Daisy the Dinosaur App: A Coding App for Pre-Schoolers

While this app certainly is for the educational technology sector of this technology world, I wanted to give it some attention because I think coding is a really important skill that I have started to introduce to my own daughter with this app. As an assistive technology specialist, I think it is critically important to pay attention to what is being taught in the Ed. Tech world because our jobs as assistive technology specialists  to adapt and teach these techniques for our students with disabilities.  Anyway, I love Daisy Dinosaur because it  introduces my own daugther (who is 4) to higher level problem solving skills through Gamification. One of the many things that I absolutely love about this *FREE* app is that there are two participation modes.  In the "Free Play Mode" the has the opportunity to become comfortable with controlling the programming options and movements to make Daisy Dinosaur move towards the star.  See the video below (sorry about the angle of the image in the video).

In Challenge Mode, the user is given a command for Daisy to complete.  The user must then use the commands provided from the app to complete the tasks.  Please the see the video below for a Challenge Mode Demo:

I am excited to see where the emphasis on teaching coding to our students it going to affect the areas of our technology curriculum.  Daisy the Dinosaur app is great for kids with vision  For kids with disabilities, especially those with kids with visual impairments, the idea of coding teaches students higher level cause and effect skills.  If the Daisy the Dinosaur developers synced some voice over adaptations within the app, this app would be perfect for students with low or no vision with the ability to problem solve.