Coding Kids STEM Odyssey

This is a great addition to the collection. This Coding Starter Kit includes everything your little one needs to have hands on coding while having fun playing games. This set includes three games. Coding Awbie, Coding Jam, and Coding Duo. Coding Duo allows two player so you can play with a friend. We love that you are able to add the pieces from the original Coding Awbie which was great for two player. This way they had the extra pieces to complete the puzzles together without having to put one character asleep. This set can still be played without the extra pieces. There are a few changes they made to the magnetic pieces. This set, the numbers no longer magnetize to the move piece. Our daughter preferred the magnetic numbers. Doesn’t affect the play though. They have also made the base for the iPad thicker and more durable than the original iPad base. The top mirror connector for the iPad also magnetizes to the base for easy storage and no longer is loose and held together with the cardboard sleeve. Comes with a storage case that holds all your move pieces together and can be stacked with previous games for easy stack and store on a shelf or desk. We keep ours in the original box and store in a canvas basket. Daughter loves it and there are lots of laughs and little giggles while playing. Makes learning extra fun.

Homeschooling the kids this year and we wanted to have our two older kids start working with learning Coding.

This is a system that uses your iPad with a base and reflector to read tiles. The tiles are actual pieces of plastic that you lay on the table in front of your iPad. The projector reads the images on the tiles and interacts with the game. This kit includes the base, reflector, 31 interchangeable coding blocks, and three games.

Your kids are introduced to coding with the “Coding Awbie” game. This game uses coding blocks to help the character in the game reach a certain point. You can walk and jump a number of times in any direction. All you need to do is set the correct action tile with the direction the way you want the character to move.

The second game we used was “Coding Jam”. In this game, our kids made music with rhythm, melody, and harmony. They learned to create music with patterns and loops using the 300+ musical sounds.

The last game is “Coding Duo”. This game consists of various puzzles that can be completed on their own or with a partner.

The recommended age range is 5 years to 10 years. Our three grandsons have a blast playing the different games and are learning at the same time.

It’s a great system that can be expanded with the purchase of additional games and tiles.

We learned during this pandemic that our six year old son likes games that involve coding after seeing how much he loved playing the Foos though his school technology class. After he solved all of those coding puzzles we weren't sure what games would be similar but still age appropriate for a child his age. When I was presented with the opportunity to try out this coding set, I decided to give it a go and see how my son did with it. When the set arrived the pieces for this set were very similar to the buttons on the Foos game. What I like about this game is it gives him tangible pieces to use to do the coding puzzles. My son was very excited about this set and has been playing with it every day since it arrived for about an hour at a time. We like this set and the games for it enough to get a second set so two of our kids can play with the game at the same time for our home-school technology class. This was our first experience with it, but it got us hooked and we have picked up a few other games for the kids. This starter set is great if you don't already have the base and reflector for the iPad. I do wish the reflector top was able to fit over a wider variety of iPad cases. I can slide it over a very thin case I have, but it will not fit over my slim Speck case.

This is one of the best educational iPad apps I have in my arsenal to keep the kids busy. The BEG to play this and I feel good about letting them do so.
In the box:
base
Coding Family Bundle

To get started, you download the app and indicate which package you have. After doing that, it instructs you to download several other games depending on the bundle that you purchased. For this coding bundle, it works with three different free to download Coding Awbie, Coding Jam, and Coding Duo.
Coding Awbie - "Start here to learn basic coding fundamentals"
Coding Jam - "Get creative with code and make your own music"
Coding Duo - "Show off yours skills in this advanced puzzle game"

Because all three of the kids want to play at once, I ordered a Genius starting bundle so that I could get a second base as well as get another game. I have tried to have two kids use the coding apps at one time (I downloaded the game onto two iPads) which kind of works. The kids run out of some of the basic pieces like the "Walk". It can be done but be prepared for some squabbling if the kids don't share pieces well.

Fun and easy to learn. Sequencing leads to coding and I love the new built in direction manual!!! 5 year old going into first grade played by himself and he was happy.