Sphero SPRK+: App-Enabled Robot Ball with Programmable Sensors + LED Lights - STEM Educational Toy for Kids - Learn JavaScript, Scratch & Swift

I bought this for my kid's 5th birthday. I didn't want to get some dumb toy that would almost instantly be thrown on the floor and forgotten about, nor something that was too advanced for him and have it sit around unused, for years. There are some amazing "toys" now, but many of them have a bunch of pieces and a complexity that means...if he plays with it, I play with it. Nope.I wanted something that was simple, fun, and not too hard for a smart 5 year old to get going and have fun with, while also being something that he could learn from. I wanted something that wasn't just cool for the next 2 months, but something that, as he learned, he could do more with. This fits the bill. As much as I researched things, I was still surprised by how much thought was put in to this.On the basic, starting level, you have a bunch of ways to control it. Standard forward, back, right, left, but there are different ways. My kids, unfortunately, favor the "scream drive", where you have to make noise to make it move. Even in the basic control section, there is a block programing mode. In addition to the control modes, there is a game section where you use the ball itself as the controller. That's just the "Sphero Play" app, there is still the "Sphero Edu" app. I have only played with it a little, but I can't wait for my kid to get to that level. Regardless, even with that, it takes very little to start getting the SPRK+ to draw shapes on the floor.Overall, it might be a really expensive baseball, but it's totally fun, there is a ton of room for growth, and my 5 and 3 year old's love it.Don't make the mistake I made, make sure you buy a protective shell for it. Unless you only plan on running it on carpet, it's going to get messed up really quick. It only took about 5 minutes, and mine is scarred. It still works perfectly fine, it just looks bad cosmetically from running it on laminate floors and tile. After those brutal 5 minutes, I had to take it away from my kids until the shell was ordered and delivered. They were not happy. It was $10 I didn't think I needed to spend, and I was wrong.

I bought this for my class, I teach sixth grade math and robotics to sixth and seventh graders. I’m so happy with this purchase. I do recommend getting some kind of cover for it or keeping it off of hard flooring. The problem is they get scratched pretty easy and in a classroom setting the poor thing looks like it’s been abused. I did find a way around this by creating my own mazes. The kids get great joy watching and helping me create the maze and it is a huge skill to be able to program that Sphero to run the maze. I usually start my students off with using their finger to drive it, but then I move them to programming it to run the maze. It’s amazing how quickly they learn how to program. Some of my mazes are a little difficult and I know they get a little frustrated but they will work until they figure it out. I think this is probably one of the best things that I have purchased for my robotics class

My 6 (now 7 year old) took a Sphero coding class at our local Apple store. She loved it. So for her 7th Birthday we bought her this Sphero. I homeschool her so she works with her Sphero about at least once a week. She gets better and it every time. It is building great necessary skills that will enable her to go far in life! It’s fun and doesn’t feel like “school” when she is coding her robot through the path around our house. My husband creates patches using blue painters tape on our hardwood floor throughout the house.Have also found it great with adding and estimating for the time, we try to set it all to the same speed then have her figure out how many seconds it will take to go the different lengths.

Bought this for my 9 year old and downloaded the edu app for Sphero. He gave up and thought it was too hard to code. (He’s not patient). Using my phone to “drive” it is a little tricky even as an adult. Learning curve. I downloaded the edu app and it is easier to use to build up to coding. My son plays with it often and is feeling more comfortable with experimenting with codes seems pretty durable. I even like playing with it and trying out the codes.

After reading reviews on here and on google. I'm happy with this purchase although it doesn't come with any kind of instructions, and for me that is a big thing as I am an avid person of reading instructions. It just came with a user guide.. which isn't any sort of instruction. But the sphero itself is pretty cool. I got it mainly to play with my brothers dog with it. But found myself playing around with it. It's about the size of a baseball maybe a little bigger, and the help I received at spheros email was very good, they were very fast at responding to my questions (about setting it up, which is pretty straight forward you just put it on the charger 🙂) but my only complaint is that it doesn't come with any instructions...

Fascinating little toy! I enjoyed designing programs in the app they've provided, but I would like to explore a bit more with writing in regular coding! As a kid's toy, it will take some getting used to for your child, but in the right inquisitive hands it can be a fun way to introduce a youngster to the boundless worlds of programming! Would I buy it again? Probably for myself! I feel like I just started to get to play with it before I gave it away as the gift I purchased it for!

Got this for my granddaughter for Christmas and this is just perfect kept her occupied for hours and she didn't even realize it was educational.

I use this in my Physics class to help teach coding basics along with physics principles. Instead of just talking about distance, velocity, and acceleration, I place X's in the hallway and the kids have to measure to them and create the code required to get there. They have to work out the coding blocks (which are really easy), and they can use whatever speed and time they want to get the desired distance. It works great, and the kids love using it.