Inspired by the colorful spectacle of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, first graders at Wantagh Elementary School brought a high-tech twist to the tradition — launching their own parade powered by miniature robots.
The event, held in the school’s STEAM lab, capped off a hands-on coding and design lesson. Students created floats by drawing their own designs, which they taped to wooden sticks and attached to Ozobots — small robots programmed to follow color-coded paths. The bots circled a black-lined parade route, passing buildings made of Magna-Tiles that students constructed to decorate the scene.
STEAM teacher Kaitlin Humphrey led the project after showing students a behind-the-scenes video of how professional parade floats are made. The activity blended science, technology, engineering, art and math — part of the school’s broader push to expose students to foundational robotics concepts like algorithms, sequencing and input.
The robot parade is one piece of a larger curriculum that introduces coding and engineering to every grade at Wantagh Elementary. First graders use Bee-Bots to practice directional programming, while students in upper grades use Dash robots, the Blockly app and Code.org to complete more complex challenges — such as navigating around obstacles or designing interactive games.
School officials say the integrated approach to STEAM education helps spark student curiosity and encourages problem-solving across subjects. Students work in teams, test out solutions, and iterate on their designs — all while building skills in both logic and creativity.
At the first grade parade, that spirit of exploration was on full display, as students proudly watched their robotic floats make their way through a route of their own invention.
