Once your child is confident doing the Stage 2 Code-a-pillar Twist activities, they'll be ready to move onto these next activities that require your child to re-orient themselves based on which direction the Code-a-pillar is facing.
Stage 3: Continuing a path after a turn
Here are the do-it-yourself materials for Stage 3:
Stage 3 Code-a-pillar Twist props:
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.
Activity 1: Re-orienting to figure out where forward is when the Code-a-pillar turns
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), as well as paths ending in a left or right turn (Stage 2)
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
Figuring out the "new" forward.
Position the leaf in such a way that would require a forward movement after the first turn (such as this one, where they need to move forward one step after turning to reach the leaf).
Ask the child to create a path using the paper arrows from the Code-a-pillar to the leaf. Let them try by themselves (with minimal help from you) for the first path they try so you can see if/where they get confused. Usually the confusion comes after the turn: if the leaf is positioned to the left, after the initial left turn, the child will turn the next dial left again instead of setting it to forward because to their perspective, the leaf is to the left (rather than directly in front of the Code-a-pillar).
Have the child press "Play" when they think they have the path right. If the Code-a-pillar goes the wrong direction, say something like, "Uh oh! The Code-a-pillar went the wrong way! How can we fix that?". What I found helped the most was having my son walk along the paper arrow pathway, facing the same way that the arrow was pointing. So after the turn, ask questions like, "Which way would the Code-a-pillar be facing now? Can you face that way too? What step do we need to get to the leaf - forward, left, right, or stop?".
Rather than doing the same path again and again for this activity, you can choose from a variety of these variations (the "turn" steps can be either left or right), where the leaf is positioned at the end of each path:
Turn - Forward - Stop - Stop - Stop
Forward - Turn - Forward - Stop - Stop
Forward - Forward - Turn - Forward - Stop
Forward - Forward - Forward - Turn - Forward
When they can repeatedly figure out how to get to the leaf themselves for these types of variations, then they're ready to move onto the next activity.
*Eventually, my son wanted to stop using the paper arrows to figure out the Code-a-pillars path beforehand. Instead, he preferred to turn all the dials to stop, turn the first dial to what he thought was the first step, and press play already to see if that first step was right. If it was, he would move onto the second dial and do what he considered to be the next step. If it was right, he would move onto the third dial, but if not, he would try and correct himself. Eventually he progressed to just turning several, and then all the dials right away to make the Code-a-pillar get the leaf, and if he happened to be incorrect, he could figure out which step he got wrong and correct it.
Activity 2: Multiple turns
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), paths ending in a left or right turn (Stage 2), and can re-orient themselves to figure out the new forward
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
2a) Re-orienting themselves again for a second turn:
Now that they can re-orient themselves to figure out where forward is, it's time to make them re-orient themselves again with more than one turn in the path. Start out with these variations where the second turn isn't immediate (again, "Turn" can mean a left or right turn):
Turn - Forward - Turn - Stop - Stop
Forward - Turn - Forward - Turn - Stop
Forward - Forward - Turn - Forward - Turn
Turn - Forward - Turn - Forward - Turn
2b) Re-orienting themselves immediately:
Then move onto the variations where the second turn is immediate, requiring them to re-orient right away.
Turn - Turn - Forward - Forward - Stop
Forward - Turn - Turn - Forward - Stop
Forward - Forward - Turn - Turn - Forward
Forward - Forward - Forward - Turn - Turn
2c) Creating any path with several turns and stops:
Finally move onto paths where there are 3 or more turns at any point in a path. Add a second leaf to the path where the code-a-pillar has to stop and "eat" the leaf first before continuing onto the next leaf. Create any path you like using as many obstacles/leaves as you like - just keep in mind when creating paths for the Code-a-pillar, make sure that it will be able to get to the leaf/leaves by just using the 5 steps it has.
As the paths get more complicated, it gets a little more difficult to accurately position the leaf so that the Code-a-pillar would touch it after the last step. So sometimes, as my son was trying a path, pressing play, then fixing it / adding the next step, if I could see that the Code-a-pillar would end up missing the leaf, I would try to sneakily move the leaf to a better position while he wasn't looking! Eventually he caught me, and would end up fixing the leaf himself!
Eventually it will get to the point where it seems like your child can figure out any path you create for them! At this point, 5 steps seems like very little. So once my son mastered the Code-a-pillar, I searched for another non-screen coding toy for him, and found this one to continue our Coder thinking series: Botley.
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