Educators and parents have realized that technology holds great significance nowadays. After the pandemic, many have understood that young kids can use technology positively which could enrich their future careers.
Careers in the IT sector have expanded rapidly and gained exposure as they have evolved significantly which creates the desire to learn technology related social skills.
Parents and educators have now decided to engage their kids in the IT field at an earlier age through coding courses, and knowledge regarding the field of IT or robotic activities.
To help make learning fun and interactive for kids, there are coding toys for kids that will help them learn about coding. We will be discussing them further so keep on reading!
Best Coding Toys for Kids
Every child loves to play games and enjoys their fun time which is why we should be using that to our advantage when teaching our kids. Involving games and interactive activities in a child’s learning process is more likely to keep them engaged and excited to keep going.
We apply this approach when teaching them coding concepts by using coding toys made just for kids to help them learn while playing and have fun. These are some of the toys we recommend you to use!
1. Botley the Coding Robot
Botley introduces coding to young learners in a fun and easy way to kids without using screens such as laptops or tablets. It comes with a remote programmer to input code and transmit your commands.
Moreover, it also includes an activity set that has obstacles and coding cards to motivate kids in solving challenges. Botley enables your kids to learn early STEM skills while playing and having fun, promoting problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.
2. Kano Computer Kit
This toy is a great learning coding toy for kids as this enables kids to build their computer. It explains the basic step-by-step process of building your own Raspberry Pi powered PC.
It’s a creative and fun way for kids to build and learn essentials skills such as problem-solving when they are figuring out which part goes where.
Moreover, after setting it up, it teaches kids coding in a fun, interactive way by encouraging kids to perform simple commands. It further includes a browser, YouTube and to create a free Kano World account.
This is a fun, interactive toy that gets kids thinking and using their great mind to solve problems with the use of the step-by-step guide helping to boost their creative as well as confidence skills.
3. Cubetto Playset
Cubetto is a screenless coding robot designed for younger kids to help them start learning coding concepts. It is made of tactile and hard-wearing wood which has blocks representing actions and they are combined to create programs.
Kids can combine the programs to tell Cubetto where to go and then hit the button that executives their first program.
4. Sphero Indi Cars
The Sphero Indi cars are small, programmable robotic cars that introduce kids to the basics of coding and robotics. These cars have sensors that can detect colored coded cards or tiles that come with the kit.
The colored-coded cards trigger different actions when the car drives over them, kids learn coding concepts by understanding how to command their robotic car.
The advanced version involves the Sphero Edu Jr. App where kids can change the code of the colored tiles through block-based coding, helping them grasp tougher concepts.
5. Fisher Price Code-A-Pillar!
The Fisher Price Code-A-Pillar is a great toy for young kids as it introduces coding concepts to kids as young as 3 years. The caterpillar toy has 8 segments, each segment represents a different command, and these can be connected to make the robot move.
Kids connect these segments of code to make the caterpillar move from point A to B, they learn how to arrange the segments into the right sequence to ensure it goes in the right direction.
Young kids find it exciting to work with this toy because as it moves, it lights up and plays music too, and the best part is learning concepts such as sequence and commands through code.
6. Sphero SPRK+: Programmable Robot Ball
The Sphero SPRK+ is programmable ball sized robot which is designed to inspire creativity and curiosity.
It can be controlled through Sphero Edu Jr. App through block-based coding encouraging kids to learn coding concepts through interactive play and some institutions use it to educate kids in their summer camps.
7. Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity Set
This coding toy for teens is effective in teaching sequencing, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
Kids can build the maze by themselves using walls, bases, or arches and then they program a sequence into the mouse robot, named Colby, that navigates through the maze to reach the cheese. It helps to teach them through a hands-on learning approach keeping them engaged and excited.
8. LEGO MindStorm
The Lego Mindstorm is a multifunctional, fully responsive STEM robot coding kit that is great for kids who love to build and code and will have fun putting it together and programming different robots.
It contains over 600 pieces that can be reused to make 5 different robots that have 17 unique designs. It can be connected to any smart device through the EV3 programmer app to experiment with the robots.
9. Fisher-Price Code’n Learn Kinderbot
The Fisher Price Code n’Learn Kinderbot is a robot friend with lights, phrases, and sounds for preschool kids ages 3-6 years.
Kids learn to input a code that decides where the robot is going to go, helping them understand the concept of sequence.
Moreover, there are three types of ways to play such as free coding, learning challenges, and ‘secret codes’. This coding toy is a good choice when you’re trying to engage young learners.
10. Wonder Workshop Dash – Coding Robot for Kids
The Wonder Workshop Dash robot is a thoughtful design to teach kids coding concepts. The robot comes with 1 Dash Robot, 1 USB Charging Cord, and 2 Building Brick Connectors.
Wonder Workshop Dash can be connected to a free app that the kids use to program the robot to perform commands. It is an entertaining toy for kids as it can move, sing, dance, flash its lights, respond to voices, make sounds, and even tell a story.
Conclusion
We’ve mentioned a variety of coding toys for kids to educate and encourage parents to invest in these for their kids.
These toys are a fun, interactive way to involve your kids in the world of coding and ignite their interest in technology for the future.
With the world constantly shifting towards digitization, it is essential to have your kids start learning at an earlier age and the best way to do that is incorporate learning through interactive toys and games to not have them bored.
Our aim at Khired Kids has been quite similar, to teach coding concepts to kids through fun activities that don’t feel like studying however, they still help kids to learn something new about technology every day. They play and learn concepts they can carry on with them for the future and soon become digital leaders.