I was so intrigued by Rox's Secret Code (affiliate link), a cool new interactive picture book, that I wanted to tell you about it even before I passed it along to one of my young reviewers. The interactive piece will launch in early November, but you can get a peek at it in the video below. The book has an entire team behind it. It's the brainchild of Mara Lecocq, was written by Nathan Archambault, illustrated by Jessika Von Innerebner, and ... [ Read More ]
Coding + Creativity: A Review of the Kano Pixel Kit
Introducing the Kano Pixel Kit. It's a smart, high-tech version of your childhood Lite Brite that teaches your kid to code and doesn't leave a mess of sharp plastic pieces behind. Which is to say it's really cool. This post contains affiliate links. The Kano team sent me a kit for review and it's one of my favorite STEM toys of the year so far. In addition to coding animations and interactive art that responds to sound or movement, Kano's ... [ Read More ]
Eye on the Prize: A DIY Learn-to-Code Game with Post-it Products
Last week I mentioned that I had a STEM project in the works with the Post-it® Brand. Today I get to introduce it to you! Behold Eye on the Prize, an analog computer programming game. In addition to introducing kids to programming logic, it’s a good introduction to pair programming because you need two people to play. In pair programming, two programmers work together at a single computer. One writes the code while the other reviews each line ... [ Read More ]
Helping Young Kids Code: Scratch Day Resources
Scratch Day Chicago was a huge success! Hats off to Brian Myers for organizing the day, West Ridge School for hosting and Google Chicago for feeding hundreds of hungry tweens and teens. There was a big crowd! Kids of all ages (and their parents) had opportunities to learn Scratch as well as build their skills and even show off a project or two. As the event tag line promised, it was indeed a day of meeting, sharing and learning. I was part ... [ Read More ]
Coding for Kids: A Book to Get Them (or You) Started
One of my personal STEM goals for the year is to learn to code, so I'm delighted to have review copies of two books that teach computer programming to kids and can help me reach my goal: Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming by Jason Briggs and Super Scratch Programming Adventure! Learn to Program by Making Cool Games (affiliate links) both titles from No Starch Press. Sadly, though, we're three months into the year and sadly, ... [ Read More ]