Smithsonian Magazine: Ten Engineer-Selected STEM Toys to Give as Gifts in 2023
The KIBO Robot is listed as a top 5 engineering toy in Smithsonian Magazine’s “Ten Engineer-Selected STEM Toys to Give as Gifts!” The article features products that have been reviewed (by educators and children!) and tested for their educational merit as top toys focused on science, technology, engineering and math.
“Each gift really helps children explore what it means to be an engineer in some way. While play doesn’t need to have a specific educational purpose, a lot of the skills required for engineering are first learned through toys. For example, even something as simple as building blocks strengthens spatial reasoning, or the ability to understand and visualize how objects move in three dimensions. Toys that require assembly can build fine motor skills, and games based on coding promote computational and logical thinking. Design-focused toys might teach kids to test and improve on different constructions.”
Twenty-seven toys are featured in this year’s full engineer-approved gift guide, with KIBO in the top five!
About KIBO
“The KIBO 15 STEAM Robot teaches kids how to code without a single screen involved. Children can scan barcodes on blocks, which are tied to commands that the robot will carry out in the order they are scanned. It can move, listen for noise and create a flashing light show, following the instructions of the young coder. ‘It’s a really fun way for students to be able to get at learning to think algorithmically—the way that you would talk to a computer.’
‘The great part about this is that it’s really free-form. You can make new challenges. You can make little obstacle courses. You can try new things.’”
Check out the full article!
