Here are the next activities I did with my son to get him to start thinking sequentially in preparation for teaching him how to code later. Once your child is confident doing the Stage 1 Code-a-pillar Twist activities, they'll be ready to move onto these next activities that introduce left and right turns.
Stage 2 Code-a-pillar Twist activities: Paths with left and right turns
Here are the do-it-yourself materials for Stage 2:
Stage 2 Code-a-pillar Twist props:
Stage 1 props plus:
5 left arrows drawn on A4 / 8.5x11 sheets of paper
5 right arrows drawn on A4 / 8.5x11 sheets of paper
Activity 1: Introducing left and right
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE REACHED: They know what sound the letter L makes, can make L's with their fingers
DURATION: 2-5 minutes
MATERIALS USED: N/A
If your child doesn't know how to determine which way is left and right yet, you'll need to teach them first. I found the Code-a-pillar to be a great activity to reinforce the concept of left and right. What worked best for my son was making L's with his hands, like this:
Have your child hold out their thumbs and index fingers in L shapes using both their hands.
Ask them, "What's the first sound in "LLLLLeft?" (enunciating the "L" sound). Then ask, "What letter makes the "LLLL" sound?". L! So we need to find the proper L to figure out which way is "LLLLLeft". Have them look at their hands and ask them, which L is the proper/correct L? (Using the phrases "right L" and "wrong L" would just be too confusing as the right (correct) L is on the left side). If they point at their right hand instead, say, "Hmm, that's the backwards L. Which is the proper L?"
When they hold up his left hand to signal that's the proper L, you can say, "Good! That side is the left side. The side with the correct L is left."
Now ask them, "Which L is the backwards L?" If they point at their left hand instead, you can say, "Hmm, that's the correct L. Which is the backwards L?"
When they hold up his right hand to signal that's the backwards L, you can say, "Good! That side is the right side. The side with the backwards L is to the right."
Once they're somewhat confident and consistent figuring out left from right, it's time to add this concept to the Code-a-pillar:
Activity 2: Adding left and right turns to the Code-a-pillar's path
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE REACHED: Your child can figure out all combinations of paths using the "forward" and "stop" functions of the Code-a-pillar Twist (Stage 1).
DURATION: 5-10 minutes
MATERIALS USED:
Code-a-pillar Twist
Leaf
Starting line marker (something in your environment to mark the starting line, or a post it note on the floor, or cut up paper towel rolls)
Forward, left, right arrows and stop markers
Before starting explain to your child how to tell the Code-a-pillar to go left and right:
Ask your child to find the arrow pointing LEFT in the Code-a-pillar dials. Encourage them to use his hands to make L's, figure out which is the proper L, and point out the arrow on the dial that is pointing to that side. Tell them if they want the Code-a-pillar to turn left, turn the dial to this left arrow.
Ask your child to find the arrow pointing RIGHT in the Code-a-pillar dials. Encourage them to use his hands to make L's, figure out which is the backwards L, and point out the arrow on the dial that is pointing to that side. Tell them if they want the Code-a-pillar to turn right, turn the dial to this right arrow.
Adding left and right turns to the Code-a-pillar's path.
Put the Code-a-pillar at its starting line, and position the leaf to be either to the left or right of four steps forward for the Code-a-pillar (it will need to be directly to the left/right of about 4.5 Code-a-pillar steps to account for the Code-a-pillar moving a little bit forward as it turns left).
Then ask them to help the hungry Code-a-pillar get to the leaf. Give them access to the forward paper arrows, the "Stop" pieces of paper, as well as the left and right paper arrows so that they can use those to figure out the path to get to the leaf.
Once they have a path figured out (even if you can tell it won't be correct), have your child input that path into the dials on the Code-a-pillar. If they have the path right but input it into the Code-a-pillar incorrectly, don't correct it to give them the opportunity to figure out his own mistake once the Code-a-pillar moves. Have your child press "Play" when he's dialed in his path. If the Code-a-pillar path doesn't t, say, "Uh oh! The Code-a-pillar went the wrong way! Which way do we need it to go?"
Activity 3: Increased combinations of left and right
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE REACHED: Your child can consistently figure out whether the Code-a-pillar needs to move left or right for the 5th step of the Code-a-pillar Twist's path
DURATION: 5-10 minutes
MATERIALS USED:
Code-a-pillar Twist
Leaf
Starting line marker (something in your environment to mark the starting line, or a post it note on the floor, or cut up paper towel rolls)
Forward, left, right arrows and stop markers
Different paths with a single turn as the last step.
Position the leaf to the right or left of any number of forward steps away (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 forward steps away), and see if they can figure out how to get to those different positions by moving forward, turning the right way, and stopping at all the steps afterwards to "eat" the leaf rather than pass it.
So far we haven't created any paths that require the Code-a-pillar to continue moving after it turns, so the child hasn't had to think about where the new "forward" direction is. That's in the next part of the series, Prepare toddlers for coding: Code-a-pillar Twist, Part 3 (coming soon!).
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