Connecting Cubes Widget
Give learners snap-together cubes to build towers and trains, match a picture card, get a number of each color, and compare lengths.
Connecting cubes are the snap-together cubes every kindergarten has by the tub. In Berdee they sit on a flat building board, seen from the front, the way a picture card draws them. Learners stack cubes into towers (up) and join them into trains (across), build an object to match a card, count out a number of each color, and compare which tower is longer.
A tower of 5 is 5 a child can see, count, and hold up against a tower of 4. That makes the cubes a natural next step after the ten frame and the counting collection.
Select the widget on the canvas and click the floating ⚙ Configure button to set it up. The mode, the tray, the board, the card and scoring all live there.
Five modes
| Mode | What learners do | Graded? |
|---|---|---|
| Explore | Build anything. | Never. You see the build |
| Build to match | Look at a picture card of a cube object and build it, anywhere on the board. Then tap Done. | Yes, on each Done |
| Get and build | Look at a card with a numeral and that many pictured cubes of each color (say 4 blue and 3 red), get exactly that many, tap Done, then build anything. | Yes, on each Done |
| Tower | Build one tower (up) or train (across) of a number, in one color or any colors. Then tap Done. | Yes, on each Done |
| Compare | Say which of two towers is longer or shorter, or whether they're the same. Learners can also build their own tower next to a given one. | Yes, on each answer |
Explore never counts toward a score, so the Configure dialog hides the Scoring section for it. The child's build still appears on their attempt page, as a small picture and a line like "Built 7 cubes in 2 groups: tower of 4 yellow; train of 3 blue".
How learners use it
- Get a cube: tap a color in the tray, then tap a square. Or drag a cube from the tray onto a square. Dragging is never required.
- Join cubes: a cube placed next to another joins it, beside, above or below. There's no gravity, so a cube can sit anywhere.
- Move cubes: tap a cube to pick it up, then tap the square where it should go. Like real cubes, pulling a cube out of a tower takes every cube stacked on top of it with it. A cube in a train (side by side) comes away on its own. Dragging a cube does the same.
- Remove cubes: pick them up and tap Bin, or drag them back to the tray. Clear empties the board.
- Hear a color: with Say colors on, tapping a cube or a color says the color aloud.
- Keyboard: Tab moves into the board as one stop. Arrow keys move between squares, Enter places a cube or picks one up (then Enter on another square moves it), Delete removes, and Escape puts picked-up cubes back down.
Every color also has its own mark (a stripe, dots, a ring, or plain), so learners who can't tell the colors apart can still match them. A lesson's theme never recolors the cubes: a red cube looks red in every lesson.
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mode | Explore, Build to match, Get and build, Tower, or Compare (see above). |
| Colors in the tray | Which of the 10 standard colors learners can use. Four colors (the default: red, blue, yellow, green) are easiest to tell apart. |
| Supply | Unlimited, or a number of cubes of each color. |
| Board | How many squares across and up. The board fits the widget, so a smaller board means bigger cubes. |
| Picture card (Build to match) | Build the object on the little board in the dialog, then press Make card. The widget draws the card from your cubes, so its count is exact. |
| Must match (Build to match) | Shape and colors, or Shape (any colors count). A build counts wherever it is on the board, but a mirror image doesn't. |
| Card (Get and build) | One row per color, each with how many cubes. Up to 4 colors. |
| Cubes, Color, Direction (Tower) | The tower's length, whether every cube must be one color, and whether it stands up (tower) or lies across (train). |
| Towers (Compare) | Two given towers, or One given + theirs, where learners build their own tower on the board and compare it with yours. |
| Question (Compare) | Which is longer?, Which is shorter? (both also offer "The same"), or Same or different?. The dialog shows the right answer. |
| Say colors | Says a cube's color when a learner taps it. It uses the device's built-in voice. |
If the cubes come out small for young fingers, the dialog warns you; make the widget bigger or the board smaller. A widget whose cubes are too small to build with at all can't be published.
Worked example: "Get 4 blue and 3 red, then build"
- Add a Connecting Cubes widget from the toolbox. It fills most of the scene.
- Click ⚙ Configure and set Mode to Get and build. The card already says 4 blue and 3 red; change the numbers or add a color if you like.
- Add a text to speech widget that says "Get the cubes on your card. Then build anything you like!"
- Add a submit button to grade the scene.
In the lesson, the card shows a big 4 with four pictured blue cubes and a 3 with three red ones. A child can tap each picture to put a cube on it (matching one for one), or pick a color and tap My cubes + once for each cube while counting. When they tap Done:
- 4 blue and 3 red is right. The board opens and the tray holds exactly those 7 cubes to build with. The building is never graded.
- 5 blue gets a hint, "Count your blue cubes again. The card shows 4 blue.", and another try. Tapping a cube in My cubes takes it out.
On the attempt page you'll see "Got 4 blue, 3 red ✓ · one on each picture", or "· counted out" when the child counted instead.
Worked example: an L-shaped object to match
- Set Mode to Build to match.
- In the little board under Picture card, pick yellow and tap three squares in a column, then pick blue and tap two squares to the right of the bottom one.
- Press Make card. The card now shows your L.
- Leave Must match on Shape and colors, or choose Shape to accept any colors.
A child can build the L anywhere on the board. If the shape is right but some colors aren't, Done says so ("The shape is right! 2 colors are different.") and the attempt page records it.
Grading, attempts and the attempt page
- