Playing outside is an essential part of a child's development. From making mud kitchens, to getting to know nature, learning and playing outside will help little learners form key developmental skills such as physical health & self-confidence!
Name of tester: Kerri HibberdTitle: Class TeacherSchool name: Woodside AcademyAge range of children: Year 1, age 5-7
How important is programming in the primary classroom?
Due to today’s digital society it is very important that children get to grips with programming at a young age.
How did you use the product?
While most of the children were on computers working on moving a robot I used this resource with one group at a time on the carpet. At first I asked the children what they thought we were going to be doing with the resource and after sharing ideas I told them that we were going to be making a maze. I explained that we had to collect and bring back the robot but we had to use the coding cards to give instructions. The children then explored making simple mazes and we worked as a group to create the code. Next we tested to see if our code worked with one person walking on the maze tiles.Let’s Go Code!™ Activity Set
What are the benefits of the resource?
I liked that this resource was practical. This enabled the children to walk a set of instructions that had been made by the group and helped the children amend the code as they walked it themselves. For example, the children had planned a right turn when in fact they needed to turn left and they only noticed this mistake when a peer walked the code. After some discussion about why our code didn’t work the children were able to come up with the resolution themselves. Â
What did you like/dislike about the resource?
I like how practical this resource is and how it can be used in different ways like cooperative play and team play with the added benefit of adding objects like blocked path. Â
Did the children enjoy using the product?
Yes and they are looking forward to using it again independently. Â
How would you rate the long term appeal of the resource?
Coding is now very important so I think this resource will have long term use appeal. I can also see it being used with reception and year 2 children in different ways. Â
Do you currently have any similar products within your setting? Please provide details.
We have programmable robots and a matching computer programme but no resources like this. Â
How cost effective do you feel the resource is in terms of the results it delivers?
A good affordable resource for £30. Â
Is the product unique?
I haven’t seen any products like this on the market.
How important is programming in the primary classroom?
Due to today’s digital society it is very important that children get to grips with programming at a young age.
How did you use the product?
While most of the children were on computers working on moving a robot I used this resource with one group at a time on the carpet. At first I asked the children what they thought we were going to be doing with the resource and after sharing ideas I told them that we were going to be making a maze. I explained that we had to collect and bring back the robot but we had to use the coding cards to give instructions. The children then explored making simple mazes and we worked as a group to create the code. Next we tested to see if our code worked with one person walking on the maze tiles.Let’s Go Code!™ Activity Set
What are the benefits of the resource?
I liked that this resource was practical. This enabled the children to walk a set of instructions that had been made by the group and helped the children amend the code as they walked it themselves. For example, the children had planned a right turn when in fact they needed to turn left and they only noticed this mistake when a peer walked the code. After some discussion about why our code didn’t work the children were able to come up with the resolution themselves. Â
What did you like/dislike about the resource?
I like how practical this resource is and how it can be used in different ways like cooperative play and team play with the added benefit of adding objects like blocked path. Â
Did the children enjoy using the product?
Yes and they are looking forward to using it again independently. Â
How would you rate the long term appeal of the resource?
Coding is now very important so I think this resource will have long term use appeal. I can also see it being used with reception and year 2 children in different ways. Â
Do you currently have any similar products within your setting? Please provide details.
We have programmable robots and a matching computer programme but no resources like this. Â
How cost effective do you feel the resource is in terms of the results it delivers?
A good affordable resource for £30. Â
Is the product unique?
I haven’t seen any products like this on the market.
