Botley, Integrating CS with Curriculum for PreK – 2nd Grades

Instructor(s): Peney E. Wright, Eric Yoder

Description of Activity: Botley uses a remote control and floor cards, that fit together like a puzzle, for young students to learn computational thinking and basic coding concepts.  It can even detect lines to follow and detects objects in its path.  No computer programming experience necessary! Botley is screen-free and uses five AAA batteries. There are no apps to download. Children code Botley by sending spatial commands moving it forward, backward, left or right. Physical arrow cards are used to lay out the coding path before sending the commands to Botley and debugging, as needed. Partners can code Botley using critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration.

Botley is a lot of fun to use and comes with many engaging challenges and open-ended activities, at varying difficulty levels. Build mazes with obstacles to move around or through, push objects to a target goal, use its detachable arms to carry or push objects, can be used on additional plastic floor mats or fadeless paper for projects. Unlock secret codes for sound effects, tricks, characters and adding extra coding steps. Integrates well into other subject areas, especially with retelling and sequencing.

Class sets of Botley, the Coding Robot, are available for check out from TIU 11’s Lending Library after completing the workshop.

Audience: PreK – 2nd grade educators, library media specialists, special education educators