Guest Posted July 9, 2005 Posted July 9, 2005 Has anyone experience of using a bee-bot and what do you think? For those of you who don`t have a clue what I mean it is a remote control bee what early years children can programme like a roamer. Have a look www.bee-bot.co.uk £39.99 or www.tts-group.co.uk
Guest Posted July 9, 2005 Posted July 9, 2005 I know what you mean - they certainly look like an affordable option, but I haven't actually seen them working so don't know if they're any good. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has one. Harricroft
Susan Posted July 9, 2005 Posted July 9, 2005 They are only just arriving on the market, due to be launched in July! Saw them being demonstrated at the Education Show in Birmingham in March and they looked great and very appropriate for FS. Linda is expecting some so maybe she will ne able to give you some more practical advice if she has taken delivery?
Guest Posted July 9, 2005 Posted July 9, 2005 Hi there The Bee-bots are due this month and they look great. I saw them at an exhibition in Manchester in May. They are a smaller and more appealing version of a Roamer-look like bees!! But, whereas a Roamer moves in one continuous movement, so if you program it to move forward 4 it goes for that distance in one go a Bee-bot moves once, blinks its eyes, moves again, blinks its eyes and so on. So for early years it is more practical. They cost about £35 each but if you order them in multiples they become a lot cheaper. I bought 6 for £120-they are for pre-schools to borrow in our area. They did say at the exhibition that orders after that date wouldn't be available until October/November. I will let you know what we think of them as soon as we have them and have tried them out. Linda
bubblejack Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Were the children happy with the bee-bots Linda?
Guest Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Mine arrived this week so I have only used it for a couple of days. I have just left it out for the children to explore and get to learn how they should treat it, i.e. not use it like a wind up toy, pushing/forcing it across the table. I've used it with the alphabet mat - as I say the children have enjoyed using it but as yet have not really explored the possibliities. I have not read the instructions either and I have not quite worked out how to make it work prooperly. My logic told me that to move to a space say three across and one down, you would press forward 3 times and right/left once but actually you have to press forward 3 times, right/left once and forward once, if that makes sense, but I am sure the children will master this much quicker than me!!!!! I will be bringing it out each day, currently I am using it in my tuff spot so that if the children decide to leave it and its still running around it will not fall off the table - I shall then see how they play with it on the floor. I bought the starter pack with the charger, batteries, transparent grid, shops and one other mat, plus 10 covers to make our own designs. It looks to be a good little toy, it moves, it beeps, it flashes and makes a good sound when it has finished its programme. It appears to be able to be programmed for XX number of moves, its not infinite - but not read or worked out how many instructions it will take. I am planning on using it during small circle time perhaps and small group work to cooincide with my topic work and hope that the children will help make up some fun maps/charts etc. So for those of you who have had it longer inspire me with what you have done with it? Nikki
Guest Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 We only had them for a short time unfortunately and so didn't get chance to explore them too much-I bought them as loan equipment for the pre-school support group in Stockport. But what time we did have them the children, and the staff , really liked them. We just let the children investigate them really. I will be buying some for our group later this year-I can't wait for them to come back from being loaned out! They are definately very appealing to the children. Linda
Guest MaryEMac Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Mine arrived this morning at playgroup, but would you believe it we had no batteries so I had to bring it home to put some in. Of course I had to have a play with it and my husband and my daughter. I will be letting the children have a go tomorrow. We did borrow a Pixie a while back but I think that this is going to be a lot better. I like the fact that if you programme it for 4 forward moves, there are 4 distinct moves.A worthwhile expenditure. Mary
Guest Posted April 17, 2006 Posted April 17, 2006 We have 6 beebots and have only used one so far - the children love it!! Need some of the mats though to make it a bit more focused as the children are pressing all directions at the same time!!
Guest Posted April 17, 2006 Posted April 17, 2006 Hi we got ours in October (set of 6) after we had an ICT early years seminar. Anyway part 2 was 2 weeks ago and we had a workshop on them. We were shown how to make the mats ourselfs out of clear plastic and we all had a go at putting our own creative ideas to use. Alot of these based around stories such as red riding hood and the 3 billy goats gruff. then having to programme them to get to grandmas house or across the bridge. You can buy covers for the bee bots now to change their colour. Some made masks to put on front of bee bots to become red riding hood etc. One simple game was just a mat set out like a ladder with whatever you wanted, for example a character from winnie the pooh at rungs the children have to guess how many presses to rich tigger, so it helps them to get used to one direction first. The early years advisor who took the workshop is pooling everyones ideas from the 5 days and letting us have them so if I can get it on disk I will post them here. Tracie
Marion Posted April 18, 2006 Posted April 18, 2006 Has anyone experience of using a bee-bot and what do you think? For those of you who don`t have a clue what I mean it is a remote control bee what early years children can programme like a roamer. Have a look www.bee-bot.co.uk £39.99 or www.tts-group.co.uk 34770[/snapback] Just got a new RM direct catologue Beebots £34.99 each £100 for 4 or £119.94 for 6. Hoping to persaude the head to buy 6 our romer is very tempramental and Beebots are more attractive and easier to use. www.rm.com/rmdirect
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