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My husband taught himself how to program when he was just 7 years old, so teaching our kids to code is something he'd like to do when they're around that age too (we've still got a few years to go!). But until then, I was keeping my eye out for any toddler coding toys that might help our kids start to think like programmers to make it easier for my husband to teach our kids to code in the future. Just like toddlers pick up new languages more easily than adults, I was hoping to instill a basic understanding of how programming languages are structured in our toddlers so that it's familiar to them when they're older. I didn't know anything about coding until I was suddenly required to do it in graduate school, so programming has always been very difficult for me, while my husband not only programs for fun, but can also pick up new programming languages extremely easily.
The first toddler programming toy I had my eye on was the Code-a-pillar Twist. But even though it's advertised for kids aged 3-6 years, we didn't think our son was ready by his 3rd birthday as we thought he would just crash it all the time. So we waited until his 4th birthday to give him the Code-a-pillar Twist. To prevent him breaking it (as at this point, he and his brother still loved crashing their cars, and we wanted the Code-a-pillar to last until Copycat was old enough to use it), Little Mr. was only allowed to use it under my supervision, and so the concept of 5-minute activities with me began to take shape.
* We chose the Code-a-pillar Twist over the Code-a-pillar even though it has a smaller number of maximum possible steps because:
We didn't want to worry about disconnecting and reconnecting segments of the caterpillar
We didn't want to have to keep buying segments to increase the variety of steps the Code-a-pillar could do
The Code-a-pillar Twist was significantly cheaper
So the activities below are specifically for the Code-a-pillar Twist, though they can easily be adapted for the Code-a-pillar as well. If you want a comprehensive guide for the original Code-a-pillar, this could be a great resource to use. I didn't find this teacher guide until after I had done the following stages with my own kids, so if you prefer, you can adapt this Code-a-pillar guide for the Code-a-pillar Twist activities! One disadvantage of the Code-a-pillar Twist compared to the Code-a-pillar is that the Code-a-pillar twist doesn't have looping capabilities. Instead, I used another toy (Botley, which is the next part of the Coder thinking series) to introduce loops and if/then concepts.
So when I refer to the Code-a-pillar in these posts, I am talking about the Code-a-pillar Twist.
I really think that if I had already come up with this "3 times a day in 5 minutes" concept when Little Mr. was 3, I might have tried the Code-a-pillar activities when he was 3 years old as the 5-minute activities in our routine provide a way to have him only play with the Code-a-pillar while being supervised (so it wouldn't break, which was our main concern when he turned 3). So when Copycat turns 3, I'll be watching him to see if I think he's ready to start the Code-a-pillar Twist activity or not.
I created this series of Stages 1-3 Code-a-pillar Twist activities for Little Mr. to help him create paths of increasing difficulty level. By the end of this series of activities, Little Mr. was able to program the Code-a-pillar himself to have it go where he wanted it to go, and he was very excited when he did!
Stage 1 Code-a-pillar Twist activities: Using only FORWARD and STOP
To prepare for these Stage 1 Code-a-pillar activities, I created the following do-it-yourself props:
Stage 1 Code-a-pillar Twist props:
A leaf (either real leaves or leaves cut out of paper): the bigger, the better. A leaf cut out from an A4 / 8.5x11 was what we used primarily. At first I created a small one, and found that it was harder to have the caterpillar consistently touch a smaller one to "eat" it, so I created a bigger one that we used more often.
5 forward arrows drawn on A4 / 8.5x11 sheets of paper
5 small pieces of paper labeled "STOP"
Optional: Taping squares to the floor to represent 1 Code-a-pillar step: I personally didn't want to tape our floor, and using individual pieces of paper squares didn't work because the Code-a-pillar would catch on the pieces and move the papers, and I originally tried taping pieces of paper together to make a Code-a-pillar mat, but it was a lot of work for not a lot of gain. So I settled for just knowing approximately how far forward it moved.
*My son could read the word "STOP" already, but if you're trying this activity with a child who doesn't know how to read yet, you could try using 5 red colored pieces of paper instead to symbolizes stopping, just like the red traffic light means stop.
The goal for all these Code-a-pillar Twist activities is for your child to figure out how to get the Code-a-pillar from the starting point to the leaf so it could "eat" it because it's hungry!
Before starting:
Get the necessary Stage 1 props ready.
