I participated in this program on behalf of Wonder Workshop and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.
As a mother I want my children to have the best possible advantages they can have. As a blogger I know first hand that coding is something that needs to be learned as early as possible. I had to learn to code out of necessity but that is not what I want for my children. Thanks to Dash and Dot by Wonder Workshop they can learn now at an early enough age that it will be second nature. I had wanted to wrap it for Christmas but then decided that just placing it out would get them the most excited.
Dash & Dot are actually two individual robots that will introduce your children to the world of coding. they are sold separately or bundled together and there are accessories to come! They work in conjunction with 4 different (free) apps (GO, PATH, BLOCKLY, and XYLO) that are available for your devices. iPad works the best right now, I tried it on my iPhone but it just didn’t seem as good as on the iPad. Andrioid devices are being worked on a s we speak.
This is Dot who is not as interactive as Dash but still teaches many important lessons. She (of course she is a she) can be used with Dash but is not mobile like he is. Dot can be coded to make various sounds and different light patterns. She has a programmable button on top of her, sensors, speaker and microphone, lights on her “eye” and “ears”, a gyroscope and accelerometer. Sounds very technical but in truth Dot is fairly basic and easy for young kids to learn with.
Dash is much more interactive which is why the kids love him (again yes he is a him to me at least.) Using the Go app you can play with Dash’s light and features among other things. He has a programmable buttons on her “head”, sensors, 12 lights, speaker, 3 microphones, accelerometer, gyroscope, and 6 accessory connection points. The fun thing about the accessory connection points is that you can build LEGOs onto him with building brick connectors. Dash has a lot of features with a lot of options. In my opinion if you can afford one I would go with Dash. However if you have smaller children Dot may be the best to start out with.
4 Apps
Remember I told there was 4 apps? Well they are:
Go (ages 5+)- Get started with Dash & Dot & learn all of the fun features + personalize with colors. Recommended age 5+
Path (ages 5+)- Draw a path with your finger for Dash to follow.
Blockly (ages 8+)- Program Dash & Dot by making sequences with code, features drag & drop programming.
Xylo (ages 5+)- Play music with with Dash, requires additional purchase of Dash’s Xylophone.
We started with the Go App so that Daniel and Victoria could get use to the features and really customize things the way they wanted. Daniel actually moved on to the Path app where he could draw a path for Dash and then watch him follow it. The Blockly app where I helped them both to code. Now this app is for ages 8+ but if you children are younger and you help them a bit they may actually be able to do this.
I am so impressed with Dot and Dash not to mention Wonder Workshop. They have a video that you can check out and they even have play ideas!
I live in a small Georgia town that you most likely have never heard of and I LOVE it! My house is more than full as I am a single mother of four & caregiver to my aging mother and uncle. Lover of all things Outlander. Goes to the beat of her own drum woman.
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How very cool!!!!! I learned some coding in college, but I think it’s something kids should be learning now. We’re becoming so technologically advanced that this is something they will definitely need to get used to early.
It is something kids really need to learn. I never thought about it before but you are right. We are becoming so advanced that the earlier they learn the better.
This looks really neat and I think my son would really enjoy it!
What a fabulous concept! My daughter just attended a science expo two Saturdays ago and the local tech school had a booth that showed her about coding. She was able to choose codes to make a dinosaur “walk.” She really enjoyed it!