Teaching robotics to a 5 year old kid(3 brilliant steps)

December 14, 2021September 10, 2022 yassin.ajanif

Teaching robotics to a 5-year-old kid is not an easy thing. Especially for parents who have obsessed kids in this field. So, how it is possible to teach robotics to a 5-year-old kid? It is possible to teach it from a home?

Also, what are the best strategies to do that? So, we will discover the 3 best strategies to teach robotics to 5-year-old kids that anyone can apply.

How to teach robotics to a 5-year-old kid?

Robotics stem from 3 principal pillars MECHANICS ELECTRICITY PROGRAMMING. So, for everyone who wants to learn robotics, Adult or kid these stages are indispensable.

to treat this subject were going to use this approach:

1 Teaching mechanics.
2 Teaching electricity.

3 Teaching programming.

So to help your kid learn robotics, it is necessary to study all of these fields. So this is what we going to discover in this article.

Teaching mechanics

When we talk about mechanics in robotics. It is an engineering field where students learn a lot of things like dynamics, transmission systems, coupling, and so many other aspects. In robotics, mechanics is a body that carries organs.

Mechanics is the ability to choose the right physical materials to ensure stable and efficient functioning.

Teaching kids mechanics is teaching them how to assemble robot parts. Putting things in the right order and knowing the combination between each piece. Also, discovering the first principles of mechanics.

For instance, putting wheels on a robot and accoupling gear to a motor. As result, introduces kids to the mechanical engineering world.

But, teaching a 5-year-old kid robotics mechanics is will not be an easy thing. There are so many problems parents would face such as his age, distraction, and physical ability. Also his ability to understand the subjects like robotics.

So, teaching a 5-year-old kid need to have a wise and efficient strategy. In order to accelerate the learning process.

How to teach mechanical robotics to a 5-year-old kid

Teaching mechanics is the first pillar of the teaching robotics process to a 5-year-old kid :

So, Teaching robotics mechanics to kids must go under a specific and wise methodology. As a result, preparing kids to stem careers,s especially in the mechanical engineering robotic field. So, in our approach respecting steps is an obligation for parents.

3d design

The first step to do when teaching robotics to a 5-year-old kid is 3d design. Kids need to absorb the basics of mechanical design. It is possible that your 5-year-old kid could design and craft his own objects.

Thankfully, Tinkercad a free platform allows kids to learn 3d design easily without any materials. It is simple and efficient.

With Tinkercad kids will learn how to 3d design objects. For instance, toys, robots, objects anything they want. It is a beautiful and appealing platform for kids.

Material Physics

Understanding the basic properties of physical material is essential. A 5-year-old kid needs at least to learn the difference between plastic and metal. These are the main material used in robotics. So kids have to be aware of that.

The easiest way to teach future 5-year-old robotics is by experimenting. As result, doing some experiments that differentiate between metal and plastic is crucial.

In this link, you will find a cool and simple metal experience for kids. So making these kinds of experiences is a lot useful. In addition, there is a lot of ideas to do in-home with just simple tools.

Building lego structures

LEGO is a structural game that helps kids to build their imaginal creatures. The concept is based on building with plastic bricks. It is a very famous kid toy. They also have many kits for robotics engineering.

Investing a little bit in lego is fruitful,, especially for 5-year-old kids. Having these kits will allow them to improve their mechanical robotic engineering abilities. Also, shaping their intelligence.

in this video, you will see how a 5-year-old kid explains his creation of lego.

Coupling gears

Gears and coupling are the foundation of mechanical engineering. Robots are using gears and belts to transform electrical energy into mechanical ones. So, introducing a 5 years kid to mechanical transmission and mechanics is foundational.

The kid has to understand what are gears. Also knowing how to use them in mechanical projects. In this phase, kids will learn two essential physical principles force and speed.

I will give 3 different examples of how kids could learn gears and coupling.

Playing games on iPad or laptop.
Using lego gear like in this video. you could buy them from this link.

Or by doing amazing gears cardboard projects like this.

Teaching electricity

Electricity is a science concerned to study and design all electrical engineering devices. This field covers two physical principles: electronics and electromagnetism. It is a very wide specialty.

Electricity is the second pillar of robotics. So having a robot without electricity is like having a human without a soul.

Teaching kids electricity is showing them the basics of electricity. It begins from lighting their first bulb to building electronic circuits. The process is full of creativity and inventions.

In robotics, kids have to learn the three main electrical components, motors, computers, and sensors. It is a robotics foundation.

Explaining what is sensor or motor to a 5-year-old kid is a big challenge. So, using the best strategies and good tools is the only way to succeed in this operation. The information has to touch their heart.

