Friday, September 2, 2016

Robot Fun with Ozobot!

I was recently lucky enough to be chosen to receive an Ozobot starter kit to share. I wasn't familiar with Ozobot at first but Im' a huge fan of STEM learning and activities. Ozobot is described as a small robot toy that helps your child become a maker of technology who learns some computer science basics.



Ozobot really is all about play. The start kit comes with paper activities, a protective sheet, stickers, and markers. In addition it can be used with a few available apps and an iPad. The Ozobot website even has more games which can be replayed over and over again just by printing. You can learn about all of the play option on their website here.



Ozobot itself is a small robot about the size of a normal bouncy ball. It comes with some paper and sticker decoration that help make the various games even more exciting and decorative for littler ones. My 4 year old loves customizing Ozobot when it's his turn but my almost 7 year old is more interested in the actual game not the accessories.



How it works?
It's a bit hard to describe but using colors (marker, sticker, etc) you can program the Ozobot to drive itself various ways. There are functions for jump codes and more too.

The Ozobot website also has links and information for teachers to use for lesson plans in the classroom.





So far we've loved sharing Ozobot with the grade schoolers in small groups. The boys are figuring out that if they don't create the marker lines correctly (too thick or too thin for example) their robot won't work. It's great seeing them trouble shoot to make it all work. Boy Scouts and after school playdates have been even more fun with robots!!


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