Build, code & play with JIMU Robots

Thank you UBTECH for sponsoring this post. JIMU Robots are a fun way to bring robotics into kid’s day to day and make the perfect gift you can feel good about gifting to the children in your lives this holiday season!It’s incredibly important to me that I introduce my kids to all aspects of STEM-based learning, especially my girls. In our schools, science and math are heavily covered, but throughout the years, I’ve seen that the other aspects of STEM learning could use some help, specifically in interesting those who aren’t naturally technically-inclined. Since introducing kids to these concepts early is paramount, I’ve done my best to choose toys and activities for my kids that fall into the categories that aren’t covered as wholly at school. In my search, I’ve found my new favorite toy that truly makes STEM learning fun: The JIMU Robot System.Seriously, what could possibly be more fun than building your own working robot? In my youth, the idea of a robot was just about the coolest thing a kid could imagine, but sadly, we just weren’t there yet with technology. We had remote control robots whose movements were anything but precise, and whose range was roughly arms-length. But even with our lack of available technology, that didn’t keep us from dreaming of a day when we could make our own robot just the way we liked it and then watch as our robot responded to a series of commands we had set.That day is now, and the kids of today don’t even realize how incredibly lucky they are. Just holding the box that our JIMU Robot came in made me extremely happy, and I couldn’t wait to start work on our Astrobot Series Cosmos Kit from JIMU.Upon opening the box, I was expecting to find an instruction book that took up most of the space in the kit. You know, the kind of instruction manual that could pass as a classic literature novel that my kids make three pages in before ditching and I end up doing for them. What I found instead was that the kit contained neatly organized pieces that were just begging to be built and then two single cards. One of those cards was a contents guide and the other was instructions on how to build your JIMU robot online using their award winning interactive robotic building block system. I was intrigued.I downloaded the JIMU Robot App and the kids went wild. Even though we are mostly screen-free around here, we make exceptions when it means that the kids are learning the basics of coding, robotics, and engineering. Obviously, the building of their very own customizable and codeable robot definitely falls under that umbrella, and the kiddos were crazy excited. We were already off to a great start.We chose to build the original Cosmo bot, but keep in mind that kids are not relegated to only the robot{s} on the packaging. JIMU encourages kids to dismantle and build their own robot creations however they would like, for whatever applications they can dream up.

I couldn’t help but feel pride as I watched my kids navigate the app, enjoying all the 3D graphics and spinning each piece to see how they all connected. Since you need to click through to each step and see how it connects it takes a while to come together, but the upside of that is that is moves at whatever pace you are comfortable and you never get lost or confused as you are building. The brilliance of the build-at-your-own-pace design is that it allows multiple ages of children to help out, which I really appreciate since our kiddos span 6 years and this type of building is completely new to them.Once our little Cosmo JIMU robot got all finished,  the playing continued with their free app. I went in to take some pictures of them as they were just starting to play, and I suggested that they make their robot’s eyes light up. What happened was pretty amazing. My oldest daughter coded me a sequence in about 10 seconds flat in which Cosmo’s eyes would light up and the hands would move, but the bot wouldn’t spin or start rolling so it would make it easier for me to photograph. All by herself, with absolutely no training on how the app worked or even being told how to get to the coding screen.If you know my oldest, this is an incredibly big accomplishment. This is the same child who has been almost entirely screen-free her entire decade of life. The one that only recently was allowed access to Chromebooks and tablets in school, and our least tech savvy child. But, honestly, this is exactly why we were so excited about her having her very own JIMU bot to play with and learn the basics of robotics.This isn’t like handing a kid a tablet and assuming they will learn computing, this is real learning that is intuitive and fun and helps them with real world applications. Because STEM learning with JIMU Robots enables kids to learn coding from a young age, our hope is that these skills she is learning now will help her basic coding skills, and ideally help us encourage her to put some of her emphasis on STEM tracks in middle and high school.Every time I hear stats on employment, I’m shocked at the disparity from men and women in technical and engineering fields. As much as I would love to see more school-sponsored help encouraging girls in STEM, ultimately it’s up to us parents to introduce fun and exciting activities that can help girls choose tracks in STEM fields. It’s products like JIMU that can encourage our girls to explore within the STEM subjects while having fun, being creative, and learning.Our JIMU Robot is one of the very best investments we have made for our family and has proven to be a fun family activity for all of us. But the real bonus is that all three kids seem to have really absorbed the basics of building step-by-step in 3D, basic coding, and, of course, playing. When I think of all the toys that make kids’ holiday wishlists, there aren’t very many that I feel fall under the category of “learning toy”, but that is absolutely the case with JIMU Robots. It truly is something us parents can feel great about purchasing and something that will keep the kiddos’ interest, all while encouraging them to explore different sides of technology than they have ever seen before.JIMU Robots are THE gift for all kids this holiday season! JIMU Robots come in multiple different series to appeal to all types of interests, so be sure to check out the entire JIMU line at Target!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.