Yesterday, @Aimee_DeFoe and I had the privilege of joining a Lunch & Learn at Fred Rogers Productions! It was a fantastic experience overall, and a great way to share our passion for STEM education with young learners with people who focus on early childhood education on a daily basis.
After introducing who VEX is, we shared VEX 123 with everyone, and got into some hands-on explorations with touch buttons and the Coder and Coder cards. Using some imagery from Daniel Tiger’s neighborhood, we invited everyone to explore the neighborhood with their robots!
We first showed them just how to use the Touch buttons to sequence steps and travel around the neighborhood. We also had Trolley cutouts and Daniel Tiger characters available to get crafty with the Art Rings 
After everyone found their way to their destinations, and explored the different ways to move the robot - we came back together for a quick check in.
We asked the simple question of What did you have to learn or think about to move your robot around the neighborhood? This seemed to really open everyone’s eyes to the valuable learning that was happening as they played - from one-to-one correspondence and spatial reasoning to communicating with a partner and taking turns, they began to see how the robot brought more than just CS concepts to life.
Then we introduced the Coder and Coder cards as a way to make sequencing more visual and tangible for children, and let them explore the different Coder cards as they built on what they learned with the same setup.
Then the explorations really came alive! Being able to hold the commands in your hands, and easily arrange and rearrange them to see the effects with the robot seemed to really spark curiosity and excitement! Conversations got deeper as well, as we talked about things like using the icons and gradually introducing Coder cards to pre-readers, or exploring sensors with commands like Drive until object, and (my personal favorite) using the Act Coder cards to open the door to SEL conversations.
One of my favorite comments of the day was “There’s so much social-emotional learning you can do with this!” Anyone that’s ever met me knows how SEL holds a special place in my heart, and being able to talk about integrating socio-emotional learning with robotics for very young children with people who work to keep Fred Rogers legacy alive - just wow. 
Over the course of our time together, you could see the wheels turning and sparks of ideas flying, as everyone began to see first-hand the ways that STEM and CS can blend so naturally with what we already do with young children. It was truly an amazing experience for all of us, and one that I will continue to think about for a long time to come!
