Are you looking for a hot toy this holiday season? Well you need to check out the Ozobot Bit, the world’s smallest programmable robot. This little robot gamifies STEM and computer science learning for kids through game based activities and digital apps! When I first received this robot, I have to admit, at first I was really nervous that I wouldn’t understand the toy and be able to explain it to my kids, but the Ozobot Bit is very easy to operate!

About Ozobot Bit

The robot is programmed by users using its custom block-based programming editor, OzoBlockly. If you are familiar with Scratch, Hopscotch, App Inventor, Tynker or Tickle App, then OzoBlockly will fee very intuitive to the users. Essentially, block-based programming is very similar to brick building toys in that you assemble bricks of commands to build your program. OzoBlockly offers five modes from Novice (with icon-based blocks) to Master (with loops, logic and other advanced programming concepts).

My absolute FAVORITE part about this robot (and I just paused writing this post so I could send all of the info to my daughters teacher) is how this can be incorporated into the classroom. On the Ozobot website, there is a section with free STEM/STREAM lesson plans and workshops. Now I will admit, at first I was like “I really don’t see how my daughter would be using this in her 3rd grade classroom”, but I was SOOOOO wrong. Besides the computer science aspect of this Ozobot Bit robot, in that educators section, they have a lesson plan for using this robot in a literature lesson. As soon as I saw that, mind started going a mile a minute thinking about all the cool things kids and teachers could do with this little robot! Kids learn by doing. Thrown in a little technology and not only are they learning the material, so in this case, the story, but they are also thinking logically, working together in small groups and solving a problem (programming the robot).

Other Cool Features

• Program is loaded using light communication. No cables or Bluetooth — simply load through flashing lights!
• Built-in interactive reference guide, examples and challenges to get you started.
• OzoBlockly works in most modern web browsers running on PCs, Mac OS X, Windows and Linux and iOS and Android tablets.
• JavaScript preview mode (coming soon).

About Evollve, INC.

Our journey began in the spring of 2012 with an idea of finding creative ways to engage young minds and prepare them to succeed in an evolving digital world. Technology is an essential component to daily living and is integrated in almost everything we use and consume. At its core is computer science, critical thinking and programming and we believe it is our responsibility to teach our kids to not just be users of technology but makers of it. 

We also believe that the best way to learn is to have fun, so we set out to create Ozobot, a robotic gaming ecosystem that promotes social interaction, computational thinking and confidence building through competitive play and interactive games.

Since its launch, Ozobot has garnered over a dozen of top industry awards such as 2015 KAPi Awards, CES 2015 Editors’ Choice Awards, and the 2015 Brain Toy award.

If you are still looking for that one cool toy to get your kids this holiday season, definitely pick up one of these! Not only will your kids love it, but they will be learning while they play!!

Buy Ozobot Bit HERE!