Let’s play together: Fostering children’s creativity and computational thinking through play with coding robots

Abstract

In early years education, fostering computational thinking and creative problem-solving through digital play can potentially help children develop essential skills for future learning and everyday life. This paper reports an action research project that explored how collaborative play with tangible coding robots could support children's creativity and computational thinking. The study involved five young children (aged 4 and 5), their parents, and two early years specialist educators, positioned as practitioner-researchers. Video data analysis from three digital play sessions within a longer 'stay and play' programme revealed that guided play with age-appropriate tangible coding robots like Cubetto, Blue-Bot, and Botzee could foster young children’s development of problem-solving underpinned by creative and computational thinking skills. To illustrate, key findings are shared through narrative style vignettes which elaborate learning episodes from each digital coding robot play experience. The vignettes highlight the dynamic interplay between children and co-playing adults in fostering computational thinking. Insights and recommendations are shared for nurturing computational thinking in young children and effectively integrating digital technologies into early childhood education.