When we say there's robotics from the first grade of preschool at Colegio Encinos, some families worry: aren't they too little for technology? It's a fair question, and the answer is that robotics at that age has very little to do with screens.
What a three-year-old does in robotics
They build. They stack, fit pieces together, test whether the tower holds, watch it fall and try again. They follow a color sequence and then invent their own. They move a train along a track and decide which way it goes. All of that is the foundation of the thinking later used to program.
What it builds
- Logical thinking: if I do this, that happens.
- Sequences: the order of the steps matters.
- Fine motor skills: fitting small pieces together.
- Tolerance for frustration: failing is part of the game.
- Teamwork: agreeing on what to build.
- Language: explaining what they did and why.
Coding without a computer
From third grade of preschool, coding joins in: giving ordered instructions so that something happens. Many activities are done without a screen, using arrow cards, grids on the floor or small robots that move according to what the child programmed with buttons.
And then what?
In elementary school robotics becomes a project: designing, building and programming robots with motors and sensors. Our sixth-graders went all the way to the FIRST LEGO League Challenge, an international competition for school teams. It all started with blocks in preschool.
What you can do at home
- Building blocks with no instructions: let them invent.
- «Robot» games: you give instructions and they follow them, then swap.
- Simple recipes: following steps in order.
- Asking «what would happen if…?» while they play.
