My KIBO journey began last year at UCET 2018. As a preschool teacher I am often frustrated that products seem to focus on kindergarten and older grades, so I will admit I went into the presentation a bit skeptical thinking that I would most likely find a product that would be almost good for preschool but still not friendly for all preschool children to use. I a: happy to say I was proven wrong. KIBO is so easy to use that anyone of any age can pick it up and be programming it at basic levels in less than 2 minutes. Sounds to good to be true doesn’t it.
Let me highlight some key points of KIBO that makes it the prefect robot for early childhood educators to have in their room.
1: They are nearly indestructible. Kids drop them, bump them, accidentally kick them chasing them across the room. No problem KIBO has been made to handle the treatment that excited kids give it.
2: KIBO shows kids how kids work. Its clear shell on the underside allows children to see what robots are made of. It is not magic, it is circuits, wires, motors, speakers and lights that run the robot. All children have to do is turn it over and they can see where they ‘magic’ comes from
3: Coding KIBO is as simple as scanning a bar code. Each unique block has 3 parts a picture symbol of what it tells KIBO to do (yup no reading required), words to tell what each symbol means (for those who can read) and a bar code to be scanned (just like your favorite self check line at the store)
4: KIBO’s blocks are also color coded. Green for go, red for stop, blue for movement, yellow for lights, orange for sensor blocks, grey for parameter block.
5: Beginning programmers can start with the basic blocks and as they learn they can progress to using blocks that introduce parameters to the program.
6: KIBO has many accessories that allow for it to be decorated and built upon to transform it from a robot into whatever you need it to be.
7: KIBO makes kids think, (so long as the adults sit back and let it happen) kids want to be in control and they want to make things happen. KIBO gives them what they want and best of all if their first try does not work it is easy to try again.
Those are just 7 reasons why KIBO is fabulous. If you want more information go to http://kinderlabrobotics.com/ and read about the research they have done to design these robots to be child friendly while still being highly educational.