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In March 2015, our school (Parkfield Community School), which is located in one of the most deprived wards in both Birmingham and England, was honoured (and more than a little shocked) to win the National Pupil Premium Award for 2015. This award was presented to our school due to the attainment of our pupil premium (disadvantaged) children and the innovative approaches we adopted – using our pupil premium funding - to help all of our children to fully achieve their potential.With this prestigious award also came a substantial amount of extra funding. This money could have easily been allocated to lots of small scale projects/resources, but we wanted to do something really special with it that would create a long-lasting, inspiring legacy for each and every child at our school both now and for those that will join us in the future. As an outward-facing, innovative school, and after much discussion within the leadership team, we came up with the idea of creating Parkfield’s Young Engineers’ Academy (YEA) where children could specifically work on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) projects in a vibrant, dedicated space and have a wealth of resources which do this. This we believed would be quite unique for a primary school, and would inspire our children, our staff and the wider community, as well as providing the children with some of the skills that led to Birmingham’s proud history of innovation and manufacturing and which are still very much in demand today with key employers, such as BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover in our city. Each half term, our children visit our YEA for a full day. Here the children tackle a bespoke scenario, that provides the children with an opportunity to explore the links between and develop skills within the STEM subjects (in particular engineering, which is unfortunately given a low priority within many primary schools), in practical, real-life and fun contexts. Our key aim with the YEA is to inspire and excite our children and to infuse them with a sense of awe and wonder about education generally, but specifically within the STEM subjects, so that hopefully more of them will have the passion and drive to continue pursuing these subjects further beyond their time at Parkfield. The YEA provides experiences which the children would probably not get at home. It also develops those skills which will be crucial for both their education and for the workplaces of the future, such as: creativity, ingenuity, risk-taking, resilience and teamwork.In the past, we have found that many of our children have demonstrated low aspirations when they start thinking about their options for the future. Unfortunately, this often occurs due to cultural factors present in our community context, particularly amongst our girls. In addition, national evidence shows that many girls become disinterested with the STEM subjects at secondary school. This is something that we proactively try to address. One way that we do this is through the use of our Young Engineers Academy, by trying to capture the children’s interest in these areas from an early age. We also promote positive role models for all of our children to aspire towards, using pioneers from the present and from throughout history.As somebody with a real passion in these areas, I found myself designing the curriculum for the YEA. Although I had quite a few ideas, I quickly found myself turning to every teachers’ best friend - the internet - for inspiration. To my surprise, although there are lots of websites out there with possible ideas for lessons, I struggled to find a commercial company that produced quality resources with suitable lesson ideas that we could use. That was when I stumbled upon Primary STEM in Action.After browsing their selection of resources, the Earthquake Technologies Challenge Project immediately caught my attention (having always been fascinated by earthquakes myself) and I ordered a set to take a closer look at, which promptly arrived in school a few days later. The first thing that caught my attention were the wealth of teacher’s lesson plans that were provided within the teacher’s guide and children’s resource sheets. Although I’ve never been somebody who follows commercial lesson plans to the letter, these provided me with the inspiration I had searched for and with a few tweaks to the lesson plans/resources here and there, I could immediately see the potential of how this pack could be used with primary aged children to tackle various aspects of the STEM subjects, in an engaging way, within the context of looking at structures and earthquakes. I quickly found myself ordering multiple sets of this to use with a full class.For our children, they found using the K’Nex type materials to initially construct any structures quite challenging. This was because this was a completely new and alien construction material to our children. However, after some initial experimentation (which after all is what STEM is really about) the children’s confidence quickly began to grow and they began assembling all sorts of constructions, which were tested using the ‘dreaded’ Wobbletop Shake Table.During the full day that each class used these materials for, the children learnt about: the science of earthquakes; problems encountered by engineers (including monetary constraints – through being limited on the resources the children could afford to use); number computational skills; the construction of 3D shapes; problem solving; working as a team and much, much more. These were all skills were identified by the children when we evaluated the day. For me though, the richness of the discussion that could be heard as the children used these resources, the thought processes that were travelled (particularly when constructions were not as successful as hoped) and the engagement of the children throughout were fantastic.After the success of this project, we also purchased the STEM in Action Wild Feet Exploration Project, which we felt linked perfectly with a Year 2 topic concerning animals. This again, with the occasional tweak to personalise this to our school/topic, was equally as successful and popular with our children.The need for our YEA and for all schools to generally provide a higher priority to the STEM subjects is very clear. Although nearly all of the valuable skills developed by children through engaging in STEM sessions and through studying the STEM subjects are transferable (and are the kind of skills all employers are searching for), engineering is still key to the UK economy, especially in the post Brexit era we are about to enter. For example, “in 2014, the engineering sector contributed an estimated £455.6 billion (27.1% of the UK’s GDP). It is estimated that engineering employers have the potential to generate an additional £27 billion per year from 2022, if we meet the forecasted demand for 257,000 new vacancies in engineering enterprises inthe same timescale.â€
