Review – Kids First Coding & Robotics

Kids First Coding & Robotics is a STEM kit for early grade schoolers. With over 400 pieces in the box, it provides a great deal of content for teaching basic programming concepts. Let’s check it out!

Review

I have been consistently impressed with the Kids First line of STEM toys from Thames & Kosmos. My kids continue to enjoy the Number Balance and Amusement Park Engineer sets, and they have learned quite a bit from them. Recently, my daughter has been asking me to teach her about computer science, and I thought the Kids First Coding & Robotics set would be a great way to do so.

This set lets kids work hands-on with actual programming, and it’s all based around a sandwich-shaped robot named Sammy. The reason Sammy is a sandwich has to do with the very first lesson, the classic computational thinking exercise of writing down the step-by-step directions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Once kids have done this introductory thought experiment, they build Sammy. The robot’s base has an optical scanner, which it uses to read code cards and execute programs. Programs involve Sammy navigating through a course of connected tiles, using instructions like “go straight,” “turn left,” etc. (As time goes on, players will build other robots besides Sammy, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m just going to use “Sammy” to refer to them all.)

To begin a challenge, players build a map of large tiles. Each challenge lists a goal, which could be as simple as “Get Sammy to the end,” or it could be more complex, having the robot take actions and make decisions using conditionals, loops, etc. These concepts are introduced incrementally, so players will learn as they go.

To write a program, the player makes a line of code cards, beginning with “Start” and ending with a red card. Then, they place Sammy on the start card and press a button that causes her to move along the line, scanning each card as she goes. When Sammy reaches the final card, she stores the set of instructions in her memory. She can only store one program at a time, but with the push of a button, the player can clear her memory to make room for a new program.

Once Sammy has read through the code cards, she is ready to execute the program on the map. Players place her on the Start space, push a button, and she will carry out the programmed steps, moving along the map tiles as she goes. Sammy does not need to be perfectly centered—or even facing the correct direction—when placed on the starting tile. Before she begins executing her program, she will orient herself properly on the Start tile.

Throughout the story, players will build a number of models, both other robots and friends for them, using the same Gigo blocks as other Kids First products. There are dozens of lessons to explore, and kids will learn a lot as they progress.

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Coding & Robotics is certainly the most impressive set I have seen from the Kids First line. By distilling core tech concepts into simple, bite-sized lessons, it teaches kids computational thinking. When something goes wrong in a program, the player must think like a programmer to diagnose the problem and figure out a solution. Solving the puzzles makes the player feel smart, and it’s fun to watch the robot move about the map. (It can even play music, which is a nice touch.)

As far as the curriculum content, it is about as robust as a grade-school computer science/robotics course could be. Players will learn foundational concepts of these disciplines, as well as their underlying logic. As such, this kit would be an excellent tool for an elementary classroom; students will surely have a blast building the models, programming them, and watching them go.

That being said, while I really enjoy this set, it has an issue that is hard to ignore—namely, the cardboard components are prone to severe warping. The cardboard is thin stock, and the tiles in my set had warped within hours of opening the box. Now, this could be a regional thing (I’m in Pennsylvania, where the humidity is moderate), but regardless, warped tiles make this set very difficult to use. If the tiles aren’t flat, they don’t stay connected very well, and this misalignment can interfere with the robot’s movements. I have seen the robot get stuck on the tabs that adjoin the tiles, and I have also seen tiles come apart mid-execution, which caused the robot to get confused and error out.

It’s frustrating when these things happen, and I constantly found myself wishing that the tiles had been sturdier cardboard. (For what it’s worth, I tried leaving a stack of heavy books on the tiles to flatten them out, and that helped somewhat, but even after a week, they were still bowed. I also tried bending them gently in the opposite direction, but doing so began to damage their finish, and I worried that that might affect the optical scanner’s functionality. At the end of the day, I got them flat enough that they were serviceable, and that was good enough for me.)

While this component issue is indeed disappointing, I nonetheless think that Kids First Coding & Robotics has a lot to offer. It feels like a hands-on version of Scratch programming, teaching youngsters how to think algorithmically. It is intellectually stimulating for a kid, and even as a grown-up, I have fun helping my daughter learn about programming and robotics. Even after all the lessons have been completed, there is still plenty of opportunity for free-play, so you can expect many hours of enjoyment from this box.

Bottom line, Kids First Coding & Robotics is an impressive and ambitious product, though it is weighed down by an unfortunate component issue. I do recommend it for budding programmers, however, as I think it does a great job of conveying complex topics in a digestible and fun manner. If your child is showing interest in engineering and/or robotics, this is definitely a good tool to nurture that interest.

A review copy was provided by Thames & Kosmos.