A follow-up to the Bee-Bot Review:
Yesterday on Twitter, my fellow robot enthusiast Sharon asked: “If you have a beebot, how are you using the cards? Feeling like they aren’t needed. Showing vs. doing, doing wins, right?” I responded, “I think you could use them to set up a route, point A to point B, if it advances one card-length.”
I didn’t want to leave it at “if,” so today I tested the Bee-Bot against the cards, and it does indeed advance one card-length. I’ve only used the Bee-Bot with the youngest of toddlers so far, and they truly do like pushing the buttons and watching things happen. As a way to keep them engaged a little longer, I’ve tried to get them to plan out Bee-Bot’s route, such as, “Have it move from here to knock down that stack of Legos” (appealing to their destructive tendencies). I think that’s when the cards become useful, as a tangible way to plot out a course and as a measuring tool for how far the Bee-Bot will advance.