Makeblock Mtiny Coding Kit, Early Education Smart Robot Toy
“The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say: the children are now working as if I did not exist”
Maria Montessori
It is a complex educational toy for kindergartens and schools, worthy of the 21st century, in which smart education is considered important. The toy is very complete, consisting of: 1 smart robot, with an attractive and friendly panda-bear shape, 1 remote control, 1 USB 2.0 charger with two micro USB 2.0 outputs, used to charge both devices, the robot and the remote control, at the same time.
The kit contains two boxes. In the first box we find the Panda robot, the remote control, the charging cable and a handle-type device used during play as a card holder. There is an envelope with three masks that let the robot dress up as another little animal (a cat, a puppy and a chick), two booklets with a guide and play ideas, and sets of cards with different signs and commands used to program the routes the robot follows.
The second box contains two sets of puzzle-type tracks, three cardboard sheets from which the left-right-forward signs and the cards with different emotions can be pressed out, and a transparent envelope holding the theme booklets and the game's user manual.
The Panda robot's eyes work as a smart screen, showing not only the signs linked to the emotions and moods it expresses during play, but also the battery level of both devices, robot and remote control, as well as whether the remote is connected, so that if the remote control is not paired with the robot, a question mark appears in its eyes.
The Panda robot should be seen as a baby animal, a baby panda bear that needs care: it must be fed, taken to a show or the circus, it can be taught to play the piano, to read, to follow the traffic rules on the street, and many other activities and habits that kindergarten children also need to learn in the pre-school years, a stage in which, although play remains the main activity, it begins to connect with educational tasks.
The Panda robot will come to life in the hands of its little carers, who will become teachers for their new “friend”, and for themselves too, as they deepen what they have learned.
The toy is complex, and the activities it offers the little ones help with psychomotor and sensory development, as well as with the development of intelligence and thinking.
Learning activities, moods, emotions and behaviours through play is the core idea behind this smart robot, and it gives teachers both a tool for teaching through play, the main method also used by scout organisations, which has won young people over for more than a decade, stimulating, among many other skills, the imagination of the little explorers, and an effective way of engaging the whole class, developing team spirit.
The robot was tested both by adults, teachers and parents, to study the complexity of the game, and by children, our experts in games, to see the honest reactions that using the Panda robot produces and the skills it develops in children in a short time.
The results were positive, from adults and children alike, and the final conclusion was summed up in the words of the educator Maria Montessori, decades ago:
Maria Montessori
As for the cost and where it can be bought, the importer of the Panda robot bear, or rather the Makeblock Mtiny Coding Kit, Early Education Smart Robot Toy, is Inovum srl, which imports and sells several types of smart robots used in education, including the Panda robot.
The price of a complete Panda robot set is 2330 – 2890 RON, depending on the number of units purchased.
Together with my team, we recommend this educational game, as we consider it one of the most complete games on the Romanian market today.
Koteles Dieter
11/11/2021 – Oradea
