Learning about programming concepts at a young age should simple, fun, and more like a game because, at those ages, children are able to soak up far more information compared to when they’re older.
This idea motivated the English-based Primo Toys to create Primo, a physical toy used to teach young children foundational concepts of coding. Now, three years later after a successful Kickstarter, Primo Toys is back again with an updated version of Primo: the Cubetto.
The Cubetto is a refinement of the original Primo with smaller pieces and more streamlined design. There are three elements to the Cubetto platform: Cubetto itself, a small box with a smile that follows the commands given to him, a physical programming console board, and a set of 16 blocks (4 forward, 4 right, 4 left, and 4 function commands) to program the board. The goal of Cubetto is to get it from one point to the next on an illustrated board that represents different sections of its companion story books. When it comes all comes together,
Cubetto is a Montessori-based learning system for children ages 3 and up that encapsulates elements of programming and logic without the inclusion of a single digital interface — an impressive feat in and of itself. $195 gets parents and educators a Cubetto playset, slated to ship in September 2016. Primo Toys is looking for $100,000 by April 7th, 2016 to see success.
The Cubetto is an extremely intelligent product, borne from smart thinking about very real concerns. Programming literacy in the 21st century is only proving to be more and more integral and a product like Cubetto, which doesn’t require children to even know how to read, gives little ones access to these very important concepts. Considering Primo Toys’ desire to set a global standard on programming education, it seems like the company is going in the right direction.