Sphero Indi Student Kit – Screenless Coding Robot

I am a k-12 classroom teacher and grandmother of 3. I was fortunate enough to be able to get a class set (8) of Indis for my k-2 kiddos. They absolutely love it..no plans required! Just open the kits and let them loose.I did use the plans to introduce the cars but the included lessons seemed to get boring fast. I learned to give the kids a challenge and let them go. My first challenge was for them to make a bridge to get indi to cross between 2 chairs set up 1-2 feet apart from each other. Next they were challenged to create a bridge using only cardboard and masking tape: the car must start and end on the floor and the bridge must rise at least 5 inches off the floor. We ended up with 8 very different bridges! Then they started trying to get the cars to cross more than one bridge at a time! It was great fun and ended up being an exciting activity for our schoolwide steam night. For the family night, my kids set up their bridges and placed the tiles, the attending kids and family, used the cars and made their own adjustments to cross the bridges. I lovethese cars so much that I splurged and bought my own grands a set for when they visit me. So much learning!

This little car is so fun and easy to use, the cards have specific programs but they can be completely modified on the attached app.
I only wish it didn’t need an app, since it’d for a kid and sometimes he wants to use it and the phone might not be charged.

I’ve used Sphero Indi many times in the classroom and love the class sets, but I bought an individual one for my child for home. The robot itself is awesome for pre-readers to learn some basic algorithms and problem solving – but the quality of the color cards is not good for little ones. They get bent very easily and then don’t lay down flat for the robot to move over. I wish I had read more carefully because I would not have purchased this set.

I have a 4 and 5 year old they really love this thing. I would say the very first day we opened it we got at least 3 hours of entertainment time and during that time it was something they could play with together without me needing to directly sit there and help them. Definitely promotes creative thinking and problem solving. We loved this little robot programming thing. My only suggestion for improvement would be to make the little color tiles a bit sturdier (we also have a baby crawling around and several of the tiles got bent/folded (they still work, but the car can sometimes get stuck on the bent ones). Otherwise love it and I feel like they learn a lot from it, also really nice to have something non-screen that keeps them busy for a long time. Would highly recommend.