Coquette Maman

Book Review: The Renegade Spy Project #STEM

The Renegade Spy Project

by Terri Selting David

Paperback, 381 pages

Ages: 8-12 years old

Publisher: Spiderdust Studios (self-published)

$9.99 on Amazon

(This book review is also posted up on the Adafruit blog.)

 

The Renegade Spy Project by Terri Selting David is a new kind of middle grade fiction book that will inspire and entertain young maker girls and boys. Terri herself is no stranger to STEM having co-founded the Renegade Girls Tinkering Club back in 2015, a non-profit organization in San Francisco that runs summer camps and after school programs for girls and boys.

As the person in charge of content development for her camps, Terri knows STEM projects for kids really well and does an amazing job of weaving in nine projects into the novel. The book also introduces the engineering process and the concept of prototyping in an entertaining way with diagrams and sketches peppered into it. This really makes the reader feel like she/he is a part of the Tinkering Club.

This first novel in her series follows four 6th grade maker girls (diverse characters) who attend the fictional Ada Lovelace Charter School in SF: Wren Sterling, Amber Rosenberg, Kaminia Doyle and Ivy Rose Park. The girls have their own Renegade Girls Tinkering Club which meets after school in the Greenhouse behind main character Wren’s house. When their club microscope is broken, the girls put their tinkering chops into the forefront and decide to make and sell spy goods at school to fund the repair. Some of the projects the characters make are: periscopes, slime, cipher code wheel, secret message kit complete with homemade LED flashlight and UV ink.

All the projects made by the characters in the book are also available for readers to make too. Each project is in a comic book style layout of illustration with clear text directions and arrows so it’s easy for kids to follow along. Terri also does an amazing job at helping kids think further when they engineer with questions like, “how can you make it better?” I love how the projects are weaved into the storyline so you are introduced to the project just as the characters in the story are done making them. In the back of the book, there are some project templates and a glossary for definitions of technical words.

This book is self-published and was a labor of love for Terri who spent years working on it. I found the content and storyline to be refreshingly different from mainstream published books because finally girls were being smart, diverse, working together through minor conflicts and also accomplishing goals through their skills in making. Terri is currently working on the second book in the series which focuses on the character, Amber Rosenberg who loves to sew and design. Kids will be introduced to STEM in fashion/fashion technology in this second novel. (There is currently no set release date for this book but I will keep you posted.)

The Renegade Spy Project is a great book to add to your homeschooling lesson plan and it will also help fulfill any independent reading novel your child may need to currently have for English class. It’s perfect for kids age 8-12 years old and is available in paperback or Kindle format.

Terri has also included one of the projects from the book for our blog readers. You can download the Catapult Project PDF via the Adafruit blog or click the thumbnail image below.

Shop for the book, The Renegade Spy Project on Amazon.

 

Review book provided by author.

Blog Tour: Girls Who Code Spotlight On Coding Club! + Coding Resources

Girls Who Code: Spotlight on Coding Club (Book #4)
By Michelle Schusterman
Publisher:Penguin Workshop
ISBN-10:039954254X
144 pages, Hardcover
$9.33 on Amazon

It's Day #4 of the Girls Who Code Blog Tour and I'm so excited to be here to celebrate the 4th book that just launched a couple days ago! Girls Who Code: Spotlight on Coding Club! by Michelle Schusterman is the new book that features a storyline centered around Erin, who is Chloe's absolute favorite character from the series. Chloe of course devoured this book immediately upon arrival!

Book Description:
It's almost time for the talent show at school, and Erin couldn't be more excited. It's her time to take center stage! Plus, she and her friends from coding club are putting together an awesome coding program for the show.

But Erin has a big secret: she has anxiety. And when things start piling up at home and school, she starts having trouble handling everything. Her friends from coding club have always been there for her, but will they be as understanding when the going gets tough? Sometimes in coding--like in friendship--things don't go exactly as planned, but the outcome can be even better than you'd imagined.