“Failing to meet our engineering workforce requirements will not only damage the UK economically, but it will also have a detrimental effect on individual employees’ prosperity and the economic sustainability of engineering employers. What’s more, failure will impact on engineering’s role in providing a lasting legacy for future generations through ensuring the supply of food, clean water and energy – a tough challenge against a backdrop of climate change and ageingpopulations. The single biggest threat to success lies with education: to meet demand, we need enough young people to study STEM subjects at schools and colleges.â€
Engineering UK 2015 – The state of engineering Through our current and future planned work with our YEA and through other school’s giving the STEM subjects a higher profile (particularly in primary schools), hopefully we can inspire and equip our children with the vital skills they will need to succeed in the future, thus ensuring that our future workforce and country continues to lead the world in creativity and innovation.#LoveLearning Discover STEM in Action™ at BETT – it’s free to attend! Find us on stand B78, Hall N3.www.steminaction.co.uk
In March 2015, our school (Parkfield Community School), which is located in one of the most deprived wards in both Birmingham and England, was honoured (and more than a little shocked) to win the National Pupil Premium Award for 2015. This award was presented to our school due to the attainment of our pupil premium (disadvantaged) children and the innovative approaches we adopted – using our pupil premium funding - to help all of our children to fully achieve their potential.With this prestigious award also came a substantial amount of extra funding. This money could have easily been allocated to lots of small scale projects/resources, but we wanted to do something really special with it that would create a long-lasting, inspiring legacy for each and every child at our school both now and for those that will join us in the future. As an outward-facing, innovative school, and after much discussion within the leadership team, we came up with the idea of creating Parkfield’s Young Engineers’ Academy (YEA) where children could specifically work on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) projects in a vibrant, dedicated space and have a wealth of resources which do this. This we believed would be quite unique for a primary school, and would inspire our children, our staff and the wider community, as well as providing the children with some of the skills that led to Birmingham’s proud history of innovation and manufacturing and which are still very much in demand today with key employers, such as BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover in our city. Each half term, our children visit our YEA for a full day. Here the children tackle a bespoke scenario, that provides the children with an opportunity to explore the links between and develop skills within the STEM subjects (in particular engineering, which is unfortunately given a low priority within many primary schools), in practical, real-life and fun contexts. Our key aim with the YEA is to inspire and excite our children and to infuse them with a sense of awe and wonder about education generally, but specifically within the STEM subjects, so that hopefully more of them will have the passion and drive to continue pursuing these subjects further beyond their time at Parkfield. The YEA provides experiences which the children would probably not get at home. It also develops those skills which will be crucial for both their education and for the workplaces of the future, such as: creativity, ingenuity, risk-taking, resilience and teamwork.In the past, we have found that many of our children have demonstrated low aspirations when they start thinking about their options for the future. Unfortunately, this often occurs due to cultural factors present in our community context, particularly amongst our girls. In addition, national evidence shows that many girls become disinterested with the STEM subjects at secondary school. This is something that we proactively try to address. One way that we do this is through the use of our Young Engineers Academy, by trying to capture the children’s interest in these areas from an early age. We also promote positive role models for all of our children to aspire towards, using pioneers from the present and from throughout history.As somebody with a real passion in these areas, I found myself designing the curriculum for the YEA. Although I had quite a few ideas, I quickly found myself turning to every teachers’ best friend - the internet - for inspiration. To my surprise, although there are lots of websites out there with possible ideas for lessons, I struggled to find a commercial company that produced quality resources with suitable lesson ideas that we could use. That was when I stumbled upon Primary STEM in Action.After browsing their selection of resources, the Earthquake Technologies Challenge Project immediately caught my attention (having always been fascinated by earthquakes myself) and I ordered a set to take a closer look at, which promptly arrived in school a few days later. The first thing that caught my attention were the wealth of teacher’s lesson plans that were provided within the teacher’s guide and children’s resource sheets. Although I’ve never been somebody who follows commercial lesson plans to the letter, these provided me with the inspiration I had searched for and with a few tweaks to the lesson plans/resources here and there, I could immediately see the potential