Sphero - SPRK+ - Blue

My 10 year old daughter loves it. She does simple drag and drop programming and also can use programs other users have created. It is teaching her the basics of how programming works and has "sparked" her interest in programming. The Sphero can do so much that it will grow with her programming ability and understanding! My only complaints: she put it on the charger the first time and it continued to charge for over 24 hours. When she told me it was still charging, I checked it and it was very warm. I took it off, let it cool and it worked fine. She is more careful about how she places it on the charger and that has not happened again. It has had an update since then so maybe that fixed the problem. Also I wish it had more powerful motor, sometimes when rolling slowly it can get stuck on surfaces that are not pretty smooth.

Since my 12 year old 7th grader is taking computer science and seemed to be excited when telling me about learning to program and use robots in his class, I mistakenly thought he'd enjoy getting to experiment with this at home. I was wrong. He used it for about a week. The robot itself works as designed. He programmed it to go in and out of several rooms in the house and he also used his phone to control it in real time. However, after that he became bored with it. It was easy to download the app and sync the unit with his phone and my tablet. Now, it just sits on his desk.

My kids, ages 6, 9, and 11 got sprk for Christmas. They have been playing with it all day lomg except when it needs a charging break. They haven't tried programming it yet, just playing with it like an RC car. However, it is amazing! Only complaints are controlling it takes a bit of practice and the packaging comes with very little instructions printed (just a couple pictures showing you to charge it and download app... like IKEA imstuctions). I would prefer a more substantial manual to be included.

We got this for our daughter for Christmas when she plays with it she has a blast! At first it takes some learning and patience to learn how to control it. A mistake is to think it operates like a remote control car. Throw that notion out the window! I would recommend this for older kids who can take the time to read the instruction manual or watch online videos- doing that will reduce frustration. I Would also Recommend using it in a clear space and getting one of the gell covers

My 7 year old took an Apple Camp and got to program with Ozobots. He really enjoyed the camp and asked for an Ozobot for Christmas. This is an educational toy used with their app. You can make the Ozobot move and it also comes with some tape with measurements on top and you can stick on the floor and try to maneuver the Ozobot within the tape.

I bought this for my curious 8 year old for Christmas. He loves how easy it is to use with his iPad. My husband was impressed with the app and how easy it was to learn basic programming from it. The Spark is almost indestructible. My sons have thrown down the stairs, kicked it around, and even thrown it in the pool and the things keeps working just fine.

I both this for my 8 year old because she tried it at school and liked it, but once she had it at home she lost interest fast as kids often do with toys. I did find it difficult to program myself, and she struggled with it, it takes a lot of time to get to more advanced programming.

Got this for my daughter after her time using it at the Apple Store! It’s an awesome way to introduce your child to coding. It’s easy to use and fun to drive around. Very durable so far too (she’s whacked this into a few walls so far and it’s holding up great!)