Egg Carton Coding

I was looking for a way to engage some of my Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students in some hands-on coding activities. After some research (and modifying for my kids) we did some Egg-Carton coding. First we gathered materials:

• Egg-cartons, specifically the 2 and a half dozen.
• Red construction paper to make "lava pits".
• Lego mini-figures.
• Plastic eggs
• Arrow cards
• "Block" paper
• Creative LEGO Brick Set #45020 (optional)

Working in pairs, one student had to layout directions for each step that their partner had to move the figure to reach the egg. We worked on this simple activity for a bit first learning how to write a sequence and then follow that sequence.

To take this a bit further, and for a little motivation, after students had the basic understanding of sequence and moving then we added a Lego build to the mix. From my Creative LEGO Brick Set (#45020) we used the parts of the simpler builds like the giraffe, tree, rocket, etc. and had the kids give sequence of commands to collect those pieces. Once their mini-figure collected those piece than they could build the figure. 

Assessment for this activity focused on my observations and anecdotal notes of whether or not students could make and describe a sequence and follow that sequence. This activity also reinforced concepts-of-print skills that we read from left to right and top to bottom. Students had the opportunity to choose how they wanted to write their algorithms. It also reinforced some one-to-one counting skills. Finally, we added in some engineering skills as a motivator to finish the activity.