December 7-13 is Computer Science Education Week. You can join in with one of our favorite “unplugged” CS games at home!
Start by telling your child that you going to pretend to be a robot and they will be the computer programming who writes the code for the robot to complete.
Some kid friendly definitions:
Code or program – step by step directions that a computer follows exactly as written
Robot – machine, usually controlled by a computer, that can do tasks
– Pick a simple task (like walk across the room or pick up a cup from the table) and ask your child to “program” you to do that task.
– Make sure you do exactly what they say — don’t interpret. For example if they say walk, start walking and don’t stop; if you walk into a wall, just keeping “walking” into the wall.
– If they tell you something that you (a robot) can’t do (because there’s no space, because you don’t know how, etc.), make a funny “error” noise. For example, if they say pick up the cup and put in in the bucket, make the error sound. That’s too many steps at once, and it needs to be broken down and simplified.
– Depending on the age of your child, you can have them use larger or smaller “chunks” of programming. For example:
Easier: “pick up cup”
Challenging: “place hand in front of yellow cup, open fingers, move hand forward, close fingers, lift hand”
– Discuss the important of simple, clear instructions for a program. What happens if the robot receives wrong or out of order instructions?
