
Ask HN: Physical Algorithm Toys - thomk
Which physical toys will help a young person understand algorithms or programming concepts in general?<p>An example is the &#x27;Tower of Hanoi&#x27; game:
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wikiwand.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;Tower_of_Hanoi<p>Another example is this sorting game:
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;NrjSHdG<p>I am interested in teaching some very young people these concepts, in a fun way, without the requirement of a computer or any electronics at all.
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Jtsummers
Define young for us. My first thought is not a toy, but a game, Robo Rally
[0]. However, that might be less applicable to young children. They'd have a
harder time with it.

There are many algorithms which can be demonstrated with playing cards, but
they are not games or toys in themselves, but demonstrations.

Based on the imgur link (which finally loaded), my suggestions are probably
not age appropriate.

Wood Gears [1] has some neat contraptions and ideas that may be enjoyable for
kids (some more than others). Even things like the solitaire puzzles are
algorithim toys [2]. There are many variations of it which scale down to be
more appropriate to younger children.

[0]
[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18/roborally](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18/roborally)

[1] [https://woodgears.ca/machines.html](https://woodgears.ca/machines.html)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peg_solitaire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peg_solitaire)

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codingdave
Take a look at the activities labeled 'Algorithms' from the 'unplugged' page
on code.org:
[https://code.org/curriculum/unplugged](https://code.org/curriculum/unplugged)

They have a few specific toys they work with, but it also will likely give you
more ideas.

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jones1618
Traffic Jam is a physical sliding puzzle that teaches sequential and recursive
thinking: [https://tinyurl.com/yxav6zx4](https://tinyurl.com/yxav6zx4)

There's also a 1-dimensional version you can play in a classroom with people
or on a table w/ coins or chess pieces:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KizRWfuT5uQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KizRWfuT5uQ)

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Theophraustous
A Rubix Cube seems like the obvious choice. In learning to solve the cube you
will learn several algorithms, and see how useful they can be yourself.

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pubby
Mazes can teach graph traversal.

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thomk
You're right, didn't think of that, Thank you.

