Friends, exciting things are happening at Pitsco!

In November, we officially announced our partnership with TTS, which will expand and grow early learning opportunities for children everywhere. We are all aware that hands-on learning begins early in a child’s development and that a child naturally learns through exploration and play – both extremely important qualities for STEM-based experiences. 

Just ask any parent of little ones and they will tell you. In order to develop and learn about the world around them, young children need to touch, feel, and get hands on. As a dad to two kids under the age of four, I know how important exploration and playing is.

Through our new partnership with TTS, we will carry a wide range of STEM and coding offerings for young learners. One of those offerings is the Bee-Bot^® Programmable Robot. 

Bee-Bot is a programmable floor robot that is a must-have for any early learner. Recommended for pre-K to Grade 2, it’s a fantastic starting point for developing the basic building blocks for programming skills, understanding logical sequences, and problem-solving.

I recently had the opportunity to take Bee-Bot home with me, allowing my soon-to-be four-year-old daughter, Ruby, to experience it firsthand. She had a WONDERFUL time!

Easy Start-up

As she opened the box and began exploring her new favorite robot (as she called it 😊), one thing I noticed almost immediately is the ease of use. You can literally get started in seconds! There is no software to download, so after Bee-Bot is charged, you are ready to go. 

Now with Ruby, I did need to give her a brief rundown of what each button (up, down, left, and right) does to Bee-Bot. Other than that, she was ready to go with a little bit of guidance along the way. 

With some older learners, say ages 5-7, they might need less guidance than she did. Nonetheless, it’s easy to catch on and get used to.

Who Needs a Screen, Anyway?

As a parent to a young one, I really liked the fact that it doesn’t require a screen in order to operate. Young learners get enough screen time as it is, so for her to be able to play and enjoy Bee-Bot on the floor was awesome. I believe that with Bee-Bot being screen free, it allowed for more creativity. 

For example, there was one time where Ruby was pretending that Bee-Bot was Santa Claus, and it was traveling around on the mat delivering presents to different locations. She was using the buttons to guide Bee-Bot to where it needed to go. As stated before, she did need a little guidance, but she recognized something was wrong when it didn’t go to where she thought it should.

But, I thought that was cool that she came up with that idea without a screen being involved in the playing!

Cross-Curricular

Looking at Bee-Bot from an educational perspective, it’s a unique tool. One thing I really like about Bee-Bot is that it can be easily implemented for many school subjects. I think it’s becoming more and more important to find solutions that can cover many different areas of study.

While some mats are included with Bee-Bot, you can certainly customize mats of your own to cover many topics.

• You can cover geography with a mat that displays your state or country (or you can just go with the Bee-Bot^® World Map).
• You can teach history with a mat that shows different periods in history.
• You can create and customize a mat that helps the learners grasp the alphabet more.

There are so many mat options that can encourage cross-curricular concepts. What are some options you can think of for a mat that may work with your students?

Flexible Purchasing Options

At Pitsco, we like to provide you with options that best fit your classroom and environment. Bee-Bots are available as a single set or a class pack. Each Bee-Bot comes with a USB cord so that it can be charged easily and quickly. 

In addition, the Bee-Bot app can supplement the floor-style programming. The app is available in both the Google Play and Apple Store. While the app is not meant to substitute the student experience with the Bee-Bot itself, it can be helpful during these tough pandemic times.

Bee-Bot provides a fun way to teach the basic foundational elements of programming, coding, and logical sequences. Early learners can take hold of their learning and learn at their own pace. When children are playing, they are learning, and I’m so thankful Bee-Bot allows for those opportunities to explore and play. 

I know Ruby, my daughter, had a blast. In fact, she told me she would love one for Christmas 😊. Perhaps it could be a gift for a child you know as well!

Thank you for all you do. Please be safe during this holiday season!