The boys went to a maker festival held at our local Barnes and Noble. They were under five at the time, too young to play with 90% of the gadgets featured like drones and programmable robots. One of few things they were allowed to use were Ozobots.

The manufacturer describes Ozobots as small, smart toy robots that empower gamers and learners to code, play, create and connect the physical and digital worlds. That’s a pretty difficult way to say small cool robots you program with colors. Easy enough for five-year-olds with patience to use.

Using the Ozobots, you get what you put into it. Beginners can draw a circle with the Ozobot markers, and the little robot will go around the track like kids in gym class. If you want to go to an advanced level, they include dice games, iPad apps and a hundred pages of puzzles to solve using color codes.

It’s easy enough to start with minimal instructions as an adult, but I recommend playing with it for a while before introducing it to your children. This will eliminate a lot of frustration, and you’ll look like a programming master in your kid’s eyes.

The makers of Ozobots did extensive beta work to make sure the robots work well.  They’re strong little guys, easily pushing markers and crayons that stood in their way.

Pros

Battery life is surprisingly good. These things boogie around for a long time without needed a recharge.

Customizations.  You’ll receive hundreds of stickers and costumes for your robot to give it some pizazz.  The kids actually enjoyed this more in the beginning.

Flexibility. It turns out the Ozobots work with crayons and can match its lights to many colors. In short, the bots can do more than the books will tell you.  

Cons

The Markers that come with it are difficult to work. They should be thicker. Using thick crayons were easier for the kids.

Not kid friendly out-of-the-box Kids who are five like ours will love this, but you need to master it a bit

Price  The price seems high since it looks like a small toy with a bunch of markers, but the optics are excellent.  Ozobots make a great gift.  Grandmom gave the boys their ozobots.

We like the ozobots and may upgrade in the future.  As we really only have time to review products we enjoy and think you will too.  Support goodfitfam and check out Ozobots on Amazon.