Educational training and project kit for micro:bit

Are you having trouble finding ways to entertain your children at home and motivate them to learn new skills that will be valuable to their future at the same time? Then, meet EDU:BIT!

EDU:BIT is an educational toy designed with the purpose of simplifying STEM education and empower children with coding habilities, though a series of creative, hands-on activities. It consists of a PCB with multiple interesting components, such as LED’s (in all forms and shapes, even a matrix of them), motors, a potentiometer, push-buttons, a sound sensor, a piezo buzzer, and even cables, everything you need to connect the circuits.  The PCB is very well thought-out, avoiding the need for messy wires that come with breadboard projects, and some incredible attention to detail, containing even LED indicators for all the I/O pins. Besides, it is snappable, so that the sensors and the other components can be used separately on other projects and supports up to 2 DC motors and 3 servo motors.

The PCB is paired with a small book with a few coding games so that even young children can follow and code all by themselves. From these games, there are the popular twister wheel, rock paper scissors, snakes and ladders, and penalty shootout, where a cardboard goalkeeper is controlled by a servo motor to stop you from scoring. In the end, the children are presented with an application challenge that requires them to apply everything they have learned to build a useful project.

In the book, there are sections with flowcharts that show how to “break the code”, in a cartoon-ish style that seems very appealing. The coding itself is provided by building blocks, providing a high-level representation of the underlying Javascript or Python. This is where an adult can aid the learning process of their children, by making sure they are taking a glance at the language and engaging with it, not just dragging and dropping the block code. Speaking of engaging, the interface seems easy to use and suitable for kids.

The product itself is currently a Kickstarter project, launching later this month. The early backers receive a 47% discount, to if you fancy picking it up for your kids, this might be just the perfect time! On the website, there are a bunch of testimonials that describe this product as colorful and fun, simple, and enjoyable. Some reviews even touch on the potential it provides for teachers in schools, not just it teaches you to code or how the technologies work, but because it does so in such a fun, versatile and creative way.

EDU:BIT website: https://edubit.cytron.io

UPDATE 22/09/2020: The campaign will go live next Tuesday, 29th September 2020 at 8.30pm (GMT+8) on kickstarter.com

UPDATE 30/09/2020: The campaign is live on kickstarter.com

Please follow and like us: