The Sphero Mini Soccer kit will teach kids to code with a little help from the beautiful game

It’s coming home. It’s coming home. It’s coming. Mini Soccer’s coming home. That’s right sports fans, it’s finally time for the Mini Soccer season to kick off, but what exactly is this new variant on the beautiful game? Concocted by the boffins over at Sphero, Mini Soccer (£49.99) is a sporty take on the popular Sphero Mini – the smart robotic ball packed with a gyroscope, accelerometer, and customizable LED lights that can be used to teach kids (and adults) coding and programming. When synced up with the Sphero Play app, the intelligent soccer ball can be programmed to dribble around a set of bundled cones using the new Block Drive horizontal coding feature, or hurtle towards goal with the flick of a finger when in Kick Drive mode. There are tonnes of other challenges and features included with the Sphero app, all of which have fun educational beats that should help kids young and old start their journey into the vast world of coding.

Chris Kerr Contributor, Stuff.tv

About

I’m a freelance games and technology journalist currently mashing my keyboard in the name of fine institutions like Stuff, where you'll usually find me waxing lyrical about the latest mobile morsels. I've also been known to cook up some decidedly delicious reviews from time to time, and was once dubbed 'the games industry's answer to Nigella Lawson' by someone probably somewhere.

Areas of expertise

Video games, computing, smartphones, home entertainment, lamps