Sphero: Encouraging Creativity and Coding for Kids

Sphero: Encouraging Creativity and Coding for Kids

Posted on November 06, 2018 by Lubica Misevski

 

Sphero Robotic Ball | KidzInc Australia | Online Educational Toy Shop

For toys that encourage an interest in STEM skills, the Sphero products are a perfect fit. All of the Sphero products feature a programmable robotic ball, which teaches children the fundamentals of coding and its real-world applications. Children learn how to program the ball through the use of an educational app on a laptop, iOS or Android device and watch as the results of their programming lead to the ball being able to be controlled and respond to their commands.

We offer a variety of Sphero products at KidzInc, and if you are interested in encouraging your child's creativity while they develop valuable cognitive skills, then read on to learn which Sphero product may be right for you!

Benefits of Learning to Code

According to Edutopia, there are many benefits to teaching young children how to code. In particular, children who learn how to code gain broadly applicable STEM skills, such as:

●  Problem-solving skills
●  Analytical thinking
●  Paying attention to detail
●  Exercising creative and innovative thinking
 

In particular, children gain important problem-solving skills by thinking about what result they want to accomplish and designing a solution to that problem. This allows them to apply knowledge and skills in new ways, and they can use to guide the Sphero robot through a maze or to work with other toys and blocks to simulate machine-like contraptions, such as powering a toy car made by the child. They also learn how to think analytically when they have to adjust and tweak their solution based on their result. Maybe their first set of coded instructions didn't work, so now they modify the instructions, taking out ones that didn't work and adding ones, to achieve the intended result. This type of experimentation and evaluation is prevalent in STEM but can be applied to a wide variety of contexts!

Sphero Products for the Home 

We feature three Sphero products that are perfect for parents looking to encourage the development of important cognitive STEM skills and creativity.

Sphero Mini

The Sphero Mini is about the size of a ping-pong ball, making it wonderfully compact. It comes in a variety of colours and has unique features when programming it to follow directions: using the app, it can follow directions based on silly facial expressions or even screaming! It offers the least amount of coding but could be a perfect introduction to a child who might be resistant to "educational" toys.

    Sphero Robotic Ball Mini | Kidzinc Australia | Online Educational Shop

    Sphero SPRK+ Edition

    The Sphero SPRK+ Edition features more classic lessons in coding but keeps it fun by showing kids how to guide the robotic ball through a maze or to power toy machines. It also encourages children's creativity by allowing them to create their own challenges and designs, allowing them to take their skills to the next level.
     
    Sphero Sprk+ | KidzInc Australia | Online Educational Toys

     

    Sphero Bolt

    The Sphero BOLT is the most advanced Sphero robotic ball. It features a programmable LED matrix that can display shapes and even emoticons, a longer battery life for extended play, and multiple ways to learn to code, including drawing, Scratch blocks, or JavaScript!

       Sphero Bolt | KidzInc Australia | Online Educational Toys

      Sphero Products for the Classroom

      The Sphero products aren't limited to at-home use. We offer Power Packs for the Sphero SPRK+ Edition and the Sphero BOLT. If you are interested in teaching children valuable skills in a classroom or as part of a club or community organization, then these Power Packs are perfect. Each comes with multiple robots so several children can use them at once.

      The Sphero SPRK+ Edition Power Pack contains 12 SPRK+Edition robots, and the Sphero BOLT Power Pack contains 15 BOLT robots.

      Sphero Bolt Power Pack for Classroom | KidzInc Australia | Online Educational Toys

      When used in the classroom, both Sphero SPRK+ Edition Power Pack and Sphero BOLT Power Pack can encourage teamwork skills, as students have to work together to complete a challenge using the Sphero Robot. In the STEM disciplines, people are often collaborating across departments and combining the strengths of different fields to yield a new, innovative solution. By fostering children's ability to work in teams to solve problems, and encouraging the development of other important skills such as problem-solving and analytical thinking, we can prepare our children for what the future holds.

      We hope you'll consider adding one of the Sphero products to your home or classroom today!


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