STEM teaching is the hands-on exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics concepts, and it’s becoming an increasingly important part of modern-day education. STEM skills grant students the 21st-century abilities needed to perform a wide range of both essential and highly-skilled jobs. If you’re looking for a way to encourage a more active engagement with technology, this will prove a hundred times better than most tech toys and kid-friendly gadgets. Verdict

CROSS-CURRICULAR LEARNING: Sphero BOLT is perfect for cross-curricular learning, combining STEM and the arts to encourage creativity and innovation in your classroom. With access to an extensive library of educational games and activities found in the free Sphero Edu App (compatible with iOS, Android, and Chrome), your students can learn how to code in an engaging and interactive way.If there’s one ever so minor disappointment, it’s that there’s no onboard sound. While you can code in sound effects and even tunes, these play through your tablet or smartphone speaker, rather than through the Bolt. The more you learn about the Bolt, and the more you think about what you’ve learnt, the more new projects open up. The built-in projects and tutorials do a fine job of developing your skills and getting you used to the new capabilities, although you really need a separate PC or tablet to work with so that you can have the projects and sample code visible on another screen while you’re working in the app. Her favourite feature? “The display. The coolest thing is that you can put wee animations on the light, fading colours into different ones.” Verdict A second app, Sphero Play, is also available in the various app stores for touch-based navigation and general messing around. Parents beware: there’s a Scream Drive setting in that one that makes the Bolt move faster the louder your child screams or shouts at it. You can also use Swift Playgrounds, which offers two Sphero playgrounds: Sphero Arcade and Sphero Template.

The Sphero BOLT charging cradle is specifically designed to be compatible with BOLT only because the battery capacity of BOLT is higher than previous Sphero models, and therefore the charging system works differently from previous robots. It is not d Condensation Inside Sphero BOLT Sphero BOLT connects to your phone, tablet, or computer via Bluetooth (BLE) connection. The robot is compatible with 3 different apps: Sphero Edu, Sphero Play, and Apple's Swift Playgrounds. Before connecting, ensure BOLT is partially charged, or cha BOLT ModesGet ready to add some excitement to your classroom with Sphero BOLT – the ultimate coding robotic ball! Designed for educators who want to inspire their students' curiosity in STEM, Sphero BOLT is a game-changing tool that empowers students to explore their creativity, coding skills, and inventiveness. With its advanced sensors, programmable LED matrix, and innovative technology, Sphero BOLT is the perfect way to integrate some fun into learning and make your classroom a place where students can't wait to explore! Sphero makes remarkably cool, programmable robots and STEAM-based educational tools that transform the way kids learn, create and invent through coding, science, music, and the arts. Anytime your robot is not in use, we recommend putting your robot into deep sleep and keeping it off the charging base. For the best way to maintain your battery, prior to putting the robot into deep sleep, we recommend first running the battery down BOLT at Home Guide Get a few Bolts together and you can create some pretty cool multi-robot spectaculars, although with just the one Bolt we haven’t had much of a chance to try this out. BUILT FOR THE CLASSROOM: With its durable and waterproof design, Sphero BOLT can withstand even the most imaginative, out-of-the-box ideas that your students can dream up, and can take on any adventure your learners can imagine with its all-day battery life.

Loops, conditionals and variables work in much the same way. Both my daughter and I found Sphero Edu easy to work with – although it’s arguably easier to get a grounding in Scratch then transfer the skills over, than to start working with Sphero Edu from day one. The mode has some nice mod-cons, such as auto-formatting and error-reporting, while you can view the incoming sensor data both during and after running a program. This helps when you’re trying to adjust speeds and timings or debug. The new infrared sensors – and matching emitters – come into their own if you have more than one Bolt. These enable one Bolt to message another, and you can then use conditionals to state what happens when that message is received. The downside is that a bigger battery needs longer to charge, so while playtime is twice that of previous Spheros so is the charge time. Expect around six hours to fully charge from a flat battery. Features

Coding-focused playtime

HANDS-ON STEAM: Engage your students in hands-on play and STEAM activities while teaching them how to code with Sphero BOLT. If you aren’t familiar with Scratch, it’s very similar in concept to IFTTT (If This Then That): you set out your criteria – the 'this' – and then specify what should happen – the 'that'. For example, you might create a set of instructions that asks if it’s dark and lights up the screen if the answer is yes. MIT has a complete guide and examples.