of how this pack could be used with primary aged children to tackle various aspects of the STEM subjects, in an engaging way, within the context of looking at structures and earthquakes. I quickly found myself ordering multiple sets of this to use with a full class.For our children, they found using the K’Nex type materials to initially construct any structures quite challenging. This was because this was a completely new and alien construction material to our children. However, after some initial experimentation (which after all is what STEM is really about) the children’s confidence quickly began to grow and they began assembling all sorts of constructions, which were tested using the ‘dreaded’ Wobbletop Shake Table.During the full day that each class used these materials for, the children learnt about: the science of earthquakes; problems encountered by engineers (including monetary constraints – through being limited on the resources the children could afford to use); number computational skills; the construction of 3D shapes; problem solving; working as a team and much, much more. These were all skills were identified by the children when we evaluated the day. For me though, the richness of the discussion that could be heard as the children used these resources, the thought processes that were travelled (particularly when constructions were not as successful as hoped) and the engagement of the children throughout were fantastic.After the success of this project, we also purchased the STEM in Action Wild Feet Exploration Project, which we felt linked perfectly with a Year 2 topic concerning animals. This again, with the occasional tweak to personalise this to our school/topic, was equally as successful and popular with our children.The need for our YEA and for all schools to generally provide a higher priority to the STEM subjects is very clear. Although nearly all of the valuable skills developed by children through engaging in STEM sessions and through studying the STEM subjects are transferable (and are the kind of skills all employers are searching for), engineering is still key to the UK economy, especially in the post Brexit era we are about to enter. For example, “in 2014, the engineering sector contributed an estimated £455.6 billion (27.1% of the UK’s GDP). It is estimated that engineering employers have the potential to generate an additional £27 billion per year from 2022, if we meet the forecasted demand for 257,000 new vacancies in engineering enterprises inthe same timescale.â€
“Failing to meet our engineering workforce requirements will not only damage the UK economically, but it will also have a detrimental effect on individual employees’ prosperity and the economic sustainability of engineering employers. What’s more, failure will impact on engineering’s role in providing a lasting legacy for future generations through ensuring the supply of food, clean water and energy – a tough challenge against a backdrop of climate change and ageingpopulations. The single biggest threat to success lies with education: to meet demand, we need enough young people to study STEM subjects at schools and colleges.â€
Engineering UK 2015 – The state of engineering Through our current and future planned work with our YEA and through other school’s giving the STEM subjects a higher profile (particularly in primary schools), hopefully we can inspire and equip our children with the vital skills they will need to succeed in the future, thus ensuring that our future workforce and country continues to lead the world in creativity and innovation.#LoveLearning Discover STEM in Action™ at BETT – it’s free to attend! Find us on stand B78, Hall N3.www.steminaction.co.uk
Joanna Grace is an international sensory engagement and inclusion consultant. She is the founder of The Sensory Projects and has a personal and professional background in the world of SEN. Through her work Joanna looks to contribute to a future where people are understood in spite of their differences.Jo tweets excerpts from research about the sensory world from @jo3grace We met Joanna at the TES SEN show 2016, the largest SEN-focused event held annually at the Business Design Centre in London. This show is designed to provide teachers, SENCOs, support staff and parents with the tools and skills to help all pupils achieve their full potential. Joanna was at the show to deliver a seminar and visited our stand on the first day. She was immediately drawn to our hand pointers and explained to us how she used them in her work. After revealing some hidden benefits we teamed up with her on this guest post to share her ideas with our readers. A box of hand pointers arrived at my house. They were instantly tested for safety by The Sensory Project’s small assistant. I can confirm that if you beat them on chairs, cushions, stairs, floors, walls, tables and kitchen tiles they do not break! I was then treated to a rendition of Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes with two Hand Pointers (first chosen at random but then selected to be matching in colour – a good little skill there, let’s just say it’s not so easy to point to your nose when your arm is twice as long! That evening a secondary school maths teacher friend of mine came to dinner and I automatically lost half of the hands into her gleeful grasp. “Oh I’m going to use these for group work†she declared. I once worked as a supply teacher and in my bag of essentials I always carried a bunch of neon hand shaped fly swatters which I used to engage children in my lessons. The people holding the fly swatters were the only ones who could answer questions; once they’d answered a question they passed the fly swatter on to the next child. In this way I was able to encourage everyone to be involved in the lesson. The fly swats were great but they can’t operate an interactive white board like the pointers can! My next outing with my remaining hand pointers will be to a special school where I will use them to encourage students to explore the world around them and have some fun. But beyond these tactical teaching ideas and general playfulness, there is a sensory something about these Hand Pointers that you may not know about. In my work at The Sensory Projects I provide training to mainstream and special settings across the UK. I teach