Cubetto: A coding tutor for kids as young as three

Cubetto by Primo Toys is a kid-friendly, wooden robot that teaches kids to code in a way they can see and touch.

Primo Toys have created a toy that could teach 3-year-old kids to code before they can read. By combining Montessori learning principles with computer programming concepts, Primo Toys created Cubetto, a wooden robot that needs to be told how to get home.

The little wooden robot comes with a Board or command line that would be used to send instructions to Cubetto. Using blocks, the child sets up the main sequence (A), a subroutine (B), and a Go button (C).

“Our blocks are a new, procedural programming language. Much like LOGO was back in the 70's, except you can touch it! Each block is a specific and unambiguous instruction, easy to recognise and combine into a meaningful sequence,” reads the toy’s campaign page.

Cubetto’s blocks are a physical representation of an unambiguous instruction or code that children can touch. It encourages computational thinking, which is about breaking down tasks into a logical sequence of steps to reach an objective.

Kids can make up to 50 million sequences with the blocks and the entire system was designed to appeal to both boys and girls. “We’ve designed it based on two universal symbols that are the same for all genders and cultures: A cube and a smile,” says Primo Toys.

It is also designed to accommodate the visually impaired: “Cubetto works with shapes, movement and sound. Turning code into something you can touch is changing the way non-sighted, partially sighted and sighted children can now learn the basics of computational thinking in the same setting.”