Mark a starting position where the Code-a-pillar starts, either with "sticks" like we did (toilet paper rolls cut lengthwise in half), or with post it notes on the floor, or some other landmark. Starting at as close to the same point as possible will make it easier for your child to see how his actions affect the Code-a-pillar's path.
The following activities introduce how the Code-a-pillar works to your child. The sequential nature of how this toy works prepares your toddler for coding, where the order of commands is very important. A lot of mistakes will be made, especially in the beginning, and that's totally fine. Being able to fix mistakes is a core part of the programming mindset, and it's great to instill within them a sense of problem solving already, as well as the idea that it's OK to make mistakes as you can learn from them. When your child masters the current activity, move onto the next one for the 5-minute activity the next session. You're welcome to use these same activities I used, or use them as a starting point and modify them to fit your own style!
These are the activities I used for my first son, and I plan to use these same activities for my second son as well: the goal is to give them practice thinking sequentially, which will hopefully make coding more second nature to them when we try teaching them to code later.
Mini Lesson 1: Moving forward
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE REACHED: You think your child has the ability to start thinking sequentially
DURATION: 5-10 minutes
MATERIALS USED:
Code-a-pillar Twist, dials randomly positioned
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)
Before introducing the concept of a code, or a sequence of steps, to my toddler, I first wanted to get them familiar with the individual steps of FORWARD and STOP. This is a little more challenging with the Code-a-pillar Twist compared to the original Code-a-pillar simply because you have to start with 5 steps right away. So for mini lessons 1 and 2, I treated the whole Code-a-pillar Twist as one "step" to learn how to make it move FORWARD and how to STOP, and once those were mastered, I moved onto introducing the importance of the order / sequence of these steps.
Introducing how to get the Code-a-pillar to move forward.
Put the Code-a-pillar at the marked starting line.
Explain that the dials tell the Code-a-pillar what to do, and the "Play" button behind his head tells the Code-a-pillar to go do it.
Place the leaf approximately where the Code-a-pillar ends up after 5 steps forward from the starting line (this is why a bigger leaf is better - even if you're off by a little bit, the Code-a-pillar will still touch it!).
Tell your child he needs to help the Code-a-pillar to go to the leaf because it's hungry, and they need to tell it where to go. Ask your child, what way does the Code-a-pillar need to go to get to the leaf? Try to get them to say "straight" or "forward".
Tell them that to tell the Code-a-pillar to go forward, they need to turn the dials to the green straight arrows (pointing forward, where they want it to go).
[Have the dials all randomly positioned]. Ask your child, "Can you tell the Code-a-pillar to go forward?". If they're confused, help them out by asking questions like: "How would the Code-a-pillar have to move to get to the leaf?", "And how do we tell it to move forward?", "Do you remember how to turn the dial so that the Code-a-pillar moves forward?". Help him figure out that he needs to turn all the dials to the "FORWARD" position by turning all the dials to the green forward arrows.
Press the "Play" / "Go" button right behind the Code-a-pillar's head and watch the Code-a-pillar go forward. If they accidentally set a dial to something other than the "FORWARD" position so the Code-a-pillar turns or stops instead of moves forward, it's not a problem. Just say, "Whoops! He turned/stopped! Let's find our mistake - which dial isn't pointing forward? How do we get him to go forward?". And when they get it, praise your child, "Yay! You told the Code-a-pillar to move forward to get the leaf and it did!"
That will probably take the entirety of the 5-minutes the first time you do it, but after the next couple of times you might have time to repeat it where you randomly position the dials again and ask your child to tell the Code-a-pillar to move forward to get the leaf.
Mini Lesson 2: How to stop
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE REACHED: You think your child has the ability to start thinking sequentially
DURATION: 5-10 minutes
MATERIALS USED:
Code-a-pillar Twist, dials randomly positioned.
Leaf
Starting line marker
Introducing how to get the Code-a-pillar to stop.
Position the leaf right in front of the Code-a-pillar.
Tell your child that the Code-a-pillar is already at the leaf the Code-a-pillar shouldn't move or it will pass the leaf and can't eat it!
Explain to your child that when you turn the dial to a picture (in the "down" or "south" position), it tells the Code-a-pillar to stop (and sing different noises).
[Have the dials all randomly positioned]. Ask your child, "Can you tell the Code-a-pillar to not move and sing?". If they're still confused, you can help your child further by letting them know or showing them to turn all the dials to the "STOP" position by turning all the dials to the pictures.