people how to use sensory engagement strategies that will support the learning of their students. I tend to, for pragmatic reasons, restrict myself to seven sensory systems, very occasionally slipping into eight when my resolve weakens. I sometimes get into debates with people who argue for there being nine or eleven primarysenses but, did you know, we actually have thirty three sets of neurons that control our sensory experiences, so arguably there are thirty three senses! These Hand Pointers are ideal for developing one of these sets – the peri-hand space. In your brain you have a set of peri-hand space neurons. Your peri-hand space is the space all around your hand and your hand itself. It goes to about 10 centimetres around your hand (if you’re an adult, with children it will be proportionately smaller). You also have peri-head space neurons and a set of neurons dedicated to the area of space around your body. These spaces are important for our safety and our interaction with the world, it makes sense that we would evolve to have extra attention in these spaces, and that is essentially what these extra pockets of neurons are. Here is where, it gets even more fun: at a single cell level your peri-hand space neurons are sight, sound and touch all at once! This means that, for example, when you look at something within this space your visual neurons process the information and so do your peri-hand space neurons. Extra bits of your brain get involved in the looking. It is quite amazing. So getting children to point at the words they are trying to read is a really good idea, because you are coaching them in a way that means they end up getting extra information from their brain about the symbols they are trying to decode. Now, if the single cell level information blew your brain wait for the next bit! I’d like to describe this as magic, but I don’t believe that is the scientific term for it. Studies have shown that when we hold an item, such as a pen, or stick, or pointing hand, our peri-hand space neurons attend to the space around that object as well as the space around our hand. In essence that zone of extra sensory perception extends to the end of whatever we hold. So using a pointing hand to point at something on a white board that you are trying to read is a way to fractionally boost a child’s ability to process that information. Knowledge like this usually only appears on programmes like QI, but knowledge is power and power should be used for good, so arm yourselves! Go out there and point at things. Use it in your own life too, don’t stand there squinting at the tube map, point at it! Instruct students who aren’t sure which answer to choose to point at their options as they consider them. Get some Hand Pointers, channel your inner stockphoto teacher or 1950’s school mistress and get pointing! You can find out more about Jo’s work at The Sensory Projects#LoveLearning
Peri-hand Space: The hidden benefits of Hand Pointers A guest post by Joanna Grace Joanna Grace is an international sensory engagement and inclusion consultant. She is the founder of The Sensory Projects and has a personal and professional background in the world of SEN. Through her work Joanna looks to contribute to a future where people are understood in spite of their differences.Jo tweets excerpts from research about the sensory world from @jo3grace We met Joanna at the TES SEN show 2016, the largest SEN-focused event held annually at the Business Design Centre in London. This show is designed to provide teachers, SENCOs, support staff and parents with the tools and skills to help all pupils achieve their full potential. Joanna was at the show to deliver a seminar and visited our stand on the first day. She was immediately drawn to our hand pointers and explained to us how she used them in her work. After revealing some hidden benefits we teamed up with her on this guest post to share her ideas with our readers. A box of hand pointers arrived at my house. They were instantly tested for safety by The Sensory Project’s small assistant. I can confirm that if you beat them on chairs, cushions, stairs, floors, walls, tables and kitchen tiles they do not break! I was then treated to a rendition of Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes with two Hand Pointers (first chosen at random but then selected to be matching in colour – a good little skill there, let’s just say it’s not so easy to point to your nose when your arm is twice as long! That evening a secondary school maths teacher friend of mine came to dinner and I automatically lost half of the hands into her gleeful grasp. “Oh I’m going to use these for group work†she declared. I once worked as a supply teacher and in my bag of essentials I always carried a bunch of neon hand shaped fly swatters which I used to engage children in my lessons. The people holding the fly swatters were the only ones who could answer questions; once they’d answered a question they passed the fly swatter on to the next child. In this way I was able to encourage everyone to be involved in the lesson. The fly swats were great but they can’t operate an interactive white board like the pointers can! My next outing with my remaining hand pointers will be to a special school where I will use them to encourage students to explore the world around them and have some fun. But beyond these tactical teaching ideas and general playfulness, there is a sensory something about these Hand Pointers that you may not know about. In my work at The Sensory Projects I provide training to mainstream and special settings across the UK. I teach people how to use sensory engagement strategies that will support the learning of their students. I tend to, for pragmatic reasons, restrict myself to seven sensory systems, very occasionally slipping into eight when my resolve weakens. I sometimes get into debates with people who argue for there being nine or eleven primarysenses but, did you know, we actually have thirty three sets of neurons that control our sensory experiences, so arguably there are thirty three senses! These Hand Pointers are ideal for developing one of these sets – the peri-hand space. In your brain you have a set of peri-hand space neurons. Your peri-hand space is the space all around your hand and your hand itself. It goes to about 10 centimetres