Learning Resources Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity Set – Robotics Kit For Kids, Pet Coding, STEM Games, Screen Free Activities, Engineering Science Kit, Toddler Interactive Games, Gifts For Boys

Unique, Fun, and Educational!
We received this Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity Set for free from Chatterbox to play with and review. I showed my 4 year old son and 8 year old twin daughters an ad for the toy and they were very excited to try it. When the packaged arrived we tore it open, eager to get started, but were disappointed to learn that we needed 3 AAA batteries to get started. It may be helpful for the manufacturers to print that on the box so if you are buying this as a gift you can be sure to include the batteries so it can be played with right away.Once we got the batteries in the robot mouse we began to assemble the tiles to make a surface for the mouse to move on. My 8 year old did this easily, choosing to make a square and using math to figure out that with 16 tiles she could make a 4X4 square, which made me happy to see she was already learning! My 4 year old, on the other hand, needed assistance to connect the tiles because the sides have either male or female connections so they have to be assembled correctly. I can see why the box says age 5 and up!Once we got the tiles assembled, we looked at the activity cards, which give suggestions for mazes to build, from simple to more difficult. We started with number one and assembled the maze. Inserting the maze walls was easy, and we used the tip in the instructions to make sure the wide edge of the cheese wedge was facing out so Colby, the robot mouse, could find it easily. Then we decided which moves the mouse would need to make and selected the coding cards. Colby has arrows to push that tell him which direction to go, an action button that you can add in for extra fun, a go button for when you’ve put in all the steps, and a clear button in case you want to start over. The clear button is important, especially with the long coding sequences, so you can start over if you make a mistake. That alleviated a lot of frustration. We were excited when we coded the first maze run and it worked!I think this toy is great. It’s easy to use, it teaches important skills, it builds on simple activities and gradually gets more complex which, as an educator, I know is the correct way to build skills. I like the versatility of it, as well. Several configurations can be made with the tiles and maze walls, or the mouse can be programmed to go across the floor in a more free form way. It even has a separate setting for that. It’s great for a variety of ages and teaches important skills that kids will definitely need in this modern world. It’s very open-ended and allows for creativity, and works for a range of ages and skills. It was even fun for me, the mom, so it’s a great family activity!

Excellent developmental (and cute) game
This is a great game, and it really is a good introduction not only to programming, but to logic (and math) — to the idea of algorithms in general. It also teaches kids the idea of “following the rules” and “what a mouse can and cannot understand” — the kind of commands it takes. For the younger kids, even setting up the board as in the picture, is a challenge in itself, and a very useful challenge in maps/spacial orientation at that.The mouse itself is very cute; the commands are easy to implement.I did take one star off for a couple of minor annoyances:– the mouse doesn’t always precisely execute each turn, which means it may end up going off course. It’s not so bad as to affect the algorithm unless you have many-many moves, but it means the mouse can run into the purple walls when there’s a tight turn.– whenever the mouse finds “cheese”, it stops executing instructions, even if it had a further sequence programmed. I can see why they made it this way, but it also makes it impossible to program the “go there, get the cheese and bring it back here” kind of programs.– kids need to remember to press “erase memory” in order to program a new sequence. I do understand this choice though — otherwise there would be no memory at all if you think too long between adding new instructions, and that would be even more annoying.On the plus side, this is one of those games where the “puzzles” are not limited by the number of instruction cards. It’s very easy for a parent (or for a kid themselves) to make up their own puzzles.Our youngest one just turned 3, and he’s still struggling with the concept of programming the mouse, but he likes it and is definitely getting some idea. Our next oldest is 8, and she’s already programming (in scratch and trying out python), so this is “too simple” for her, but the mouse is cute enough to keep both her attention and her 11 year old’s brother, and make them interested in playing with their younger brother.On a funny note, our youngest was actually quite hesitant about touching the mouse at first (he was a bit scared of it). And even now, when it’s running, he makes sure to get out of the way.

Çocuklar için çok eğitici, firma da her konuda destek oluyor.

My 8 year-old daughter isn’t into coding but she loves puzzles. This STEM Robot Mouse Code and Go puzzle game was a great way to get her to learn some basic, structured programming without even knowing she’s doing it. This has become one of her favourite puzzle games. She has progressed from the initial mazes provided on the cards to her own devious creations, and that’s where the real fun comes from – when she unlocks her imagination and challenges herself. She has added her own home-made set of obstacles and goals to work around.This STEM kit is of high quality production and comes with 16 green surface tiles, 3 tunnels, and a bunch of purple half-length walls that act as dividers (the box says 22, but we received more than that – I’m thinking it was a packaging error? I’m not complaining). There is a robot mouse which requires 3 AAA batteries (not included). The cheese wedge has a magnet in it that allows the mouse to “pick it up” and to annouce when it has achieved its goal. There are 10 large “maze” cards – each card contains two puzzles on it. Solutions are not provided but you don’t need them – each puzzle is a series of logical steps.This is how difficulty scales: mazes require more steps (coding actions) as they progress. You are provided with a stack of “action” cards which you can use to “write” your program – your child lays out each step (move, turn, etc…) in a row. When they have completed the logic, they then program it into the mouse, and press go. The mouse then executes the logic and hopefully gets the cheese. There is usually more than one solution per maze, and that’s part of the analysis process.All in all it’s a good product that my daughter will have fun with for some time. She uses it about once a week; its not a daily toy and I think it would quickly lose its appeal if it was. The mouse can have problems running off the edge of the map or not doing a complete 90 degree turn, and small initial errors compound over larger maps and can be a bit frustrating. Also if you make one mistake while entering the actions into the mouse, you have no choice but to clear it and start all over again. These are minor issues though.

I got my 4 year old this to learn over the summer as his teacher said going into reception they learn basic coding. Well I must say he loves it it really keeps his interest and he learnt what to do within 5 mins he loves rearranging the outlay so the mouse can go a different route, he does 1 step instructions atm but you can do more than 1 step at a time. Honestly you will not regret getting this I highly recommend, he asks for it everyday after lunch, I would say do it 1 to 1 though so they really get it. It has prompt cards tunnels cheeses fake little walls and the mouse it’s so cool