Botley The Coding Robot – Review and Giveaway

{Botley was gifted to us for the purposes of this review and giveaway, thoughts are my own and honest}
Meet Botley, the screen-free coding robot that my kids have come to love. It’s cute, simple to operate and a great alternative to programming apps and games that require screen time or internet usage.

Unboxing Botley – What’s in the box?

Included in the box when Botley first arrives, you’ll get:

• Botley the Coding Robot
• Remote programmer
• Detachable robot arms
• 40 Coding cards
• 6 Double-sided tiles
• 27 Obstacle building pieces
• Started guide with coding challenges

Our First Impressions of Botley the Coding Robot

All three of my children were super curious and excited to get into the box, the little peep window adds to the excitement.
Botley is small and cute. It looks and acts a little like a remote control toy and I guess in a way it is but it does a lot more. I did see somewhere in the packaging that it is ready to use straight from the box but actually is does need batteries that are not included. (You’ll need 5 AAA in total). It’s aimed at the 5+ age group and I think that’s probably about right. It introduces basic coding language such as programming, loop, if/then and so on.

Botley has 4 small coloured lights and a button on top, the lights correspond to its actions. It talks, it can detect objects in front of it and had soft rubbery wheels that help it grip the floor (it works better on hard or smooth floors rather than carpet) I love that there is no screen involved. We’ve done other coding challenges and lessons which have required internet use and computers but this doesn’t need any of that.

What does Botley do?

Botley is a great introduction to coding concepts. There are two functions which you can choose from by sliding the switch underneath – Line or Code.
The Line option is fairly self-explanatory in that it follows a black line. The 6 double-sided puzzle shaped boards fit together and one side of them is white with a black line. Just put the pieces together and place Botley anywhere along the line and it will follow it along, round and round. Even if it comes to the end it will turn round and carry on again.

The Code option is slightly more in-depth.
You start by pressing a sequence of instructions for Botley to follow – For example if you press the forward green arrow, then the blue right turn arrow and then the forward green arrow again, and then ‘send’ that program to Botley, it will flash its lights to say its instruction is received, and then move forward, turn to the right and move forward again.
You can send a sequence of up to 100 steps so your child can certainly build up the instructions as they advance.

To practice these steps, we used the sticks and cubes to make a small maze and Dexter tried to make Botley push a ball through to the goal. We used the coding cards to help him keep track of the steps.
I LOVED the trial and error aspect of this and watching him figure it out and keep persevering until he got it. ( You can see this on my instastories if you want to look)

In the instruction booklet, there are a few easter eggs for you to try out such as making Botley say ‘Wheeeee’ or make it dizzy. It also gives you challenges that introduce you to more coding concepts such as ‘if/then’ (‘if’ an object is in its way, ‘then’ do these steps) and ‘loop’ (where certain parts of a program can be looped or repeated.
It’s worth keeping hold of the instruction booklet to refer back to and to practice the different challenges.

Who is Botley aimed at?

Botley is aimed at a target age group of 5+
Paisley has not long turned 4 and she enjoys using some of the less complicated challenges. I would suggest that depending of course on the child in question, 4-8 years is a good age group.
At the time of writing, Botley is available from Learning Resources directly for the cost of £79

Botley the Coding Robot: A Summary

Cute, screen-free coding toy, friendly features and easy to use. Good size controller, well made. Botley is suitable for 5+ years and is a fantastic product for basic coding activities such as following a black line, following instructions, object detection and performing loops.
Any negatives..?
I think the motor could be a little more powerful. Even with brand new batteries, it’s not great on carpet.
Also, perhaps instead of the challenges being in the instruction booklet, they could have been printed on to laminated ‘lesson cards’ to work through – But I’m sure I could probably put something together myself like that.

Botley’s Crashin’ Construction Set

Along with our Botley, the kind people at Learning Resources also sent us one of their brand new Botley accessories.
The crashin’ construction set contains scoop, crane and wrecking ball attachments along with a signpost and a few crates for your child to create their own challenges. My three love using the wrecking ball to knock down towers.

Win your own Botley and Crashin’ Construction Set

As part of this review, Learning Resources are giving you the opportunity to win your very own Botley!
Not only that, but they’re also throwing in a Crashin’ Construction Set too!
There are lots of ways to enter using the gleam form below. If you want to use the option to enter by leaving a comment, I have a few suggestions or prompts you could use…
Why not tell me who you would like to win this for. Or why STEM education is important. Perhaps you could let me know your child’s STEM hero or what your favourite Learning Resources toy is (if you have any)
Good luck, I look forward to announcing the winner soon!

Botley the Coding Robot and Crashin' Construction Set

This giveaway is to win Botley the Coding Robot and Botley’s Crashin’ Construction Set
Giveaway will run from Monday 17th February 2020. Giveaway closes 11:59 PM, UK time on Saturday 29th Feb
The Giveaway is open to UK residents only.
The prize will not be shipped to non-UK addresses.
The winner will be selected at random by Gleam and contacted in due course.
The winner will need to reply within a reasonable amount of time with the correct information needed for shipping the prize. Failure to do so will result in their prize being void and a new winner selected.
Information gathered via entry will only be used for the purposes of this giveaway and will not be passed on to any third parties.
No purchase necessary.