Chloe herself is also a girl who codes. My husband is a computer engineer and has been teaching her how to code throughout the years. I thought it would be great for today's blog tour to round up some really good coding tools for kids to try out. There are actually lots of coding apps and sites out there but these are the ones that my daughter uses a lot so I thought I would share them with you here because she can vouch for them. If you know of any other great coding apps or web sites, please feel free to leave it in the comments section below.

Swift Playgrounds
Price: Free
Devices: iPad only
Age: 8+

This is Chloe's favorite way to code right now. It's a new free software program from Apple that lets kids code on their iPad learning the Apple programming language Swift used to create apps . It requires no prior coding knowledge and is great for kids just starting out. My husband works on activities with her and he is really impressed with all the lessons and puzzles. It makes coding fun for kids. You can even use this to program your Lego Mindstorms EV3. But I will point out one important thing, it doesn't really let you write apps or export your code so you really can't build anything except for the exercises in the app itself. Regardless, It's interface is sleek and engaging and would likely peak and child's interest into coding. iTunes says this app's age range is 4+ but I personally think kids around 8 or 9 will be able to grasp the concepts better, rather than just enjoying the animations and 3d characters.

Scratch
Price: Free
Operating Systems/Devices: Mac OS X, Mac OS 10.5 and Older and Windows (Needs Flash installed)
Age: 8-16 years old

Developed at MIT, Scratch is a visual coding program that is perfect for kids aged 8-16 years old. Kids can create simple programs, animations or interactive stories. They can also share their work with the online Scratch community. Visit the Scratch Parents page to find out more. If you don't wish to share projects, you'll need to download the Scratch 2.0 Offline Editor.

Watch the preview video for Scratch:

Scratch Overview from ScratchEd on Vimeo.

Kodable
Price: $29
Age: 4-10 years old
Operating Systems/Devices: Every Major Web Browser (Google Chrome - recommended, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge), iPad 2 or higher with OS 9.0 or higher

For younger kids, the Kodable app is a great introduction into the coding world. It can grow with your child from from K to 5th grade. Chloe first started using this in 1st grade as part of the coding curriculum they have in her school and for the "Hour of Code". I think the $29 fee is so affordable because it gives you unlimited coding access. (Also 30% of your purchase goes to supporting computer science in underserved schools). There are over 160 levels where kids can end up not only how to code apps and games but they can also build web sites by learning how to write real javascript. As a parent, you can get updates on your child's progress and there are plenty of resources so you can actually learn together with your child.

Coding Toys:

Separately, there are two coding toys have also been really good champions of coding for Chloe and have retained her interest. We got her Dash, the coding robot for her 8th birthday. She was able to code on her iPad and control Dash the robot to do different things. I think that helped click in her how powerful coding can be.

Similarly, last year for her 9th birthday we got her the Lego Boost Creative Tool Box and she was able to build Vernie the Robot. Let's just say our dog Lulu wasn't too happy that this robot was getting all the attention. She immediately stepped in when I started taking pictures of Chloe's work! There are 5 different devices you can build: Vernie the Robot, Frankie the Cat, Auto Builder, M.T.R.4 and Guitar 4000. Currently, Chloe is making the Frankie the Cat but changing it to be a dog. The only downside is that you have to take apart all the pieces of one item, in order to make another one.

Girls Who Code: Spotlight On Coding Club! Blog Tour
October 1 – The Readathon – Review
October 2 – Margie’s Must Reads – Review + Creative Instagram Picture
October 3 – Ms. Yingling Reads – Review
October 4 – Coquette Maman – Creative Instagram Picture + Coding
October 5 – Buttons Book Reviews – Review

Related Posts:
Coquette Maman: Girls Who Code Book Series
Adafruit: STEM Activity Books to Keep Kids Busy This Summer #STEM

Review book provided by Penguin Books

Toca Life Farm: New App from Toca Boca Lets Kids Play on a Virtual Farm

Toca Boca has launched another fun app for kids with Toca Life: Farm ($2.99, Apple App Store | Google Play | Kindle Fire). This app, like the rest of the Toca Boca games lets kids take control of their own game play. Chloe loves have free reign on exploring and playing with her favorite characters on the farm. What I love is that there's no wrong way to play and kids can easily figure out what they can do.

