Wonder Workshop Dash Robot
(Wonder Workshop $131)
Designed to introduce kids to beginning programming, this playful robot-like toy interacts with an android or iOS device via Bluetooth. If you’re giving this as a gift charge it up before giving it to kids who will want to play instantly. There are four different apps that you can use to interact with Dish. The easiest one is Go, that can be used to move Dash, make car horn and elephant trumpet sounds, or control lights. Or they can use the app Path to do exactly that. Players draw a path on the tablet screen and Dash follows the path. There is another app that is used with an add-on Xylophone ($40) that we have not tried. Another app, Blockly, is designed for kids 8 and up and is a more complex set of blocks that appears on the screen that you slide to the right and program a chain of events that Dash will follow. The Blocky app allows for far more interesting combinations of movement, sounds and lights. Marked for 5’s and up, this has a learning curve that will call for parents to assist at the start. There is also a smaller robot, Dot ($50) that can play along with Dash or be used independently with its own Wonder app.
Ages: Early School, Tweens
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award 2016
