Meet Sam. This cute little peanut butter and jelly sandwich is actually a robot that teaches coding principles and skills to preschoolers and first graders.

This robot doesn't require a tablet, smartphone, or computer to program; programs are created simply by arranging the correct sequence of physical code cards. As the robot drives over the code cards, the OID optical scanner on the bottom of the robot reads the code cards one by one and runs the corresponding program. Then, place the robot on the grid of map cards, and the robot will run the program. You can program the robot to move in different directions, activate additional mechanisms, light up its LED light, make different sounds, and respond to different function cards. The built-in output device allows you to create simple robotics creations with arms or other moving parts that respond to instructions provided in the program.

With a full series of building and coding lessons, this robot kit also teaches physical engineering and problem-solving skills. All 30 lessons are aligned with the Computer Science Education Standards developed by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE), as well as the Code.org course website. The lessons become increasingly complex as you progress through the illustrated instruction booklet, making this kit suitable for children as young as four years old, with parental supervision and assistance, or as old as eight years old. The lessons cover the following six main programming areas: sequence settings, loops, events, conditional statements, functions, and variables.

In addition to Sam, there are five other stories, each of which presents model-building and coding challenges and related lessons: a mouse moves through a maze to find cheese; a penguin wanders around a zoo; a soccer player kicks a ball into the goal; a fire truck puts out a fire; and a factory robot performs tasks in a factory. A colorfully illustrated instruction manual guides little ones through coding lessons and helps them assemble various models.