Just as in Toca Life: Vacation (review post here), there are 29 new and fun chacacters you can play with throughout the farm. Chloe loves the main girl with the pumpkin skull tee and the blonde girl with the sunglasses. She says those are her main gals that run the whole farm.

Here's a whole map of the Toca Life Farm. Starting from left to right at the bottom, kids can go visit the barn, store, storage farm house and fields.

Chloe's favorite place to go is the barn where she loves to play with the animals there, especially the Buffalo. Kids can also gather eggs from the hens and milk the cow. And if you haven't noticed, the little animals do poop so Chloe has been having fun cleaning up all the poop from the animals.

Inside the barn, kids can milk the cow and then take the bucket to the little milk factory to bottle your own milk. It's so adorable!

In the field, kids can farm their crops from planting to harvest. The tractor here is really fun and kids can use the different functions on the tractor to farm faster. My favorite animal is the little rainbow llama that has rainbow poop! So cute!

Here's the food machine which turns all of the harvest the kids pick into food. It's a great way for kids to see the process of how food goes from farm to table.

In the top right corner throughout the app, kids can record their own little movies and save it onto their device to watch again and show their friends. It's an extra layer for their creativity!

Download Toca Life: Farm at the Apple App Store, Google Play or Kindle Fire.

Review app provided by Toca Boca

Philips Sonicare for Kids: So Worth the Money!

It seems like each time I get Chloe one of those battery powered toothbrushes, they run out of batteries after only three weeks. I also didn't think they were really doing the job well of getting her back molars. She was always rushing with her motions when it came time to brush in the back of her mouth. I finally decided to get her one of the Philips Sonicare for Kids Bluetooth Connected Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush ($39.95 at Amazon) and am here to tell you it's so worth the money and investment up front! I don't know about you, but when I try to help my 7 year old brush her teeth, she won't take my verbal feedback because she says she knows already what to do. I started to worry about her back molars since she now has some of her adult ones in now. The toothbrush has sonic technology with 500 strokes per second, something a battery powered toothbrush can't even compare too.

Chloe was excited to get the new "big girl" toothbrush set and started to decorate it right away with the stickers that came with the system. The beauty of this Sonicare for Kids brush is that there is also a free companion app you can download (iTunes/Google Play). I'm not one to get kids to be dependant on an app for brushing their teeth, but this one is really good because it helps her pace her brushing and shows her where exactly in her mouth the toothbrush should be. It connects to the toothbrush via bluetooth so once it's connected, the app animation starts to play once the child presses the "on" button on the toothbrush. Kids adopt a furry friend, Sparkly (they can change their name).

Each time they finish brushing their teeth, Sparkly gets a little gift that kids can open. It can be fun fashion accessories or new backgrounds.

I want to note that we only use the app at night before bed. We don't use it in the mornings as we are in a rush to get to school. Also with the app, there's also a reminder built in to let you know when it's time to replace a brush head. I love this feature because I never really can remember how long she's using a toothbrush. Also, if you feel like the toothbrush head that comes with the system is too big for your child's mouth/teeth, Sonicare also has compact replacement toothbrush heads that are smaller. These are priced at $19.97 for two brush heads.

All in all, this was a really great investment for the long-term health of Chloe's teeth, especially with her adult teeth coming in now. The animations on the app help her take the time to really brush all of her teeth, especially the back molars which has put my mind at ease!

Purchase the Philips Sonicare for Kids Bluetooth Connected Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush at Amazon.com.

How to Take Better Pictures of Your Kids

Check out How to Take Better Pictures of Your Kids

by Coquette at Mode

Wee Society Celebrates their First Birthday with DIY Crown Project + New Letter App

The Wee Society celebrates their first birthday with lots of cool new things! First up is the Wee Wishing Crowns, a DIY project where kids can make and decorate their own crowns. The pdf comes with instructions and printable templates for your little ones to have plenty of crafty fun.

