Shop for Fisher-Price Code-a-Pillar
See all pricesIt crawls across your table, blinking and smiling. It turns and makes fun sounds. And this caterpillar is on a mission to teach your toddler coding.
Fisher-Price's big 2016 toy might be the Think & Learn Code-a-Pillar. It's hard to tell from a CES press event here in Las Vegas, but this toy is instantly cute. It's also reminiscent of classic toys of the past. And, in a small way, it's meant to inspire kids to understand coding.
Coming next June, the $50 toy comes with eight modules that snap together. Each one has a different function: turn left, turn right, make a funny sound. Depending on what order you plug Think & Learn together, it moves differently. In a way, it's similar to other kid-coding games like ThinkFun's Robot Turtles, and works a little like that old Logo turtle programming game I used in school about a million years ago.
This isn't complicated stuff like Lego Mindstorms: the individual pieces just snap together linearly, forming a chain of caterpillar "code" that can be as long as you want. But the idea behind modular connected pieces forming instructions...well, that's a step towards coding.
Separate add-on packs of modules will be sold separately for $15 a pop, three to a set. Some will do different tricks, or have different sounds. Think & Learn is meant for kids ages 3-8. I already want to get my sons one.
Discuss: Fisher-Price's adorable new robot caterpillar wants to teach preschoolers to code
Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.