around your hand (if you’re an adult, with children it will be proportionately smaller). You also have peri-head space neurons and a set of neurons dedicated to the area of space around your body. These spaces are important for our safety and our interaction with the world, it makes sense that we would evolve to have extra attention in these spaces, and that is essentially what these extra pockets of neurons are. Here is where, it gets even more fun: at a single cell level your peri-hand space neurons are sight, sound and touch all at once! This means that, for example, when you look at something within this space your visual neurons process the information and so do your peri-hand space neurons. Extra bits of your brain get involved in the looking. It is quite amazing. So getting children to point at the words they are trying to read is a really good idea, because you are coaching them in a way that means they end up getting extra information from their brain about the symbols they are trying to decode. Now, if the single cell level information blew your brain wait for the next bit! I’d like to describe this as magic, but I don’t believe that is the scientific term for it. Studies have shown that when we hold an item, such as a pen, or stick, or pointing hand, our peri-hand space neurons attend to the space around that object as well as the space around our hand. In essence that zone of extra sensory perception extends to the end of whatever we hold. So using a pointing hand to point at something on a white board that you are trying to read is a way to fractionally boost a child’s ability to process that information. Knowledge like this usually only appears on programmes like QI, but knowledge is power and power should be used for good, so arm yourselves! Go out there and point at things. Use it in your own life too, don’t stand there squinting at the tube map, point at it! Instruct students who aren’t sure which answer to choose to point at their options as they consider them. Get some Hand Pointers, channel your inner stockphoto teacher or 1950’s school mistress and get pointing! You can find out more about Jo’s work at The Sensory Projects#LoveLearning
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Name: Emma Vanstone of Science SparksAge of children: 9, 8 and 5 years oldEmma is a busy mum to three even busier children. She is passionate about the importance of science education and making science fun for kids. You can find Emma’s science-based activities and investigations over on Science Sparks, a website bursting with creative and engaging ideas for children of all ages.
What were your first thoughts when the product arrived?
I thought the packaging was instantly appealing and the product sturdy and well made. My children couldn’t wait to open the box and get started.
How did you use the product?
For my five year old we used Colby the Robot Mouse to introduce the concept of programming. She found the direction cards very helpful and the process of planning, coding and then correcting her routes has been brilliant for improving her logic skills.My eight year old was able to code Colby without the direction cards, which has been great for helping develop his spatial awareness and ability to visualise directional changes, as well as working through the process of coding, checking and then amending his code if necessary.
What are the educational benefits of the resource?
The Robot Mouse Activity Set is great for improving logic, reasoning, directional skills and for practising following instructions, as well as being an engaging and entertaining introduction to coding.
What did you like/dislike about the resource?
I loved that Colby was so easy to use as well as visually appealing. My five year old could follow the instruction cards without too much help and very much enjoyed trying to code Colby’s route to his cheese. The set is very easy to use with little set up required.
What is the long term appeal of the resource?
Our Robot Mouse Activity Set comes out frequently without any encouragement from me. Each time it’s played with the children find a new way to explore the set, such as building their own obstacles for Colby or creating their own layouts.
Is the product unique?
I haven’t come across a similar product available yet in the same price range.
Would you recommend this product to a friend?
I would definitely recommend the Code & Go™ Robot Mouse Activity Set, its bright colours, easy to handle design and educational benefits make it a superb addition to any child’s collection of toys and games.
Tried and Tested: Code & Go™ Robot Mouse Activity Set Name: Emma Vanstone of Science SparksAge of children: 9, 8 and 5 years oldEmma is a busy mum to three even busier children. She is passionate about the importance of science education and making science fun for kids. You can find Emma’s science-based activities and investigations over on Science Sparks, a website bursting with creative and engaging ideas for children of all ages.
What were your first thoughts when the product arrived?
I thought the packaging was instantly appealing and the product sturdy and well made. My children couldn’t wait to open the box and get started.
How did you use the product?
For my five year old we used Colby the Robot Mouse to introduce the concept of programming. She found the direction cards very helpful and the process of planning, coding and then correcting her routes has been brilliant for improving her logic skills.My eight year old was able to code Colby without the direction cards, which has been great for helping develop his spatial awareness and ability to visualise directional changes, as well as working through the process of coding, checking and then amending his code if necessary.
What are the educational benefits of the resource?
The Robot Mouse Activity Set is great for improving logic, reasoning, directional skills and for practising following instructions, as well as being an engaging and entertaining introduction to coding.
What did you like/dislike about the resource?
I loved that Colby was so easy to use as well as visually appealing. My five year old could follow the instruction cards without too much help and very much enjoyed trying to code Colby’s route to his cheese. The set is very easy to use with little set up required.