So, the only way to catch his attention is by providing fun activities that embed electricity rules into entitlement applications.

How to teach electrical robotics to a 5-year-old kid

teaching electricity is the second pillar of the Teaching robotics process to a 5-year-old kid :

Teaching the basics of electricity

Knowing what is a motor
Knowing what is a sensor
building circuits

Teaching the basics of electricity

for a 5-year-old kid, electricity is a word that he doesn’t understand or he couldn’t even hear about it. So explaining electricity to the kid must be letterly simplified. Also, require a lot of effort.

The first electrical experience for a 5-year-old kid is making simple electrical circuits. These circuits are completely safe so there is no reason to worry about electricity.

The first circuit he can begin with is lighting a bulb. The lighting bulb experience requires fewer and more easily affordable materials.

Also making circuits online will be fun and easy. So using Tinkercad is a great option to make a mechanical and electrical circuits. So you can watch this video explaining how to make an electrical circuit in Tinkercad.

But practice is so important. So I will recommend using a snap circuit junior kid. It will reduce a lot of headaches. It is great to start for five 5-year-old robotic kids.

Knowing what is a motor

kids need to understand that robots use motors to move. So clarifying the relation between electrical energy and mechanical one is the goal.

In this phase, you have to buy some simple motors and engage a kid around them. So if he lighted a bulb he consequently could run a motor. the concept is the same.

So kids have to focus on electrical applications that embed motor uses. In this example video, you will see how a kid could run an electrical motor by itself.

Knowing what is Sensor

At this moment the kid should learn what is a sensor. In robotics, sensors are the eyes of robots. depending on them, the robot can detect his position. So, prevent accidents. Sensors are like human senses.

There are a lot of experiences where a 5-year-old kid could learn what is a sensor. the simplest one is based on using aluminum toil. with aluminum toil, we can build unlimited projects for example whoopie cushion, and talking truck. etc

Also, we could make the buzzer game one of the famous games by stem kids.

the goal is to stay simple. So it is not recommendable to go to the project using electronics advanced sensors. The 5-year-old kid is out of this range of projects.

building circuits

This is the last step of the electrical learning process. In this step, a kid will go to combine all his precedent’s learnings. So he learned:

basics of electric
motor

sensor

the goal of building circuits is to combine these all elements at once. For instance, pushing them to make a circuit that contains motors and sensors.

To clarify, just using easy circuits as he studied before. just with a tiny bigger scale. I will give you 10 examples of projects to do with a robotics 5 years kid could do.

Teaching programming

Programming is a procedure of building and arranging a group of instructions to execute a task. The majority of machines that we have on a daily basis are already programmed. So programming is the knowledge that guides machines.

there are so many ways and languages to program machines like robots or anything else. Every language work in a specific field. For instance, programming robots require C++ LANGUAGE and PYTHON while computers use other languages like JAVA or PHP.

Programming is the third pillar of robotics, without programs robotics can’t function. So learning a robotics language program is primordial.

In robotics programming, kids learn how to build simple programs. So they use a special environment that makes things easier and more appealing to them.

Otherwise, for a 5-year-old kid who wants to learn robotics, the mission will not be easy. He must go with several technics and use some tools to learn to program. Because programming for 5-year-old kids is still out of reach. unless in some exceptional cases.

How to teach robotics programming to a 5-year-old kid

Teaching programming is the third and last pillar of the teaching process to 5-year-old kids.

To teach a five-year-old kid how to program, there are 3 principal tools that you can use

Scratch
kano

Minecraft

Scratch

Scratch is the best platform for a robotic five-year-old. It allows him to learn the principles of programming with fun characters. The five-year-old kid could make his own animation through bock programming.

this is a video example of 5-year-old kid programming and making his own animation from scratch. enjoy watching.

Kano

kano is the best tool to use helping kids to learn robotics. It is a kit that allows kids to program their games, hack Minecraft, play games, browse the internet. This kit has more than 100 applications. You watch in this video a 5-year-old playing with this kit.

Minecraft

Minecraft is one of the famous games on the internet. With more than 200 million downloads, Minecraft found a way to win people’s hearts. Especially for kids. Playing minecart will allow a kid to improve his problem-solving capacities and acquire the programming basics.

At this age, programming is still a little bit hard. But if the kid loves the scratch like this kid is doing it will be a good start.

Conclusion

Teaching robotics to 5 years old is a tough mission. it requires a lot of effort and persistence from parents.

So it is recommendable to follow the three steps we mentioned in our article. Because they are the foundation of learning robotics for any interested person kid or adult.

everything is not gathering as long as kids show interest and passion for the robotics field.