🦃 Activity Title: Dash the Thankful Turkey
Objective:
Students will program “Dash the Turkey” to travel around a mat, stopping at spaces to share things they’re thankful for.
Materials:
- Dash robot
- Sketch Mat or any coding mat (can also tape a grid on the floor)
- 4–6 “Thankful Spot” cards (one per square you choose)
- Paper or sticky notes
- Optional: Sketch Kit
- Optional: Materials to decorate Dash as a turkey (Building Brick Connectors, LEGO bricks, craft materials, etc.)
Setup:
- (Optional)Turn Dash into a turkey:
Add feathers, a beak, and eyes using paper or building brick connectors. - Place Thankful Spots:
Place the cards on different squares of the mat from the template we created for you. - Write gratitude notes:
Students write what they are thankful for using the template we created for you, and place them on the Thankful Spots.
Programming Task:
Students will program Dash to:
- Have a designated starting place on the mat
- Visit each Thankful Spot on the mat.
- At each spot:
- Say the thankful message aloud (recorded or prewritten).
- Change light colors (for example, orange = family, green = friends, blue = school).
- Make a sound (like a turkey gobble or a short melody).
- Say the thankful message aloud (recorded or prewritten).
Optional:
- If using the Sketch Kit, Dash can draw a small heart or leaf shape after each message.
Example Blockly Sequence:
Extensions:
- Random Stop Challenge: Have students draw cards to see which thankful spot Dash should visit next, then update their code accordingly.
- Group Coding: Each student codes one part of the route (one thankful stop) and then merges the code together.
- Sketch Challenge: Use the Sketch Kit to write or draw what Dash is thankful for.
Bonus Coloring Book!
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