KinderLab Robotics has announced the release of its new line of KIBO robot kits, the KIBO Home Edition! These bots are available for a limited time and make a great holiday gift for young kids. This new line was created to support parents and kids during this ongoing pandemic. With all of the limitations of social distancing and a lot of parents not feeling comfortable sending their kids to school in-person, this is the perfect way to have some fun education from home.
Jason Innes, KinderLab’s Director of Curriculum, Training, and Product Management said that “We’ve heard from many parents who are struggling to find new ways to keep their children engaged and excited about learning when schooling is limited or remote,” and continued by saying, “Unlike so many other ‘tech toys' for young kids, KIBO is screen-free, open-ended, and creative. KIBO is based on extensive research about how young children learn abstract concepts like coding and the design process—and that’s by getting off the screen and engaging with physical toys, movement, and concrete play”.
The KIBO Home Edition Robot Kit is an affordable way for families to bring this screen-free coding and engineering toy home for the holidays. It’s a great gift to introduce kids into the world of coding and robots by offering them a fun experience for the entire family to join in on. They’ve done a lot of research on what was needed to be done in order to get children back into engagement with physical toys by diverting their attention to something intriguing. The kits are aimed at children in the age group of 4-7 years old.
Besides the coding and engineering aspects of the robots, there’s a ton of creativity to play around with to truly bring them to life. KIBO encourages creativity and imagination by building onto it with arts and crafts materials, creating stories, choreographing dance routines, turning it into a vehicle, an animal habitat, and even more. The top of KIBO is actually a whiteboard faceplate so feel free to draw on it with some markers or put the included paper “costumes” onto it!
In order to program the KIBO, you and your kiddos will scan the included barcode cards with the build-in scanner on the bot. Just push its button and watch him go! It’s a really rewarding experience for not only your children to learn the art of coding but it’s a proud moment for parents to see their kids’ creative horizons expanding. KinderLab decided on using these cards instead of an app to again, divert kids’ attention from those dreaded phone and tablet screens, creating a hands-on experience.
There are 2 different kits to choose from so let’s dive in!
$149 - KIBO 10 Home Edition includes:
KIBO Robot
Wheels and Motors
Scannable Cards
$199 - KIBO 15 Home Edition includes:
KIBO Robot
Wheels and Motors
Scannable Cards
KIBO’s Light Bulb Module
Sound Sensor Module
Additional Commands (expands the engineering and programming options)
Wooden Art Stage (enhances the storytelling and imaginative play possibilities)
KIBO Home Edition is available for a limited time during the 2020 holiday season and can be picked up on the KinderLab Robotics web-store right here! The KIBO Home Edition is also compatible with a bunch of the extensions, add-on sensors, modules, and parts that you can find on the web-store as well. This makes it so that KIBO is able to grow as does your child. As I wrap it up I’d like to leave you with a quote by Mitch Rosenberg, CEO of KinderLab Robotics, “We wanted to create a solution for families looking for hands-on toys to supplement what is happening in the classroom, during distance learning, in a homeschool environment or in a learning pod,” he proceeds to say, “The KIBO Home Edition offers an engaging, age-appropriate way for young children to learn complex STEAM concepts in computer science and engineering. The KIBO Home Edition makes a wonderful holiday gift for your young, inquisitive learner.”
