Kid-friendly Coding with Bee Bot & Colby Mouse

Kid-friendly Coding

with

Bee Bot & Colby Mouse

Christopher Masullo Ed.D.

Well, we’ve got the Lego Mindstorms for the middle-schoolers and the Vex IQ for the high school robotic competitors, but what about our young learners just starting out on their S.T.E.M. journeys?

Enter Bee Bot and his pal Colby the code-and-go robot mouse. The take just a few minutes to learn how to use but offer hours of entertaining educational possibilities.

Bee Bot and Colby are easy-to-use rechargeable robots designed especially for students in kindergarten to grade two. Their sturdy builds, bright colors and large buttons make them inviting tools for teaching young learners how to code, sequence, and problem solve without the use of a screen.

Kids can record directions for Bee Bot and Colby to follow by pressing the arrows and even pre-record a message for them to recite and specific times. These bots can receive and execute up to 40 commands at a time including motions, beeps, lights, and sounds.

The teaching accessories include a coding tip sheet, cards, matt, and obstacles for the bots to traverse.

Students will develop critical thinking skills as they learn to not only follow directions but give directions for the bots to follow.

Teachers can use these kits to reinforce a variety of subjects. For example, the bots could be used to travel a map to show the egress during a fire drill or to tell a story by following a timeline. Students can learn to code their way out of a maze or reach a goal. Possible activities are endless, and the bots can be tied to just about any curriculum especially if the teacher is willing to make custom maps.

Sure, you can learn your shapes, colors, and coins with these bots, but that is just the beginning. Here are some quick and easy lesson ideas…

Literacy – Have the bots travel a map to identify letters or vocabulary words.

Math - Code the bots to travel a number line for basic visual addition and subtraction.

Social Studies - Let the bots move on a timeline for some events in the child’s day.

Science – Setup the bot to navigate a plant or animal lifecycle.

Art - Attach a marker the bot and have it sketch words or pictures on paper

Multiple bots can be used simultaneously to make fun competitions out of the lessons to see who can reach the goal first. Use Bee Bot and Colby to play a classic game like Chutes and Ladders. Synchronize the bots to perform a “dance” to music”. Expand your students’ coding abilities by having one bot mirror the movements of another. 

Teachers might want to introduce Bee Bot and Colby by having students mimic the directions the bots will have to follow on the classroom floor by moving a set number of tiles and then making the appropriate turns even before using the actual bots. This way students can apply their own kinesthetics to the tasks the bots will ultimately accomplish.

A teacher can see how these programming skills can be extrapolated over time and applied to more advanced coding languages. Instead of lines of code, the bots work off a sequence and series of push-button directions. As students graduate from these bots, they will be more than ready to take on more advanced techniques on block coding on an actual computer. When it comes time to enter the upper grades and work with Mindstorms and Vex (or whatever else is available by that time) these learners will make an easy transition.

Students can see the results of their program immediately. If there is an error and the bot does not reach its destination, simply clear the code with the push of a button and try again. This is how students learn to “debug” and an early age.

Websites like YouTube, Seesaw, and Teachers Pay Teachers offer Bee Bot and Mouse lesson ideas. Be sure to record some of your original lesson ideas and share them with these online teacher communities.

These bots are affordable for the S.T.E.M. programs on a budget. Online applications and emulators exist for learning to program without the bot. Teachers can even consider becoming members of the Civil Air Patrol (www.gocivilairpatrol.comand) and subscribe for a set of free Bee Bot and Code and Go Mouse kits.