Ozobot

We were given a sample product to try through tryazon and absolutely fell in love with the product. The Ozobot is small but packed with personality. Using basic coding and drawing skills our toddler and nephews were able to make the ozobot go fast, slow, turn corners, and much more. The little bot was able to detect color and changed its light depending on what it read in the coding, our youngest was fascinated and loved to move the bot between the different pre-drawn activities included in the starter pack. It would be a great way to introduce basic language skills to kids in this age group. We talked about colors and speeds with a great visual display. Its rated for 3 years and up because of a choking hazard, however, with close supervision, it would be okay for a 2+ child. My nephew is a bit older and took to drawing maps for the ozobot to follow with color programming for where to turn or what to do. we got a lot of complaints when it was time to put the little guy away. I think this is an awesome hands on toy for kids ages 2.5-14 with it being especially beneficial as a learning tool for ages 8-12. It may be a bit too basic for kids over fourteen, however. It is a great tool for introducing STEM concepts and leading to more complicated programming and or engineering. My husband is an electrical engineer, and he was fairly impressed by a bot that can bring these concepts to young children. His only caveat was that he didn't like the layout of the circuit board which can clearly be seen through the top of the bot. He said it wasn't an efficient use of design space. I would argue it was laid out for aesthetics.

The kit includes everything you would need to get started, but it is so much more fun when you can get two ozobots in on the action together. The starter kit comes with markers, stickers, activity cards, and even fun costumes to personalize the ozobot and get the creative along with the technical juices flowing. I think this is a great toy to get kids creatively thinking and problem solving and away from the television and video games. For those interested in purchasing an Ozobot here is a smoking deal:http://get.ozobot.com/tryazon/