If you’re on the lookout for a fun, hands-on way to teach coding in your classroom, let us introduce you to one of our absolute favourites: the Sphero indi. It might be small, but don’t let that fool you—this little robot car packs a serious punch when it comes to learning.
Although indi is designed with early years learners in mind, we’ve found it’s actually a brilliant tool for all ages. From Reception to Year 6, indi gets children thinking like programmers in a really intuitive and engaging way.
So, what is it?
Sphero indi is a cute, car-like robot that learners can programme using coloured tiles. Each tile tells the robot to do something—go forward, turn, slow down, speed up, and so on. Pupils lay the tiles out on the floor, and indi follows the path, reacting to the colours as it goes. No screens, no typing, no fuss. What we love is that as it doesn’t require another device to program it, just a series of rubber mats you place on the floor, everyone in the group is involved in the coding challenge rather than the child that has programming device.
It’s perfect for early learners who are just beginning to understand sequencing and logical thinking. But here’s the exciting bit—when they’re ready, you can connect indi to an app (Sphero Edu Jr) and unlock even more features, like block-based coding, custom sounds, and speed settings. My favourite trick is to reprogram the tiles for the second lesson so the children have to problem solve.
Why we love it in the classroom
- No screens needed to get started – Perfect for younger learners. Pupils can dive straight into coding by playing with the coloured tiles. Theres’s no wrong answers either it’s all about giving it a go and debugging your decisions.
- Grows with your learners – Start with simple tile-based paths, then introduce app-based coding when they’re ready for more challenge. We love starting with our two key questions to engage interest “What do you notice?” and “What do you wonder?”
- Curriculum-friendly – It covers loads of the National Curriculum computing goals in KS1 and KS2—from understanding algorithms to debugging and reasoning.
- Works across the curriculum – Use it for maths (directions and angles), literacy (story sequences), science (movement and forces), or even geography (design a journey on a map!).
Easy classroom ideas
🟡 Reception & KS1 – “Create a Story Path”
Get pupils to lay out tiles to help indi retell a story or go on an adventure. Will it visit Grandma’s cottage? Head through the forest? Dodge a dragon? It’s storytelling and sequencing all in one.
🟢 KS1 – “Code the Treasure Hunt”
Set up a start and finish point in your classroom and let pupils work out the correct path for indi using the colour tiles. Add in ‘trap’ tiles to encourage debugging!
🔵 KS2 – “App Mode: Design a Dance”
Once pupils are ready, introduce the Sphero Edu Jr app. Challenge them to choreograph a routine with sounds, lights, and precise movements.
🟣 Whole School – “Robot Races or Obstacle Courses”
Get competitive with time trials or code-to-the-goal games—perfect for Computing Week or an end-of-term challenge.
My personal favourite challenges are: Can you design a perpetual motion track? Which is a great one as Sphero have cunningly only provided three turn left and turn right mats. Or for older learners, What is the maximum amount of tiles you can use to create a track where indi is only allowed to visit each tile once? That one kept one particularly enthusiastic Y6 class I worked with occupied for quite a while 🙂
Final thoughts
Sphero indi is so more than just a cute robot – it’s a powerful, flexible teaching tool that makes coding fun, hands-on, and accessible. It’s key strenght is the quality of discussion that goes on between the learners when they are solving the challenges. They are programming and debugging as they go.
While it makes an amazing beebot alternative for EYFS and KS1, we’ve seen how older learners love the creative challenges it offers too. Especially as the approach to computational thinking is a little different to what they’re used to. So different in fact that one learner said “What are we playing with these for? I thought we were doing computing in this lesson.”
So if you’re looking for a coding device that’s engaging, easy to use, and grows with your learners, Indi is definitely one to consider. We’re big fans—and your pupils will be too. We have a class set of these and love bringing them out to do exemplar lessons so teachers can see them in action with their students. If you already have Sphero Indis and want support to get started or inspirational ideas for lessons. Just ask—we’d be happy to help!
Check it out on the Sphero website