Educational Toys to Introduce Your Child to Technology
Mylittlegeek.com shares new products every week that introduce children to tech, programming, and engineering. They’ve listed their four favorites, including Primo, a physical programming board for kids, and our very own Ladyada’s E is for Electronics Coloring Book:
Program a Robot Using Wooden Blocks: There are a lot of good remote-controlled toys and programable robots around, but most require a computer or iPad to enter the instructions. What I love about Primo is that it’s a physical programming board into which you place wooden pegs to give the robot it’s instructions. This makes a world of difference for young kids learning the basic concepts of programming. This is for kids aged 4-7 and does not even require literacy.
Electronics-themed Colouring Books: Ladyada’s E is for Electronics is a coloring book adventure with electronic components and their inventors. Makers of all ages can learn, color, and share common parts and historical figures throughout history.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: MicroPython Pico W Bluetooth, CircuitPython 8.0.4 and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
