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Top 3 Coding Activities for Children

Top 3 Coding Activities for Children

by | Parenting Blogs

Coding activities are all the rage. They are just hard to find. These three toys have the best bang for your buck when providing young children with the opportunity for quality coding activities.

Coding has become the latest buzz word. We want our children to learn to code. We search for products that will make coding fun. Coding activities are hard to create. So, toys that teach coding are very popular.

These three toys provide quality, engaging and fun coding activities for kids.

 

Harry Potter Cano Coding Wand

Cano Harry Potter

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What does it do?

The first step is to create the wand. This is educational by itself. Follow the instructions to build your own magical wand. The entire process takes about five minutes to complete.

What child wouldn’t want to have a magical wand that can do cool stuff?

The next step is to connect it to your laptop, tablet or computer. It is LED and connects by pairing through Bluetooth.

The Cano Harry Potter app describes everything you need to do to get your wand up and running. The app is based on a map with challenges set in Hogswart, Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley.

Also, the app teaches you how to maneuver the wand to instantly create magic on the screen.

In addition, you are able to make feathers fly, fire sparkle, beans get bigger or smaller. The user can make items transform into something else completely.

These spells are created by coding activities that you can combine or change to complete challenges.

As the user completes challenges, they increase in difficulty. They are rewarded with clothes, accessories, and props that they can use to customize their avatars.

The app is very good at making each user feel successful and encouraged by their ability to program spells and create magic.

One great thing is that everything can be saved to impress friends and relatives.

Who doesn’t like to do that?

 

Cano Harry Potter Verdict

 

Pros

  • Great way to get interested in programming and coding activities
  • Easy to assemble
  • Impressive and fun for family and friends
  • Difficulty increases
  • Versatility
  • App is very helpful and informative

Cons

  • Graphics are pretty basic
  • Doesn’t work on older tablets and Ipads
  • Wand doesn’t make noise

The overall verdict on this product is 5 stars. It is very entertaining and worth the almost 100 dollar price tag. The creators fulfilled their mission of providing an educational and entertaining experience for children and their parents. This passes the age test. This passes the magic test.

 

Botley Coding Robot

 

What does it do? 

Botley the Coding Robot is the latest toy that breaks down a very complex skill into fun and entertaining pieces.

Here’s a little bit of information about your child’s new best friend. He will have your child learning code and impressing friends in a matter of minutes.

Botley the Coding Robot is a 77-piece activity set that comes with a remote programmer, detachable robot arms, 40 coding cards, 6 double-sided tiles, 27 obstacle building pieces and a starter guide with coding activities and challenges.

The one thing that sets Botley apart from other coding toys is that your child does not need to be hooked up to a computer or any other type of device to use this robot.

Botley has a very cute, child friendly voice that is very appealing and welcoming.

The Follow the Black Line feature is very engaging for younger children. Botley follows a thick black line on an included cardboard play space.

It is similar to a two sided puzzle that can be constructed and reassembled in various different ways.

.Botley helps students think critically because it does exactly what you program it to do. Instant feedback is given by the actions of the robot.

The cards have to be inputted into the remote in a particular sequence. Just pressing buttons just makes Botley noisy, and you don’t want that. 

Children have to revise or add on to their plan if they want Botley to do something differently. There is also “Secret code” that will enable Botley to do flips and raise his arms.

We give Botley a five star rating. He is great for the homeschool and regular classroom as well as an educational toy. It will provide instant motivation to learn to code and develop stem skills.

 

Botley the Coding Robot Verdict

 

Pros

  • Botley is simple to use for younger students
  • Provides enough challenge for older students
  • Develops divergent thinking
  • Instant feedback is given
  • Voice is cute and kids will love
  • App is very helpful and informative

Cons

  • Eats a lot of triple A batteries

Osmo Coding Jam Game

 

What does it do?

 

Osmo Coding Jam allows you to place blocks into patterns and sequences. Characters can be controlled by you and enabled to perform music.

Melodies and drum beats are easily created to compose a unique song. An Ipad is required to use this game.

Kids are naturally motivated by this product. They can create music and email it to anyone. It is and introduction to the world of coding.

Coding activities are woven into this product by following patterns that create specific melodies and sounds.  