What is the long term appeal of the resource?
Our Robot Mouse Activity Set comes out frequently without any encouragement from me. Each time it’s played with the children find a new way to explore the set, such as building their own obstacles for Colby or creating their own layouts.
Is the product unique?
I haven’t come across a similar product available yet in the same price range.
Would you recommend this product to a friend?
I would definitely recommend the Code & Go™ Robot Mouse Activity Set, its bright colours, easy to handle design and educational benefits make it a superb addition to any child’s collection of toys and games.
Plot Blocksâ„¢ was developed in-house by the Product Development team and Educational Specialists here at Learning Resources, based upon feedback from teachers saying that they would benefit from activities that would go alongside story telling cubes. By combining a multitude of different settings, characters, objects and actions, this engaging set supports children in creating unique stories by rolling the picture cubes. This Story Building Activity Set includes:
18 picture cubes; six each of ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘how’
Six double-sided Setting Mats
Four transparent story setting Mats
Easy-to-play, children simply select two of each of the cubes (who, what and how) and a setting mat. Roll the cubes and place them in the allocated spaces on the mat. Add a little imagination and let the story begin! If children want to create their own setting they can draw what they want and place a transparent mat on top!Plot Blocks is language free and can help children develop a variety of key literacy skills, including:
Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Belinda Robertson, put Plot Blocksâ„¢ to the test and said
“A fabulous resource to develop understanding and use of ‘narrative’ and story- telling. The visuals were superb at supporting the logical sequencing of events to enable students to a) plan and then b) tell their narrative. One of the most useful aspects of this resource was that it could be used with a huge age range. EYFS students would like the cubes and pictures, my KS1 and KS2 children loved it. I could also see it working well with EAL, KS3 and older students and adults withlearning difficulties.â€
Read more about how Belinda used Plot Blocks in our Tried and Tested blog post.
To help you extend the learning with Plot Blocks, we’ve put together some ‘new ways to play’ that will help you bring your story telling to life and spark young imaginations:
Feely Bag Game
Place all of the cubes into an opaque fabric bag. Working in a pairs or small groups, ask children to pick a cube from the bag and study one of its faces. They should describe what the picture is without actually naming it. Encourage them to use a wide range of adjectives until another child correctly guesses what the picture is. This will build vocabulary and encourage children to use richer descriptive language in their creative writing.
Talk for Writing
Working individually or in pairs, ask children to select six cubes before rolling them and placing them on a setting mat. Encourage children to discuss a possible story, considering the beginning, middle and end where each cube’s picture might feature. Pair work will enable children to discuss ideas, developing their vocabulary and imagination.
Group Story Telling
Working in a small group, ask each child to select a cube before assigning them a number or sitting them in an order. (Try to ensure an even number of each cube type is on offer). The first child rolls their cube and begins telling the story. The second child should then roll their cube and continue the story accordingly. Encourage children to consider the role they play in forming the beginning, middle or end. Carry on around the group until a complete story has been told!
Descriptive Writing
Encourage the use of rich, descriptive language by using the setting mats alone. Ensure each child has access to a whiteboard and pen before allowing them to select a setting mat. Ask them to study the scene on the mat for a couple of minutes before helping them write a sentence that describes it on the whiteboard. For example ‘The Sea is Blue’. Encourage children to build on their initial sentence by adding in more vivid language until they have a description using rich vocabulary, for example ‘The calm sea is sparkling turquoise.’
Change of Scenery
Children work individually or in pairs to create a story using a setting mat. They should roll six cubes and place them on a setting mat before reading the story aloud, adding in as much description as possible. Once a story has been completed, change the setting mat but keep the story cubes in the same order. How does the story change? Discuss how the setting affects the plot of the story.
Cube Swap
Working in pairs, have children create their own story using a setting mat and six cubes. Both children in the pair should read their story aloud. Once each pair has heard the other story they get the chance to steal a cube from their setting mat to add to their own story. Once they have done so, have the children decide upon the order of the cubes on the mat. As the children to read their stories aloud again and see how changing one cube affects the plot.
Blank Spaces
Ask children to sit in groups around a table. Lay out a setting mat and three cubes (one each of who, what and how), leaving three blank spaces. Encourage the children to write their own story, filling in the blank spaces as they reach them. Once everyone has written their stories, have them take it in turns to read them aloud. This task is a good way to ease children into creative writing, providing guidelines but still offering them creative freedom.
