Has anyone used the Lego WeDo Robotics stuff?

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

I would love feedback on this. :001_smile:

[Jilly]

We've had this for almost a year. The first few weeks the kids built all the projects and had fun with it. Since then it has been played with only a few times. I thought my youngest son would enjoy it more, but he has just not been that interested. He told me it was boring, and that he would rather work with his brother on the Mindstorm. :glare:

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

We've had this for almost a year. The first few weeks the kids built all the projects and had fun with it. Since then it has been played with only a few times. I thought my youngest son would enjoy it more, but he has just not been that interested. He told me it was boring, and that he would rather work with his brother on the Mindstorm. :glare:

 

Thank you for your feedback. For that kind of money, I'm kind of disappointed and I'm sure you are too. If it was less money, it would be an easier decision. This is right up ds's alley though and I don't think he's ready for Mindstorms. I actually got an e-mail from Homeschool-Buyers Co-Op for a reduced price on these kits just this morning but they're still not cheap enough to be OK with them gathering dust on a shelf.

[KJsMom]

I'm glad you asked. I got the email this morning too and thought it looked like something we would like. I was just afraid of the price.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

I'm glad you asked. I got the email this morning too and thought it looked like something we would like. I was just afraid of the price.

 

I'm glad I asked too, especially since I read the response yesterday before getting the e-mail. I'm afraid I might have jumped in, thrilled with any reduction in price.

 

I would love to hear more from others though. It occurs to me that since we don't have anything else like this in the house, I might have better luck? I mean, there are no older siblings with higher level robotics stuff to be enchanted by. Maybe this would be a decent first step?

[Capt_Uhura]

I have no experience with WeDo so take what I say with a grain of salt. I do own two NXT kits. I've looked at the WeDo kits and I just didn't see enough there to warrant the price. The LEGO NXT is infinite in what you can do with it. I think WeDo is best for a classroom situation. But I must add I'm the kind of person that likes to get a lot of use out of things, like to buy toys that I can add on to and extend the use of rather than something they will play with a few times and throw to the side. I have used NXT with my 5-6yr old.

 

Capt_Uhura

[Capt_Uhura]

There are also other LEGO Education kits that would work well for young kids that can readily be expanded. The names have changed since I bought them but they afford introduction to simple machines, physics principles. The parts to these can be used later on for LEGO NXT robotics or just building w/ regular LEGOs. The older kit used to be Simple Machines and MOtorized Simple Machines. There is another it was renamed as well. If someone is interested I can provide links later. We have had discussion about these on this board so a good search might pick them up.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

I have no experience with WeDo so take what I say with a grain of salt. I do own two NXT kits. I've looked at the WeDo kits and I just didn't see enough there to warrant the price. The LEGO NXT is infinite in what you can do with it. I think WeDo is best for a classroom situation. But I must add I'm the kind of person that likes to get a lot of use out of things, like to buy toys that I can add on to and extend the use of rather than something they will play with a few times and throw to the side. I have used NXT with my 5-6yr old.

 

Thank you! This is very useful information. I am the same way about adding onto a good toy rather than buying one trick ponies. I will look at the NXT stuff more closely. DS7 (who will be closer to 8 when I buy something) is a strong reader and extremely mechanically inclined (just like his dad) so maybe the NXT products would be a better fit, or at least he could grow into them instead of rapidly growing out of them.

 

There are also other LEGO Education kits that would work well for young kids that can readily be expanded. The names have changed since I bought them but they afford introduction to simple machines, physics principles. The parts to these can be used later on for LEGO NXT robotics or just building w/ regular LEGOs. The older kit used to be Simple Machines and MOtorized Simple Machines. There is another it was renamed as well. If someone is interested I can provide links later. We have had discussion about these on this board so a good search might pick them up.

 

Thanks. I've been looking at these and didn't realize they can be expanded. I guess that's the great thing about Lego! I'll definitely do a search.

[Jennefer@SSA]

Thanks for all the wonderful information. I am looking forward to learning more about this. We were thinking of having ds join a lego robotics team but next year isn't the time. Something along these lines might be the perfect bridge.

[Dana]

We used the WeDo set for science this year. It worked well. Our son was rather frustrated with using it for "school" and not just for play, but I do think he learned a lot. It was definitely an easier set to start with than the Mindstorms (which we'll get later I imagine).

 

The programming is really just drag and drop so it's very doable without typing ability. You don't get many Lego pieces, so the set felt very light when we first opened it up. There's a binder (that we didn't get until later - had to send an email about it but they were very good about sending it out) that has lesson plans and ideas for using the materials. That was very helpful and made the set much better for use.

 

Pros for the set: it taught levers, gears, cams and how some mechanical systems work; it taught some basics of programming (loops); we got to make predictions and see what happens if things go wrong. Only real con was the price (and before I had the binder/teacher manual, I thought, "I spent how much on this?). I'm pleased with it overall.

 

Here's a link to my blog with one of the projects.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

We used the WeDo set for science this year. It worked well. Our son was rather frustrated with using it for "school" and not just for play, but I do think he learned a lot. It was definitely an easier set to start with than the Mindstorms (which we'll get later I imagine).

 

The programming is really just drag and drop so it's very doable without typing ability. You don't get many Lego pieces, so the set felt very light when we first opened it up. There's a binder (that we didn't get until later - had to send an email about it but they were very good about sending it out) that has lesson plans and ideas for using the materials. That was very helpful and made the set much better for use.

 

Pros for the set: it taught levers, gears, cams and how some mechanical systems work; it taught some basics of programming (loops); we got to make predictions and see what happens if things go wrong. Only real con was the price (and before I had the binder/teacher manual, I thought, "I spent how much on this?). I'm pleased with it overall.

 

Here's a link to my blog with one of the projects.

 

Thank you so much for this. It is very helpful info. I looked into it a bit today and see in their new brochure that the scenery set can be used with it. I actually had that scenery set on dd's wish list so that's pretty cool. DS4 received the Lego City Fire Department and I could see the dragon from the scenery set being made as a robot and breathing fire for the firemen to put out. :lol:

 

I would be buying it as a toy (with educational consequences, the category of most toys around here :D) so this might be a good baby step for ds to work on independently, which I doubt he could with the NXT stuff after looking at it more closely. I would love to find it used though because it sounds fun enough and a great starter set but the price. Ouch.

[JennyW]

We have the WeDo set, too, and I love it. The kids can't wait each week to do their lesson. They get to build and learn a concept, and experiment with new configurations. It's meant to be a learning experience and not just a toy.