whole world opens up. Kids as young as five can program COJI with a field of Emoji’s, play games, and even teach it to dance—the learning potential is endless and all made possible with the emergence of a new programming language—emoji’s! As children interact more and more with COJI, they learn logic and reasoning effortlessly while the COJI responds to physical stimulation, like tilting and shaking, conditioned to execute one of its many pre-programmed responses. COJI will set kids up for stellar success as they learn to control robots from a smart device and explore programming with an all-new language!
Edison Robot
If you’ve never seen it, you’re in for a treat. The Edison Robot is mobile robot that resembles a matchbox car, though it’s a little bit bigger and a lot more durable. Oh, and kids can build on the top of it with LEGOs! That’s right—the top surface of the Edison Robot is LEGO-compatible, allowing kids to use the blocks they love to play with to literally expand the learning possibilities of the Edison! Despite its small size, Edison is easily able to help kids build long-lasting skills in robotics and innovation as well as introduce them to programming in a way that’s extremely unique. Edison is programmable through clapping. You read that right. When kids clap, Edison will respond to complete any of the tasks they associate with clapping using the EdWare software on a laptop or desktop computer—not bad for a bot so small.
The Edison Robot comes in a single-pack option, but is also available in a two- or three-pack to satisfy all the kids in the house or a 10-pack if, you know, your family’s a bit larger than most. It’s one of the most affordable ways to enrich robotics gameplay with wholesomely beneficial lessons in programming. One of the most advantageous features of Edison is the fact that it’s compatible with a wide variety of operating systems, so whatever kind of computer you have, there’s a good chance it will work with Edison. Once it comes time to start playing, Edison will inspire curiosity in children of many different ages and compel them to explore more of what makes science and technology so great. And, to be honest, the LEGO compatibility is just icing on the cake. Playing with a toy so versatile will help your children develop key creativity skills that they're genuinely able to apply in the real world.
No longer is robotics too difficult or expensive—thanks to the overloading awesomeness packed into the compact, affordable and innovative Edison Robot! Programmable and LEGO compatible, Edison comes with a bunch of super-fun, pre-programmed functions that kids can activate by placing it in front of custom barcodes. Kids can program Edison to follow lines, stay within borders, avoid obstacles, play tunes, and even communicate with other Edison robots. Plus, they’ll love being able to tell Edison what to do by setting up a program that lets them clap their cues to the robot! As we touched on earlier, its software program, EdWare, also gives students a super simple and fun way to jump into genuine programming using a logical and age-appropriate flowchart style, enabling the start of their robotics expertise after just a short time of playing with Edison.
LightUp Tesla Kit
The fifth and final gift idea on our list of impactful STEM toys is the innovative LightUp Tesla Kit. Through experimental play, kids can become the next great inventor using hands-on circuit creation from this fun and powerful kit! The days of reading about science concepts are over as LightUp offers a truly hands-on way for kids to SEE circuitry and programming principles displayed right before their eyes. It will help take interactivity to the next level with magnetic building blocks that click together, presenting multiple combinations and a wide range of functional circuits. The kit offers instant feedback, so kids will always know if their circuit works—it’ll light up or buzz—and the partner app, LightUp Learning, offers a visual cue for what (if anything) needs fixing. To build off of the LightUp Edison Kit, the Tesla incorporates programming with Blockly so kids can control their circuits to do all kinds of amazing things.
Designed to encourage kids to build creativity and invention skills, the Tesla Kit is a very affordable introduction to programming. It also teaches kids basic engineering skills as they’re tasked with constructing circuits while following the guide on the paired LightUp Learning app. So, you’ve got programming, electronics, and engineering all teamed up into one toy that’s very beneficial for students to use. They’ll like it because they stay in control the entire time, from the first circuit they create up until they’re able to get it to blink or buzz using programming codes and cues. Like any good tech product, the LightUp Tesla Kit provides kids with useful feedback and allows them to learn as much through success as they will through failure.
Through tinkering and trial, kids that play with the LightUp Tesla build key STEM skills almost by default. It’s incredibly engaging and its gaming-focused style makes learning seem more like a game than a burden. When they're playing with the Tesla Kit, kids are able to get familiar with what it’s like to program as they create block-based codes for controlling circuits. All the while, they're getting more and more comfortable with technology, which is, of course, another benefit of playing with STEM-focused toys. There’s still time to order the LightUp Tesla Kit or any of the other gift ideas we mentioned and get them in time for the Holidays! Who knows—your children might just become the next great inventor or a bonafide computer programmer before the new year! Happy Holidays from all of us at Eduporium!
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