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The Sphero family of robots are probably our favorite gift idea for the tween/teenage boy (or girl who loves that stuff). They are super cool and now have some amazing learning capabilities built right in. Sphero SPRK edition is unique because you can see how it’s working while you play with it since it’s see through!
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Sphero SPRK also has an awesome new app that lets you give your robot the orders with visual blocks representing code – their own C-based language called OVAL. Immediately see the connection between the program you created and how the guts of your Sphero work and react.
Robotics, coding, STEM challenges – SO much to love. This is the type of stuff I love seeing the boys play with because they are stretching their knowledge while feeling like all they’re doing is playing with a robot. They can take it as far as they want with programming or just play around with it until they want to break into the coding aspect.
How cool would it be to see one of these in classrooms all over the world?! I feel like it really pulls coding off of the computer and into something tangible for them to really interact with. There aren’t many occupations in the future where learning these concepts at a young age wouldn’t help.
I love seeing kids (and adults) come over and play with any of the Sphero robots, but they love checking out the SPRK version because they can see what’s inside. You can use the regular Sphero app with the SPRK version too so even younger kids can use it to just navigate around the house or yard while watching the insides move.
You’ll see this again on our holiday gift ideas for sure, I just thought it really deserved a post on it’s own! Do you have a Sphero of your own yet? You can get them on Amazon or directly from Sphero.
*Disclosure: we received a Sphero SPRK to check out but were not compensated or required to post. All opinions and these photos are our own (we’d share this no matter what that’s how much we love it).
