Disclosure. We received OKIDO Which Way? Game for the purposes of review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
Having delved into the world of STEM toys they are fast becoming toys which Bee loves and also I love as they are actually teaching her some skills. So we were pleased to receive the OKIDO Which Way? Game which teaches coding skills to 4-8 year olds.
Who can help Messy Monster (from CBeebies TV show, Messy Goes to OKIDO) visit all his friends across the map first?
Whats in the Box?
Self driving Okidoodle car
Magnetic Board
16 Magnetic Tiles
Screwdriver
Spare batteries
Mission Wheel
How to Play?
The aim of the game is to help Messy Monster visit all his friends on the board with the help of the Okidoodle car.
Play itself is simple; you first spin the wheel to find out what your mission is. The wheel itself has 3 levels of difficulty; easy, medium and hard.
Once you know Messy’s destination you have to plan the route he will take. Then, using the magnetic tiles you have to construct a path and switch on the Okidoodle car and place it on the start position. If it drives to the destination the mission is a success…and if it doesn’t it is time to fix the path.
So the coding skills that are used are:
1. Define the mission
2. Plan the route
3. Code the program
4. Test the route
What Did We Think?
The first thing to mention is the fact that batteries are already included in the car which means play can commence immediately. And not only that, you also receive a spare set of batteries which was a nice surprise! Another nice touch was a little screwdriver to help open the battery compartment which needs to initially be used to remove the protective tabs around the batteries to get the car started.
Bee loved playing the game. It kept her interest and she loved planning the routes and even made up her own paths to send the car on its way. The instruction booklet also comes with a scoreboard so everyone playing can keep a track of who they have visited. The first to visit them all wins!
I personally found the Okidoodle car a bit flimsy. A few times it wouldn’t work and needed a bit of a squeeze to get it going; it may be a loose wire somewhere. I feel like if it was treated a bit roughly or dropped, it would break easily. In addition to this, as the mat is folded over in the box it can take a bit of an effort to get it to lie down flat to enable the car to move around freely.
Although the game is recommended for 4-8 it did seem slightly easy for Bee at almost 7 years old. This may be because she has been playing with other STEM toys which are slightly more complicated. However that didn’t mean she enjoyed it any less and I could see her enjoying planning out the route Messy had to take. Initially she didn’t understand when the car got confused, but then this is where the testing skill came into play as she had to figure out the tiles may not have been aligned up properly and which ones weren’t.
I can see this being played regularly by her and the rest of the family.
OKIDO Which Way? Game is priced at just £30 and available from the OKIDO website.