When they think they've told the Code-a-pillar to stop, let them press the "Play" / "Go" button right behind the Code-a-pillar's head. If they accidentally set a dial to a direction instead of the "STOP" position, so the Code-a-pillar moves instead of stays still, it's not a problem. Just say, "Whoops! He moved! Let's find our mistake - which dial isn't pointing to the picture / stop position? How do we get him to stop?". Or if they got it right, you can tell your child, "Yay! You told the Code-a-pillar to stop and it did!"
If you still have time before 5 minutes is up, randomly position the dials again and ask your child to tell the Code-a-pillar to stop one or two more times.
Mini Lesson 3: Steps and Sequences
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE REACHED: You think your child has the ability to start thinking sequentially, knows how to tell the Code-a-pillar to go forward and stop.
DURATION: 5-10 minutes
MATERIALS USED:
Code-a-pillar Twist, dials randomly positioned.
Leaf
Starting line marker
Forward arrows and stop markers
3a) Introducing the concept of sequential steps
Position the leaf to be about 4 forward steps from the starting position.
Explain to your child that the Code-a-pillar does what you tell him in the order you tell him. You could say something like, "Remember how the dials tell the Code-a-pillar what to do? This first dial tells the Code-a-pillar what to do first, this next one tells the Code-a-pillar what to do second, this next one tells the Code-a-pillar what to do next....and this last dial tells the Code-a-pillar what to do last".
Get the paper forward arrows and the small "STOP" pieces of paper. Explain that these will help us figure out the path to the leaf. The forward arrow is one forward step for the Code-a-pillar, and the STOP piece means that the Code-a-pillar will stop so it can eat the leaf.
You can ask your child, "Can you help me make a path for the Code-a-pillar to get to the leaf because he's hungry? What's the 1st step he needs to do to go to the leaf?".
Hopefully he'll say, "Forward!", so ask him to get a forward step and put it out in front of the Code-a-pillar. Keep asking him what the next step is until there is a path to the leaf (the picture shows what the correct path looks like).
Now that you have figured out a path, you need to tell the Code-a-pillar that path! Ask your child to show you where the first dial is, and let your child know that this first dial will tell the Code-a-pillar the first step to take. Then ask him, "What's the first step in the Code-a-pillar's path to the leaf? We need to tell the Code-a-pillar the first step in the path!". If he's confused, point to the first arrow in front of the Code-a-pillar, and let him know that is the first step the Code-a-pillar needs to take. A forward arrow means the Code-a-pillar has to go forward, so he should turn the first dial to go forward. Then ask him, "Where is the second dial to tell the Code-a-pillar what to do second / next? And what's the second step of the Code-a-pillar?" (one way to help is to point at the second paper arrow and explain it as the 2nd step, and then point to the second dial, which tells the Code-a-pillar the second step to do). Keep going until the entire paper path is dialed / programmed into the Code-a-pillar.
Remove all the paper arrows and stops making up the paper path, and ask your child to press "Play" to let the Code-a-pillar do what he told him. Even if you know it's an incorrect path (eg. the Code-a-pillar goes 5 steps forward instead of 4 steps forward and then Stops), let him press "Play" anyway: as with all mistakes, use them as a learning experience for the child. For example, if they did go 5 steps forward, so the Code-a-pillar goes right past the leaf without stopping to "eat" it, you can say something like, "Oh no! He missed the leaf! How can we change the last step so that he stops and eats the leaf instead of continuing to move forward?".
3b) Different progressions of sequential steps
Once your child can consistently turn the dials correctly to get the to the Code-a-pillar to the leaf 4 steps away (forward for the first 4 steps, stop for the last step), move onto the following progressions:
Position the leaf any number of steps away (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 forward steps away), and see if he can figure out how to get to those different positions by moving forward to the leaf and then stopping at all the steps afterwards so that he can "eat" the leaf and not move past it. It's easiest to first create a path using their paper forward arrows, then use that path to turn the dials on the Code-a-pillar. The Little Mr. eventually wanted to stop using the arrows and preferred to just figure it out in his head though, so you're welcome to do whichever your toddler prefers.
Get the second leaf and position both leaves at different distances directly in front of the Code-a-pillar. Make sure that the Code-a-pillar will be able to get to both leaves by just using the 5 steps it has.
Once your child can do all that consistently by himself, you can move onto the Stage 2 Code-a-pillar activities (coming soon)!
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