
SINGLE INCURSION

PLAYCODE KIDS
RECOMMENDED CENTRE TYPE: ELC
RECOMMENDED AGE GROUP: 3 to 5 years old
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CHILDREN: 25
LENGTH OF WORKSHOP: 60 minutes
REQUIREMENTS: Open space area
ALL MATERIALS INCLUDED
PRICE: $450
"Coding for kids is a fundamentally creative process – starting with nothing and finishing with something." ~ Cubetto
At JC Ingeium, we believe that coding skills are a vital aspect of a well-rounded education for children. Academics and educators around the world are increasingly recommending that coding and programming skills form part of early and primary school education.
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Introducing young children to the concepts of algorithms, buds and queues helps them to develop important skills, such as problem solving, teamwork and creativity.
​Why should kids learn coding and computational thinking at all?
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Coding nurtures creative expression
Coding for kids is, at its core, a creative process. The sense of satisfaction that a child experiences after completing a code from scratch is not to be underestimated. Coding encourages children to become resourceful and imaginative, and opens up a world of infinite possibility.
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​Programming requires persistence and problem-solving
Creating codes through programming becomes increasingly frustrating as the complexity of those codes increases. Rather than allowing frustration to deter their efforts, coding teaches children to think outside the box and find alternative solutions​ rather than giving up at the first sign of difficulty.
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Children learn by thinking about doing
Programming the Cubetto robot to perform a sequence teaches children to think about what they want the robot to achieve. This is a fundamental analytical skill - the consideration of how to achieve a goal, step by step - that will benefit children in other areas of their learning journey.
We bring enough sets to create small groups where children can have an enhanced face-to-face learning experience. Our Presenter will introduce Cubetto to the children and demonstrate what it can do and how children can interact with it. An invitation to feel Cubetto is an exciting opportunity that children will not want to miss!
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Our friendly staff will outline clear guidelines for the children, so they all get a turn at the Robot Stations that have been set up. This is essential, as these robots are REAL. They are not toys, so care has to be taken.
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After this introduction, the children engage in hands-on play with Cubetto.
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HANDS-ON PLAY WITH CUBETTO!
​After meeting the control board, blocks and Cubetto robot, we create a list of questions about them, talk about what the children can see, find out what Cubetto can and can’t do, and discover what surprises them about Cubetto. Children are asked to identify Cubetto's emotions, with the robot displaying happy, sad, surprised or worried expressions. We try out ways of making Cubetto move and stick faces on it.
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Our aim during this single incursion is to encourage children to understand directions and explore with the blocks, the map and Cubetto. Directions are not easy to comprehend at early age, but through play and an interactive learning experience with the Cubetto resources, children will be able to identify their left and right by the end of the incursion.
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Children also have the opportunity to take Cubetto on different "adventures" to achieve specific goals.
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SKILLS & CONCEPTS EXPLORED
Communication
Physical exercise
Social - Emotional
Mathematics
Logical reasoning
Programming
Algorithms
The queue
Debugging
Recursions
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LEARNING OUTCOMES
​By the end of the incursion children will be able to:
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talk about Cubetto’s parts
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understand how Cubetto's face changes when happy/sad
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make Cubetto move
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take turns
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explain what an algorithm is
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use and name left/right turns
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