Pros

  • Tutorials are very helpful to show kids how to operate
  • Easy for kids to understand and create music
  • Rewards are motivating
  • Versatile- Each character provides a different sound so many songs are easily created.
  • Kids like the characters
  • App is very helpful and informative

Cons

  • Plastic pieces are a little flimsy
  • Instructions should be within the app
  • Coding aspect is limited. Kids just follow patterns. They don’t have to respond to a problem.
  • Ipad and base is required

The overall verdict on this product is four stars. Kids will love it because they will have the opportunity to create and share music that they make. What kid wouldn’t be motivated by that?

Osmo Coding Jam Game  might be a little light in the teaching coding department, but it makes up for it in the creating music department. The coding activities are limited, but it is incredibly fun and motivating.

 

10 Funny Things That Kindergarten Students Say That Really Aren’t Funny

10 Funny Things That Kindergarten Students Say That Really Aren’t Funny

by | Humor, Teacher Issues, Teaching Blogs

Man, five year olds say funny things. Their innocence prevents them from knowing what they are really saying. The first thing that pops inside their brains is exactly what pops outside of their mouths.

Now, the comedy is sometimes lost on us because we are the teachers. We do have to maintain some semblance of order amongst the chaos in our kindergarten classrooms.

Sometimes, we turn around and walk away smiling. Most of the time, we hold it in until we can run to find another teacher who will be equally entertained.

Here are some of the funny things that have quite honestly made our day. (or, at times, ruined it)

Seasons for 1,000, Alex.

Amanda H from New York explains, “We were discussing what month and year it is during calendar time. For the first time during the school year, I thought to bring. “What season is it?” into the mix. One little boy, positive he has the correct answer, yells out, ‘Deer Season!’ Can you tell their family is a hunting family??”

Graph it!

When discussing different types of graphs, Maureen M. from Nevada explains that one type is called a bar graph. One student shoots up his hand, too enthusiastic to ignore. Ms. M. asks, “Yes, do you have something to say about the bar graph?”  The student replies, “My dad lovvvess the bar. He goes there all the time.”  I think Ms. M. joined him after work on that night.

A is for apple but B is for …………….?

“Butt, and my mom has a huge one,” exclaimed one of the more outspoken students in the classroom. This wasn’t something I wanted to notify the parents about on Class Dojo. Other funny words that kindergarten teachers have heard from their students while discussing beginning sounds of words:

f is for Facebook

P is for poop

W is for weed (you know, the kind you smoke.)

What exactly are you doing?

I am pretty sure this is one of those funny things that ruined my day. This was in the beginning of my teaching career. Little Tommy was drawing an imaginary line in the air with his pointer finger while looking at my face. I asked him what he was doing and he said, “I am connecting the dots.” I guess my Clearasil wasn’t doing the trick at that time.

Look at my sticker.

Susie K. from Ohio said she had one student who was extremely happy and enthusiastic one morning. He walked in proudly announcing that he had a new sticker from home. On further examination, Ms. K. noticed that it was in fact a maxi pad that he was sporting like a badge of honor.

Jimmy has a nickel.

Ann E. from Texas related this experience, “I had a little boy playing with a Barbie sort of thing. You lay pieces of fabric over the body and close the frame and it looks like their clothes. He was playing with another little girl and said he needed something to cover her big elbows. The little girl politely told him that they weren’t elbows, they were nipples. He didn’t miss a beat and responded with, ‘Ok, I need something for her nickels.’ I didn’t say a word; too busy trying not to laugh.”

Can you repeat the question, please?

Katherine Walker from Georgia tells this story about one very literal kindergarten student. “Yesterday, I was reviewing letter sounds with a group. I asked one of the girls if she could tell me what sound letter B makes. ‘Whisper,’ she told me. Trying to keep a straight face, I re-explained to her that each letter has its own special sound. I asked what sound letter C makes? ‘Shout.’ she answered. After she told me that letter D makes the scream sound, I gave up completely.”funny things kindergartners say

Open House equals Open Bar???

A fellow teacher friend Lori M. chatted with one of her sweet students who lived with her grandparents. She asked her if her family was coming to Open House. With a serious face the tiny child responded, “Papa said he is only coming if they are serving beer.” Guess Grandad was a no show at that one.

Hide the “old” photos.

Sally H, teaches in Oklahoma. She had a picture of her family on her desk. It was taken about 10 years previous. Ms. H notices one boy milling around her desk staring intently at her picture. Finally, he asks seriously, “Why are you so old now?” Not the best way to start the day.

Britches keep us in stitches.

We all have that one bold student who acts like they are 21. Kimberly P. recalls her story about one such child.