One of Chloe's favorite new apps is the Find Your Special Letter App (free download through August 8th on iTunes). She loves finding the letter shape within each animal. The extra little animations on each page are too cute! Kids can also choose their favorite letter and trace it to practice their writing skills. My favorite letter is "U" for the Unicorn where the rainbow colors animate. The app is just filled with beautiful design and illustrations you and your kids will enjoy.

LeapFrog TAG Reading System: Great for Young Beginning Readers

At 4 years old Chloe is ready to read. She constantly asks me how to spell certain words so she can add them to her pictures and she likes to pretend to read by moving her fingers over sentences in books. I have started to do that when we read at night for some of her easy reader books so she can sort of follow along. For Christmas, my in laws in France sent her the LeapFrog TAG Reading System($37.94 at Amazon) which is an electronic pen that works with their special paper books. They sent along a couple French versions of Rapunzel and Tinkerbell. I didn't realize how much she would enjoy the independence of being able to read and enjoy her books than with this TAG pen. I ended up getting her their beginning to read set as well as a few other English books. To me with a child who is multilingual this is fantastic because the same pen works for any of the language books as long as it's from LeapFrog. She can enjoy her French and English books now on her own.

The TAG pen is like a little computer and can connect easily to your computer with a USB cable (comes with the pen). It can hold up to around 10 books at a time. You can search their catalog for the book you have purchased and download the content on to the pen.

Each paper book allows the child to scan over words and sentences to have them read out loud to them. They can also choose to have the page auto read so they don't have to go over each word. I really like the beginning to read sets because the words will also be "sounded out" for kids so they can learn how to read. There are also some pages in the books that are activities in reading comprehension and visual search games. She loves the activities and how her paper books have come to life.

This LeapFrog Tag Storage Case ($15.54) is a great way to hold a lot of books and the TAG pen.

Chloe has some books on her iPad but I think the interactivity of the device gets in the way. In this case, you are still handling a paper book and the words on the page are large and clear for them to read. They can go back over with the TAG pen to highlight any word they want repeated and read out loud. After using this TAG pen from the holiday vacation, Chloe can now recognize words I had no idea she knew. One of her favorite books is "A Day on the Ranch" because she loves horses. She now knows some of the basic words in that book, including the word "ranch". To me this is amazing and it's allowing her to absorb the information she wants at her own pace. I feel much better spending money on more LeapFrog paper books than wasting my money on the story apps for her iPad. With LeapFrog TAG she is much more engaged and I couldn't be happier that my little girl is on her way to enjoy books as much as I do.

Here are some great LeapFrog TAG books:

LeapFrog Tag Learn to Read Phonics Book Series ($19.55)
Set 1: Short Vowels
(There are 4 sets you can build on. Each set comes with 6-7 small books.)

LeapFrog Tag Activity Storybook Toy Story 3 ($10.79)

LeapFrog Tag Early Reading Book Finding Nemo ($13.08)

LeapFrog Tag Dora Goes to School ($13.97)

The Future of Children's Books

With the iPad to launch in a few weeks on April 3rd, it's exciting to see how books will adapt to the new medium. Watch this video by Penguin (via Gizmodo) showing how their books turn interactive, especially children's books. Anyone with a toddler knows how they already love the iPhone or any mobile phone for that matter. I'm so happy that Chloe has a deep love for books and can be entertained with them by herself, but I also love it even more when we read together the most. (She recently started to pick books from her shelf for me to read to her.) Having this kind of new technology doesn't mean that it's an automatic babysitter, although inside I know something like this will make a long drive or plane ride more entertaining and educational for a fussy little one!

Just think of it as another medium for you to interact and engage your child. Ask him/her questions about what else you see on the screen, just like you do with a regular printed book. Chloe loves it when I point out all the different colors, animals, or call out numbers.

Whatever happens, in the next year or so books are in the process of being redefined and I'm excited to see how it all pans out!