I guess STEM toys are a bit of a trend around here this year.  My kids — Sophia, especially — have gotten pretty excited about having an opportunity to “make things work.”  This Code & Go Robot Mouse from Learning Resources is pretty fun to play with, and it’s nice in that all but the very youngest children can use it.

What’s in the Box?

This set comes with the programmable mouse (takes 3 AAA batteries, not included — you’ll need a tiny Phillips-head screwdriver to install them), a block of “cheese,” the parts for building mazes, some large cards with maze ideas, a set of small cards for putting a sequence of coding instructions together, and the printed directions.

What You Do

The idea behind this toy is to build a maze and program the mouse to run it.  So you build a maze first — with or without input from the included cards, and place the cheese.  Then, if you need them, you use the smaller cards to lay out, in order, the steps you need to program the mouse to take.  (My children prefer not to use these.)  Then program the mouse, set him in place, and press the “go” button.  Repeat as often as you like.

Our Experience

Sophia saw the box when this came, and before I had the chance to even offer for them to play it, she was eagerly asking.  She and her two younger siblings have both been having a blast with it in the days since it arrived.  (They’re 9, 5, and 3.)

The first time it’s used, the Code & Go Robot Mouse (the “cheese mouse,” as Caleb calls it) does require assistance from a reader.  Someone will need to be able to read the directions, because a couple details of programming the mouse aren’t necessarily intuitive.  (They aren’t difficult, just not obvious — like what to push to clear the existing programming so you can start over.)  After that, though, I love that there is no reading required; everything is pictorial.

It says it’s for ages 5 and up, but my 3-year-old can program the mouse without help now that he’s done it with his older sisters a few times.  (They’ve developed a technique of holding the mouse above the track and moving him along it as they program.)

The only thing that seems to be particularly tricky is that it takes a little trial and error to figure out how far he moves in a single forward motion, to know how many times to tell him to move forward before turning.  None of them found it frustrating, though; they just tried again a few times until they had it right.  (Bug testing!)

The mouse has two speeds — a higher speed for floor use and a slower one for use on tabletops so you don’t accidentally send him flying off the table.  And when he reaches the end of the maze, he magnetically “nibbles” the cheese, which is fun for the little ones to watch.

#learningresources #parentingwin