👩🏾‍💻Coding Toys and Kits for Girls - Expert Picks

 We've written extensively on the topic of girls and coding and tech. Girls can play with and learn from the same toys and kits as boys, but many girls are drawn to a different style of play and creativity. In this post we've rounded up the coding toys and kits that have done best at having wider appeal to girls and kids who want to be creative and collaborative with tech.

We've covered all the age groups here from toddlers and preschoolers through to teens. This is not about making things pink (not that we have any problem with a bit of pink, there's certainly too much blue around in kids programmable robots!) it's about the style of interaction and the design appeal.  

• The Makeblock mTiny is designed for kids aged 3-5 and comes from the Makeblock brand which makes fantastic coding education toys for a wide age range. The mTiny is a really cute floor robot which is programmable from a remote control and focuses on emotional play. It comes with loads of accessories including well design map tiles that can be arranged in different configurations and coding cards that can be scanned by the pen for programming. We also love the cute design of the panda which will appeal to lots of young girls. This isn't the cheapest option but you do get a lot of tech and content for the money. Look out for deals!
  
  
• The Learning Resources Coding Critters MagiCoders: Skye the Unicorn is made by Learning Resources, the maker of the popular Code and Go mouse. Skye the Unicorn offers a similar style of learning and play but is remotely programmed using a wand. The toy comes with lots of accessories and is really reasonably priced. It's the kind of gift that completely qualifies as a toy but offers a lot more. This toy completely leans in to the magic theme with a book of coding spells. Skye the Unicorn is designed for kids age 4+ who love unicorns and rainbows.
  
  
• The The Osmo-Coding Starter kit works with a tablet or phone and you need to pick the right kit for your tablet. We love the Osmo-Coding kit. It uses a set of physical pieces to program a character in an app on the tablet or phone - the device's camera recognizes the pieces. The app is really fun and well-designed. It's really lovely to see an alternative to floor robots that still has a tangible, physical pieces. You can read our longer review on the Osmo-Coding stater kit. It's recommended for age 5-10 and has been well-designed to be inclusive of girls.
  
  
• The OhBot Picoh is a programmable robot head that you can have conversations with. We're long-time fans of the OhBot range of programmable robot heads but we did ask why their original OhBot was blue (ours used to accompany is to events and act as a robot receptionist!). We love that the newer Picoh is available in white and orange. It might seem like a small detail but it's important for girls to see tech toys as 'for us'. The Picoh displays its emotions used a matrix of LED lights and lips that are moved with motors. The Picoh connects to an app on desktop computer and can be programmed using block-based coding or the Python text-based programming language. This is a great way to experiment with the emotional aspects of robots using voice detection and generation and emotional expression through the LED eyes and moving lips. It's recommended from age 7 (with supervision) but this will appeal to older teens too.
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• The Makeblock xLight is a programmable night light with loads of different features and accessories packed into it. It has an accompanying app that can be used to program coloured light effects using a drag and drop block-based app. There's a physical rainbow add-on as well as other light accessories including a blank board with a pen for creating your own designs and then lighting them. The night light supports gesture control so kids can create interactive light displays and games. There's a neat remote control and it supports music sync too. We love that girls will get to experience creating a real gadget that they can use and show to friends and family.
  
  
• The imagiCharm is a programmable grid of coloured LEDs in a nicely designed case that can be clipped to a backpack. The imagiCharm can be programmed from an app on a phone using the Python programming language. Python is a real programming language used in industry. The recommended age range is 8-12 so this is great for the tween age group. It's been designed specifically for girls and it shows - it's creative purposeful and social. Tweens can program the imagiCharm to create colourful displays and animations and then share what they've made.
  
  
• The TinyCircuits Thumby, Tiny Game Console is a really small fully functioning games console. You can create your own games or animations and play them with the built in button controls. Thumby is programmed using MicroPython, a version of the popular Python programming language that has been adapated to run on programmable hardware devices. Thumby comes preloaded with 5 games so kids can see what is possible. It's only a black and white screen, but that is reflected in the accessible price and it is a nice OLED display. The Thumby Code editor runs in a web browser and supports block-based Blockly coding or text-based MicroPython. You can even connect devices together with a link cable. Thumby is for age 8 through to adult - ideal for a tech family. The TinyCircuits Thumby makes our list for its cuteness and choice of colours (yes there's pink but there's also a lovely teal colour) combines with real educational value and social play potential.
  
  
• The KOOKYE LilyPad Sewable Starter Learning Electronics Kit for Arduino is a kit for making several sewable electronics projects. e-textiles is a popular way into tech for girls. The kit requires sewing and following instructions carefully so it's probably suitable for around age 10+. You get the complete materials for 5 projects including LEDs, a light sensor, conductive thread, a coin cell battery holder, colorful felt and a LilyPad controller that you can load code onto. This is a great value kit and non-tech families will be able to get a lot of value from the included projects, those who get really interested will be able to take the LilyPad platform a lot further - it's actually an Arduino device and you can program it and add lots more accessories.
  
  
• The Chibitronics - Love to Code Creative Coding Kit is a beautiful book-based kit with a programmable 'Chibi Chip' microcontroller. Chibintronics takes the popular format of paper based electronics and makes it easily accessible by bundling everything together into a book complete with story-based activities, LED lights and copper tape for making connections. We reviewed the original Beta of the Chibitronics and loved the link to art and creativity that it brings. Code is written in a friendly web-based editor, you don't need to install anything. Code is uploaded to the Chibi Chip used the headphone jack of a phone or computer so make sure the intended recipient has access to a suitable device. The recommended age rating is 13+ and we think it would appeal to design-minded teen girls who think they might be interested in tech or the application of tech in creative industries.
  
  
• The LINGO STEM Coding Kit is a complete kit for building a backup sensor for a car. The LINGO STEM kit allows kids to build a practical real world gadget and gets praise for being easy to use. It includes video tutorials and gives young people a view into how tech is used in industry. This kit makes it on to our list for getting great reviews and for being designed by an inspirational tech woman. Aisha Bowe is a former NASA rocket scientist turned tech entrepreneur and she founded LINGO to inspire the next generation.
  
  

Summary - Coding Toys and Kits for Girls

There's a great range of coding toys and kits on the market in 2023 to appeal to girls who want an option that has been designed for their interests. This isn't about making things pink. It's about making sure that there are options that appeal to children whose interests are more aligned with creativity, design, emotions and communication. It's really important to bring those young people into tech.