Kid Coders

With today’s STEM and STEAM requirements, finding fun activities that both engage students, yet don’t take a ton of prep work to pull off can be tricky.  Luckily, UBTech Education contacted me to check out their UBKits for building robots that students actually code!

Of course, my 11-year-old was more than eager to test it out for himself.

You get a huge kit of supplies in a super nice carrying case!  Which is perfect for keeping all the pieces together.

It comes with everything you would need, including the batteries ready to go an everything!

Next, simply download their app on a mobile device (free and no registration required).

Pick the kit you have and then students can pick the project they wish to complete.

The app is super easy and shows students exactly how to build their chosen project.

Here is the first piece of the Castle build.

On the app, it shows how many steps it takes to build to completion and what parts are needed for each step.  The 3-D model on the screen is able to be rotated and moved with a swipe of a finger.  Very nice for those students who need to work on spatial skills.

He is a building maniac.

Almost done…

I love how simple it is for any student to pick it up and run with it.  Very little supervision would be needed even if you had several small groups working at once.

And the final robot!  It’s a castle that has motors and moveable parts.

All in all, it took him about 45 minutes to complete his first robot on his own without my direct help.

The final step is coding the robot to do lots of different things, such as move, make noise, or lots of different options.

My little man had a blast building his robot – and then coding it as well.

I love how each kit has various step by step instructions for building a specific robot, but that it’s still open-ended enough for advanced students to create what they want should they wish to think outside the box.

And then coding also allows for anything that students wish to make the robot do using the simply drop and drag coding app.

This kit is perfect for a robotics club, STEM lessons, or as a classroom reward.

If you have any extra budget money or like to post Donor’s Choose projects, I highly recommend checking out the kits from UBTech Education!

What are your favorite STEM resources?  I’d love to hear in a comment below!

~Charity