Alicia Heidke
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!Ver másVer menos
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