Cubelets are robotic building blocks suitable for preschool through high school. They stick together using magnets and each block has a specific function. Cubelets either Sense, Think, or Act. There’s a battery to power them all, and you can combine blocks in different ways to create different kinds of robots.

Sense cubelets allow input to the robot. There are sensors for brightness, distance, and temperature, as well as a knob cubelet to control input.

Think cubelets perform functions with the input from the Sense blocks. These include an inverse block to flip values from the sense block, a blocker block that just shares power but doesn’t share information, and a bluetooth hat for your Cubelet construction to allow remote control.

Act cubelets give you output - they’re the part that does stuff. These include drive cubelets with wheels, a flashlight, a rotation block, a speaker, and a bar graph.

Cubelets might sound complicated. They do have some advanced features and can be used with students up through high school age, but they’re useful for young learners too. The best way to use them with small children is just to let them explore. Start children off with a few simple blocks like drive, brightness, and battery. Watch them play and help only when necessary. You can expand their learning by asking open-ended questions like:

What did you notice about this block?

What happened when you put two blocks together?

What is your favorite part so far?

What do you want to try?

If you want more in-depth lesson plans, the makers of Cubelets have put together a collection for pre-k to kindergarten students.