Amazon STEM Toy Club is a monthly subscription box service that delivers an age-appropriate STEM toy that encourages any child to learn through play. The subscription costs $19.99 per per month, and the theme of the month can be anything from natural sciences to robotics. There’s always something new to discover in every box of Amazon STEM Toy Club!
There are three age ranges available for this box: 3-4 year old, 5-7 year old, and 8-13 year old. This is a review of the 5-7 year old box.
This an an Amazon subscription, so the toys arrive packed just like any other Amazon purchase. If you get multiple subscriptions, they will likely ship together.
Everything in our box! We ordered a subscription for two of the three available age ranges this month. No information card or other extras are shipped with the toy. This review will cover the 5-7 year old subscription.
Learning Resources Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity Set ($40.68): This kit teaches kids about coding in its most basic form.
The kit includes a rearrangeable surface to create your own maze, plus a robot mouse to navigate it using commands you program!
Though the set is provided through Amazon’s STEM Toy Club, it is designed for sale as a stand alone kit and has the professional packaging you’d expect in a store bought kit.
The included Activity Guide contains instructions to get you started.
The booklet is only long because it is printed in four languages – the instructions are simple and easy to memorize in moments.
Everything in the kit.
The Mouse can drive forward, backward, turn 90 degrees right or left, or perform tricks. The trick button programs the mouse to randomly perform one of three actions – squeaking loudly, chirping with eyes flashing, or moving forward then back. The mouse reacts to the cheese when he reaches it by squeaking and having lights in his eyes flash.
The large buttons are easy to program. The mouse remembers the programmed directions until you clear them, even if you turn the power off. The mouse has two speed settings, and he can maneuver on the floor or table, too, enabling you to design any kind of course you like.
The kit includes challenge cards with suggested layouts for the board.
Direction cards aid in laying out a program. Your child can lay out the code step-by-step before programming the mouse. The mouse will remember up to 40 individual directions.
The kit includes a pile of purple wall sections and a few gates.
The flooring comprises sixteen interchangeable panels that can be arranged in a square, rectangle, strip, or any combination thereof.
The kids loved this STEM toy, and it was really easy to get started on right away. The programming instructions are very simple, and the setup of the board is intuitive, so there was no barrier to getting coding immediately.
They liked designing courses for the mouse, but they really enjoyed programming the mouse to complete the maze in silly ways – spinning in circles, going backwards, and doing tricks. This was best Amazon STEM toy we’ve received so far from a standpoint of immediate engagement in the intended way.
If you received something different than our family, let us know in the comments!
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