We have added a super fun new coding resource to Van Meter.
It's called Unruly Splats from Unruly Studios. I first learned about the Unruly Splats last year at FETC and I couldn't wait to bring them to our kids and teachers. I had lots of fun trying them out and I knew our kids would love them too.
Last week, our friend Emily from Unruly Studios connected with our 5th graders in Megan Algreen's class.
Emily taught us how to create games using block code and how to play the games with the Unruly Splats.
As shared on the Unruly Splats site,
With Unruly Splats you can combine movement and coding for kids at your school and...
...create immersive stem experiences across subjects. In fact, Unruly Splats could fit into any classroom and subject. All kids will love them!
As Emily taught our students how to use Unruly Splats and code games,
we also loved how the Unruly Splats brought such great collaboration to the classroom.
They worked in small groups and Emily had them take turns being the "iPad Pilot".
It was the perfect way to get our students collaborating in a meaningful, efferent and fun way.
They all worked along with Emily as she taught them how to create a four square game with the Unruly Splats.
Each group had one iPad and did all of the work in the Splats app found here.
The Splats app is a fun and easy to use. The block coding is all color coded and well organized, making it easy for students to learn, follow and have success with the coding and game. The Splats are shown on the left hand side and when they run the program, they can test out the game they are creating.
When we learned this part, I thought to myself, The Splats app would be a great way to get our virtual learners involved in this coding activity too!
As our 5th graders created and tested out their games,
they asked Emily a lot of questions.
When it was time to play, Emily told had one group pull up their game. All they needed to play the four square game was one iPad to run the game and four Unruly Splats, one in each corner.
One of the group members ran the game while the other kids played. They had so much fun...
As you can see from this smile, we will definitely be using Unruly Splats with them again.
As we get ready to have our students create their own games today, this packed and other resources on the Unruly Studios site will be very helpful.
This is the Unruly Splats Core Activity Pack that Emily shared with us. It contains several different activities.
After our kids have created their games, they will play as a class and we will be sharing their games with other grade level friends too. With winter and cold weather here in Iowa, Unruly Splats are the perfect addition to our classroom for anytime, active and creative movement and learning.
You can check out Unruly Studios here and on their Twitter to learn more.
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