Daily Archives: November 13, 2020

Photo-A-Day, Review, Toys

Building STEM LAB Kids’ Walter the Walking Robot

Walter is Decorated
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00683

STEM Lab Kids sent us a free review unit for Walter the Walking Robot to assemble and review. Opinions are our own.

Today was a home day for the kids in their hybrid schooling. Usually this means that Andy completes all his work quickly and spends lots of time in front of screens. For the most part I let him because I have my own work to do and can’t be entertaining him 24/7. Today was a little different because we had an activity to do together that did not involve screens at all. Together we assembled Walter the Walking Robot from STEM Lab Kids. You may remember that this Summer Andy and I worked on the Copper Tape Circuits activity from STEM Lab Kids. This is a new product from the same folks.

Walter the Walking Robot is a kit that kids can assemble on their own and then decorate. The materials included in the kit are a motor, screws, laser cut wooden pieces and stickers to decorate Walter. He even has googly eyes! The product is for ages 12 and up but again, I like to let Andy enjoy a challenge and help out when I am needed. Andy did really well assembling Walter by himself, but I did help in some of the trickier parts of the assembly.

building Walter

Because Walter is a walking Robot he has gears that need to be assembled just right. Over-tighten them and he won’t move. Keep them too loose and he won’t walk straight. There was plenty of trial and error to get things just so. Luckily the pieces are precision cut and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. We had no major hang-ups during assembly. Once Walter was finished then came Andy’s favorite part. He got to decorate Walter. He gave him Googly eyes, shades and a big tongue. He also opted for the more Robotic looking hands for Walter. There are actually 3 options for hands included. Long arms with human hands, short arms with human hands and long arms with robot hands. Andy liked having those options to choose from. The kit also includes the batteries needed to power the gearbox.

The whole kit retails for $39.99 but it is on sale with free shipping for $29.99 on the STEM Lab Kids website. The kit also comes with extra screws and a mini screwdriver for putting the set together.

Walter is Built Time to Decorate

Toys

How To Enjoy Family Gaming Remotely

Connect and Play

With the pandemic firing up once again to record numbers people are rightfully concerned about travelling to see loved ones for the holidays. Zoom calls are okay but what happens when you run out of things to talk about and you want to play a game? One of the things that we enjoy in our house is being able to play games, put together puzzles and share time together during the holidays. It is a great time to slow down and enjoy some fun board games. I have reviewed so many and have a stack of them that I want to take with me to our Thanksgiving visit to my parents. But what if we could not be there in person and still wanted to pay a game. Well Asmodee has launched a site called Connect & Play that has instructions on how to play their physical board games via video conferencing services like Zoom, Google Meet and Skype. They have instructions for remote play for games such as Dixit, Just One, Dobble/Spot It!, Sherlock Holmes and Time’s Up (Amazon.com Affiliate Links).

Early on in the Pandemic my family did a game night where my sister and her husband bought us a game and shipped t to us through Amazon.com. They then ordered us dinner at one of our favorite places and we all ate dinner together and then played the game together. With the Connect & Play site you can do the same thing and use their instructions to play some of the Asmodee games remotely. I have included our Amazon.com affiliate links in this post so that you can order the games for yourself and your family members and give this a try. If you cant be there in person you can at least enjoy a game together.