Disclosure: We were sent the OKIDO Which Way? free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own. See our disclosure policy for more information.
We were recently sent a new game from OKIDO to review, with the kids already familiar with the OKIDO brand after reading the magazines and watching the Messy Goes to OKIDO tv show I knew they would love it.
The new game from OKIDO is fun and educational and teaches coding skills to kids aged 4-8 years old. Featuring Messy Monster from the Cbeebies show Messy Goes to OKIDO the game helps kids to learn the top four coding skills they will need.
Four Top Coding Skills
- Define the problem
- Plan the solution
- Code the program
- Test the solution
OKIDO has a simple philosophy that all children are creative scientists, everything in the OKIDO world is created by science and education experts with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and maths) at its heart.
Opening the box I was impressed right away, not only did the game look super simple to set up it also came with a set of spare batteries for the magic self-driving car and a little screwdriver for replacing the batteries.
What Comes In The OKIDO Which Way? Game Box
- Magnetic gameboard
- 16 Magnetic tiles
- A magic self-driving car (batteries included)
- Mission Wheel
- Screwdriver
- 4 Replacement batteries
The kids were excited to get going with the game, after a quick read of the instructions, which were very simple to follow, we were ready to play.
Daisy took a turn first spinning the mission wheel to find out which of the destinations on the gameboard she needed to plan a route to. The game encourages you to find the fastest route by planning before you place any tiles down, this is a great way to develop problem-solving skills too. There are also different levels of difficulty depending upon which destination the arrow lands on.
Daisy then started to construct a path using the magnetic tiles, some of the tracks are already marked on the board which gives hints of where to start which is really useful.
Once Daisy had constructed her path it was time to test it, she placed the magic car at the start of her path and watched excitedly as it made its way along arriving at the correct destination much to her delight. If the joints of the magnetic tiles aren’t quite connected right then the car goes around in circles which prompts you to go back and find a solution.
It was Jake’s turn next and he had lots of fun planning out his route and building a path. I think his favourite part though was testing the path, he thought the little car really was magic to be able to follow the path he had created.
After the game was over Jake spent some time constructing his own paths and testing them out, it was great to see him using the skills he had learned from playing the game.
We really enjoyed playing this game, it was a great introduction to coding and both the kids got a lot out of the experience. It encouraged them to use their planning and problem-solving skills in a fun way so they didn’t even realise they were learning something.
What We Loved About OKIDO Which Way? Game
- How simple the game is to set up
- The educational aspect of the game
- That it teaches the basics of coding in a simple and fun way
- The magic self-driving car
- The quality of the game pieces
- That it comes with replacement batteries and a screwdriver
- The easy-to-follow game instructions in the booklet
The OKIDO Game currently costs £30 and is available to buy from the OKIDO website shop.