Character profile
This activity can be used as an extension to any Plot Blocksâ„¢ activity. Once a child has completed a story, ask them to think more in depth about the characters. Ask them to draw the characters in the story and write down some characteristics. Encourage them to think about things such as names, occupations, likes/dislikes, where they live etc. In groups ask them to tell their peers about these characters.
Plot Blocksâ„¢ was developed in-house by the Product Development team and Educational Specialists here at Learning Resources, based upon feedback from teachers saying that they would benefit from activities that would go alongside story telling cubes. By combining a multitude of different settings, characters, objects and actions, this engaging set supports children in creating unique stories by rolling the picture cubes. This Story Building Activity Set includes:
18 picture cubes; six each of ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘how’
Six double-sided Setting Mats
Four transparent story setting Mats
Easy-to-play, children simply select two of each of the cubes (who, what and how) and a setting mat. Roll the cubes and place them in the allocated spaces on the mat. Add a little imagination and let the story begin! If children want to create their own setting they can draw what they want and place a transparent mat on top!Plot Blocks is language free and can help children develop a variety of key literacy skills, including:
Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Belinda Robertson, put Plot Blocksâ„¢ to the test and said
“A fabulous resource to develop understanding and use of ‘narrative’ and story- telling. The visuals were superb at supporting the logical sequencing of events to enable students to a) plan and then b) tell their narrative. One of the most useful aspects of this resource was that it could be used with a huge age range. EYFS students would like the cubes and pictures, my KS1 and KS2 children loved it. I could also see it working well with EAL, KS3 and older students and adults withlearning difficulties.â€
Read more about how Belinda used Plot Blocks in our Tried and Tested blog post.
To help you extend the learning with Plot Blocks, we’ve put together some ‘new ways to play’ that will help you bring your story telling to life and spark young imaginations:
Feely Bag Game
Place all of the cubes into an opaque fabric bag. Working in a pairs or small groups, ask children to pick a cube from the bag and study one of its faces. They should describe what the picture is without actually naming it. Encourage them to use a wide range of adjectives until another child correctly guesses what the picture is. This will build vocabulary and encourage children to use richer descriptive language in their creative writing.
Talk for Writing
Working individually or in pairs, ask children to select six cubes before rolling them and placing them on a setting mat. Encourage children to discuss a possible story, considering the beginning, middle and end where each cube’s picture might feature. Pair work will enable children to discuss ideas, developing their vocabulary and imagination.
Group Story Telling
Working in a small group, ask each child to select a cube before assigning them a number or sitting them in an order. (Try to ensure an even number of each cube type is on offer). The first child rolls their cube and begins telling the story. The second child should then roll their cube and continue the story accordingly. Encourage children to consider the role they play in forming the beginning, middle or end. Carry on around the group until a complete story has been told!
Descriptive Writing
Encourage the use of rich, descriptive language by using the setting mats alone. Ensure each child has access to a whiteboard and pen before allowing them to select a setting mat. Ask them to study the scene on the mat for a couple of minutes before helping them write a sentence that describes it on the whiteboard. For example ‘The Sea is Blue’. Encourage children to build on their initial sentence by adding in more vivid language until they have a description using rich vocabulary, for example ‘The calm sea is sparkling turquoise.’
Change of Scenery
Children work individually or in pairs to create a story using a setting mat. They should roll six cubes and place them on a setting mat before reading the story aloud, adding in as much description as possible. Once a story has been completed, change the setting mat but keep the story cubes in the same order. How does the story change? Discuss how the setting affects the plot of the story.
Cube Swap
Working in pairs, have children create their own story using a setting mat and six cubes. Both children in the pair should read their story aloud. Once each pair has heard the other story they get the chance to steal a cube from their setting mat to add to their own story. Once they have done so, have the children decide upon the order of the cubes on the mat. As the children to read their stories aloud again and see how changing one cube affects the plot.
Blank Spaces
Ask children to sit in groups around a table. Lay out a setting mat and three cubes (one each of who, what and how), leaving three blank spaces. Encourage the children to write their own story, filling in the blank spaces as they reach them. Once everyone has written their stories, have them take it in turns to read them aloud. This task is a good way to ease children into creative writing, providing guidelines but still offering them creative freedom.
Character profile
This activity can be used as an extension to any Plot Blocksâ„¢ activity. Once a child has completed a story, ask them to think more in depth about the characters. Ask them to draw the characters in the story and write down some characteristics. Encourage them to think about things such as names, occupations, likes/dislikes, where they live etc. In groups ask them to tell their peers about these characters.
