When you find something cool that Adam Bellow likes, the chances are high that you will like it too! For me, this truism manifested itself recently in the form of a tweet Adam sent declaring his love for the recently released Tickle app for iOS. Tickle is a free coding app for the iPad that lets students create programs to control Spheros, Air Parrot Drones, and even Philips Hue Lights. Intrigued? I thought you might be! Here's what you need to know.
Tickle started as a Kickstarter campaign, and uses block coding elements that were inspired by the likes of Scratch, Tynker, Blockly and Hopscotch. The simple coding interface is accessible enough to be used with early elementary students, but it has enough potential to challenge middle school students and beyond. Programs can be written and tested in the app without connecting to any other devices, but connecting to a Sphero or an Air Parrot Mini Drone is where the real fun begins.
Tickle started as a Kickstarter campaign, and uses block coding elements that were inspired by the likes of Scratch, Tynker, Blockly and Hopscotch. The simple coding interface is accessible enough to be used with early elementary students, but it has enough potential to challenge middle school students and beyond. Programs can be written and tested in the app without connecting to any other devices, but connecting to a Sphero or an Air Parrot Mini Drone is where the real fun begins.
While I would love to have tested it on a drone, we didn't have one to hand. However, we do have some Sphero balls, so I set to work building a simple program to put Tickle to the test. It's easy to get started. Simply choose a template for the device you want to write a program for and drag the blocks you need to the canvas. There are various categories for each type of block you might want to add, and mistakes can easily be undone with the undo arrow, or by dragging errant blocks to the left-hand side of your screen. You can also access the in-app help by tapping the question mark at any time.
If you have programmed a Sphero before, you will most likely have used the Sphero Macrolab app. This is the native app that Sphero built for programming Spheros and Ollies, but it is not nearly as easy on the eye as Tickle is. There are definitely some similarities in the kinds of things you can make a Sphero do, but Tickle is more visual, and, in my opinion at least, it is also much easier to use.
You can also use Tickle to create fun video games. The Flappy Batman demo that comes with the game is an example of what that might look like, and these types of projects could be a great additional activity for classrooms that may not have enough Spheros for all students, or for specific coding challenges like the ones you find in apps like Hopscotch.
So, there is a lot to like about the new Tickle app for iPad. It is yet another fantastic coding app for the iPad, and one that deserves a place on the home screen of your school iPads.
~ Jonathan Wylie, Technology Consultant
You can also use Tickle to create fun video games. The Flappy Batman demo that comes with the game is an example of what that might look like, and these types of projects could be a great additional activity for classrooms that may not have enough Spheros for all students, or for specific coding challenges like the ones you find in apps like Hopscotch.
So, there is a lot to like about the new Tickle app for iPad. It is yet another fantastic coding app for the iPad, and one that deserves a place on the home screen of your school iPads.
~ Jonathan Wylie, Technology Consultant
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