Ms. P: Somebody has on their sassy britches right now. Can you think of a kinder way to say that?
Student with attitude: Did you just call me a britch?

You can’t make this stuff up. It happens every day.

Related Content:

First Day Of Kindergarten Suggestions

 

 

 

Literacy Skills Fall Bundle Review for Kindergarteners

Literacy Skills Fall Bundle Review for Kindergarteners

by | Product Reviews

This is an enormous literacy skills bundle that does a great job of reinforcing major kindergarten skills. For example, each component correlates to several standards that are conveniently displayed.

Boat of Syllables

First is the syllable unit. Teaching kindergartners the concept of identifying syllables is difficult. Usually, students want to stretch out the word by individual sounds instead of chunks of a word. Consequently, they need lots of practice with clapping, songs and fun identification games.

Understanding syllabication helps students with literacy skills. In the Boats of Syllables activity, there are over 20 colorful pictures that turkeys are holding. Additionally, students need to match the number of syllables in each word to the boat that has 1, 2, 3 and 4 on them.

Materials are in color and in black and white. Also, there are cut and paste and color the syllables worksheets at the end with the same pictures from the matching activities. Consequently, I love this syllables unit as it has plenty of opportunities for reinforcement and mastery.

Rhyming Word Identification

The next unit in this bundle is the identification of rhyming words. I am not sure if parents are reading nursery rhymes to their children anymore. As a result, this is now a skill that kindergarten students have a difficult time with.

In addition, this unit has students matching leaf cards to a corresponding tree that belongs to the same word family. Leaf cards have only the pictures on one set. Another set has the pictures with the written word. 5 recording worksheets are included in the set.

Conveniently, this can be used to record answers while doing the matching activities or later for reinforcement. Rhyming helps build phonemic literacy skills.     literacy skills

Medial Sounds

Pumpkin in the middle is a unit that helps students practice the literacy skills of identifying medial sounds. Students usually have an easy time with initial sounds in words followed by ending sounds.

In contrast, middle sounds are the toughest for kindergarten students to hear. This set has colorful and black and white pictures. One set has the word written with the middle letter left blank. The pictures are placed appropriately on wagons. Also, there are pumpkins with the vowel sound that need to be placed in the middle.

Another set of cards has just the pictures with no letters. Students need to match the appropriate vowel sounds to the card. There are recording sheets for both sets. Moreover, I laminated the cards and had the students write in the middle letters on the actual card.

For the picture cards, I line all of the pictures up in numbered order on my white board tray. This makes it easier for students to write down the words on their recording sheets in order.

As a result, students were able to write down the words easier.

Sentence Scramble

Sentence scramble is a great way for students to practice the literacy skills of sentence order and language conventions. Each sentence has about four or five words. Also, each word has a number on the card to indicate the sentence it belongs to.

As a result, it helps to keep the pieces together. There are recording sheets for the sentences. One variation of this activity to differentiate instruction is to write the sentence on sentence strips and place in a pocket chart. Students can match the words on their cards to the words on the pocket chart.

Words For Dinner

Words for dinner teaches initial and final sound identification. This set has colorful and black and white pictures. Additionally, this set has the word written with the initial and final sounds left blank.

The pictures are placed appropriately on plates. Forks with the consonant sounds need to be placed in the beginning and end.

Turkey Sight Words and Letter Match

Finally, turkey sight words is a fun way for students to learn to spell and read sight words.

Frequently used  words are written on turkeys. Students make the words with feathers and adorn the cute bird bodies. As a result, this word work center enhances so many literacy skills.

Letter match is also included in this fantastic bundle of early literacy skills. Students match uppercase letters to the lower case letters.

This fall bundle was a huge success in my kindergarten classroom It is very valuable in keeping students actively engaged while learning basic literacy skills that improve learning.

Each skill is correlated to several common core objectives. We highly recommend ItsKinderTime

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Botley the Coding Robot

Why I Love this 3d Shapes Center (and you will too)

Why I Love this 3d Shapes Center (and you will too)

by | Product Reviews, Teaching Blogs

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3d Shapes is a standard that is taught and mastered in kindergarten. As teachers, we do not want to make everything ourselves At least, this teacher doesn’t.

There are many resources on TPT that provide activities for 3D shapes. Sometimes, these activities look great on paper.

Unfortunately, they don’t always translate into engaged learning. So, I am constantly on the lookout for centers that will teach these skills, but most importantly, keep my students busy for more than sixty seconds.

