Okay, no, Botley is not a game. It’s a programmable robot, perfect for preschoolers through early elementary. Robots, programming, and STEM/STEAM not only are hot topics in today’s world, but they’ve been keen points of interest in my house. So it was important for me to enable this, and Botley fit the bill for a number of years.
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One change I would make…
Our Botley set came with obstacle course pieces and puzzle piece-like boards to help with programming. The instructions came with several challenges to work your way through. However, my kids prefer putting Botley on the line reading function and having him follow the line on the other side of those boards. If I could change one thing about Botley, it would be to remove that function, so my kids could focus on actually programming the robot.
The remote works well, though one thing that can take a bit to remember, and can be rather annoying if/when you forget, is that unless you erase what you previously programmed, it just adds to the program. So if you program “forward, forward, right, forward, left” but then, from where it is now, you want it to go “forward, left, forward, left, forward”, you need to remember to erase the previous program before you enter the next steps in. Otherwise, when you press “send” again, Botley will go “forward, forward, right, forward, left, forward, left, forward, left, forward”. Great if you always restart from the beginning of an obstacle course, not so great if you don’t.
If your kids have enjoyed Robot Turtles, then the included direction cards will really help and act as a nice bridge between Robot Turtles and the Botley.
Botley the coding robot has been a huge win!
Overall, Botley has been a great addition to our homeschooling resources. I thought I would add the additional obstacle course pieces that are available separately, but we haven’t used our Botley enough to feel like that’s necessary. One of my favorite features, though, is the hard case we got for our Botley; it holds everything that comes with the original set, plus even has a little pouch for small pieces, so nothing gets lost. I’m sure that if we didn’t have the hard case, I’d be perpetually frustrated with the entire thing, we’d have lost many pieces, and I’m sure it would have found a new home long since. But with the case, Botley and accessories stay safe and sound. Mom win!
If you want to watch my daughter playing with Botley, check out our YouTube video.