As the world is becoming more digital, it’s more important than ever to have a strong knowledge of coding and computer systems. But it doesn’t have to be daunting. Just like learning any language, kids are sponges for new information, so there’s a huge benefit to starting when they’re young. Liam is 8 now, and…
Hi! We’ve had a few weeks of downtime over at Liam’s Coding Journey, but there’s been lots going on behind the scenes. Liam has been learning to use Tynker, and his coding has improved heaps in a very short time. With Tynker, coding for kids has never been easier. Liam absolutely loves the gamified lessons,…
Lego WeDo 2.0 is one of the lesser-known kits from the Lego Group. It sits between Lego Technic and Lego Mindstorms, giving motorised, codable models that are simple enough for the younger kids and those getting started. After-school classes often use this set for their introductory courses, before moving to Lego Mindstorms in more advanced…
Christmas is all about tradition. But sometimes, you need a bit of weird and wacky… With life generally disrupted over the last 18 months, we’re all going a bit wacky, so why not take Christmas that way too? Here’s a Lego WeDo Sleigh, complete with bobblehead Santa/monkey (we can’t agree on what this creature actually…
Last week, Liam built a Lego WeDo Christmas tree that spins and lights up. This week, continuing the Christmas theme, he’s designed a Lego WeDo Reindeer to add to the collection. We’ve put together a full set of downloadable instructions, so you can build it too. You can find the instructions further down this post….
We’re getting into the Christmas spirit already, and Liam has designed and built a Christmas tree with Lego WeDo 2.0. He’s used the motor and motion sensor for this WeDo project, and got them working together really well. Have a look at the video below, and then get into making your own. Build the Lego…
Here’s a fun new Lego WeDo 2.0 project to try – a windmill! The idea for this came from the LittleBits Flower that Liam built a couple of weeks ago, and works in the same way. The difference here is that it’s all one system. As a result, we’ve been able to put together a…
This week, Liam made a forklift with Lego Wedo. This was completely designed from scratch, and took a few versions to get right. But it was very definitely worth it, and we’re so impressed with the result. The arms are controlled by the Lego Wedo tilt sensor, which is really clever! What is Lego Wedo?…
If you’re looking for a quick project that can be done in less than an hour, give this Littlebits spinning flower a try. Liam figured out the circuit and designed the flower himself. The fact that the Littlebits axle on the servo is compatible with Lego makes it ideal for building motorised projects. First, build…
Sometimes, there are sprites in the Scratch library that are pretty close to what you want, but not quite right. At other times, you find a great sprite but it doesn’t have as many costumes as you need. When that happens, you don’t have to create your own from the beginning. Read on to learn…
This week, Liam has built a Lego Wedo crab with his kit. He found this project on YouTube when looking for how to build a bird, and it looked like fun. The crab uses the Lego Wedo smarthub, the motor, and three gears. What is Lego Wedo? Lego Wedo 2.0 is Lego’s entry-level robotics &…
We’ve just come to the end of a long weekend, and Liam was looking for something different to do. He hasn’t used his Littlebits set for a while, so we brought it out and he made a Littlebits inchworm. It was partially inspired by his Lego Wedo Inchworm a couple of weeks ago, but we…
Liam has been inspired recently to start creating his own games. To get started, we thought it would be good to try something fairly simple, and work upwards from there. The games where objects fall from the top of the screen and have to be caught before they fall off the bottom seemed pretty straightforward….
BBC’s MakeCode is the main coding platform for microbit, which is the mini-computer for Tobbie. You can download pre-made programmes for Tobbie, but you’ll also want to create your own programmes from scratch. When opening a new project in MakeCode, the standard code menus are available, but there’s no sign of the menu that contains…
How did you go with part one of the racing car game? If you’ve built your steering wheel and drawn your racing car and traffic, then you’re ready to get stuck in and code a racing car game of your own! Liam has created and tested his code for all of these sprites: The racing…
This post builds on the sprites we created in Part 1 of the Racing Car Game. Learning how to draw sprites in Scratch is immensely useful for everything you’ll go on to create, and once you know how to make one, you’ll be able to apply the same skills to heaps more! There are quite…
Liam has just finished building his first interactive game by pairing Lego Wedo 2.0 with Scratch. It’s a racing car game, complete with a Lego steering wheel controller. The inspiration for this game comes from Mi 2 Tom, who has some fantastic projects up on YouTube. Liam’s version is similar, but all the elements have…
Continuing the animal theme that we started with the Lego Wedo Swinging Monkey, Liam made the Lego Wedo Inchworm this week. The inchworm is also inspired by one of Yoshihito Isogawa’s creations. This is a fantastic project for early on in your robots and coding journey. Liam built it by himself, just from watching a…