What does Dive into 3D Shapes contain?

  • There are 15 double-sided activity cards that illustrate beautifully how to create 30 different shape creations.
  • The cards start with simple 2D shapes such as triangle, square and rectangle. Then, they move up to more difficult 3d shape challenges. Students copy each card.
  • There are 3 different sized straight sticks in three different colors. 60 sticks make up the entire set.
  • 2 different colored connector balls. These balls have holes that the sticks connect to. The holes are at different angles allowing for the creation of 2d and 3d shapes.
  • There are 20 bendable curved pieces that enable spheres, circle and cylinders to be constructed.

Dive Into 2d and 3d Shapes Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Cards are easy for students to copy and follow the directions.
  • 2d and 3d shapes can be created.
  • This product does a great job of teaching shapes through hands on learning,
  • Children can develop creativity and make other objects.
  • Keeps children completely engaged.
  • This would be appropriate for students aged 4 and up.
  • Differentiation is easy as students can create 2d or more challenging 3d shapes.
  • High durability of pieces made of heavy duty plastic.

Cons

  • Students have some problems inserting the sticks into the correct angled connectors.
  • Connections can be a little loose
  • Not enough pieces for many children to use at one time.

3d shapes

Why I love this center

 If you teach kindergarten, I know you understand why engagement is one of the top characteristics we look for in a product.

Do you want your students rolling around the floor or cutting each other’s hair? Probably not the best usage of time.

I have used this center at least 10 times this year. If I am having a rough day and want my students engaged, I pull out the Dive into Shapes Center.

If it’s a day before a holiday, a windy day or Snack Shack Day, out comes the shape center. Do the students complain and say, “Again???” No, they love it as much as I do.

Do they learn every time they use this product? 100 percent, Yes!!!! 2d and 3d shapes are important standards.

This product reinforces these concepts in a fun and hands on way. Students learn the best when they are actually doing and creating.

90 percent of my class knows what each shape is because they make them regularly.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, I am going to buy another one of these. The main downside of this product is that there are not enough pieces for five students to work on their shapes at the same time.

My students make their shapes with different colored pieces from what is on their cards. It works for them, and they don’t complain.

I would like for them to be able to have enough pieces to follow the cards exactly.

The price of this product seems to be right on for the value. I can honestly say that Dive into Shapes is my go to center for teaching 3d shapes.

 

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Cano Harry Potter Coding Wand Review

Cano Harry Potter Coding Wand Review

by | Parenting Blogs, Product Reviews

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Is the Cano Harry Potter Coding Wand the hottest educational product on the market? It well may be. Most every parent wants to find the perfect educational toy. One that will set their child’s heart ablaze with the desire to learn. Coding has become the latest buzz word. We want our children to learn to code. We search for products that will make coding fun. I think Cano Harry Potter may be it.

Easy Assembly

The first step is to create the wand. This is educational by itself. Follow the instructions to build your own magical wand. The entire process takes about five minutes to complete. What child wouldn’t want to have a magical wand that can do cool stuff?

The next step is to connect it to your laptop, tablet or computer. It is LED and connects by pairing through Bluetooth. The Cano Harry Potter app describes everything you need to do to get your wand up and running. The app is based on a map with challenges set in Hogswart, Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley.

What does it do?

The app teaches you how to maneuver the wand to instantly create magic on the screen.

You are able to make feathers fly, fire sparkle, beans get bigger or smaller. The user can make items transform into something else completely.

These spells are created by code that you can combine or change to complete challenges. As the user completes challenges, they increase in difficulty.

They are rewarded with clothes, accessories, and props that they can use to customize their avatars. The app is very good at making each user feel successful and encouraged by their ability to program spells and create magic.

One great thing is that everything can be saved to impress friends and relatives. Who doesn’t like to do that?

Cano Harry Potter Verdict

Pros

  • Great way to get interested in programming and coding
  • Easy to assemble
  • Impressive and fun for family and friends
  • Difficulty increases
  • Versatility
  • App is very helpful and informative

 

Cons

  • Graphics are pretty basic
  • Doesn’t work on older tablets and Ipads
  • Wand doesn’t make noise

The overall verdict on this product is 5 stars. It is very entertaining and worth the almost 100 dollar price tag. The creators fulfilled their mission of providing an educational and entertaining experience for children and their parents. This passes the age test. This passes the magic test.

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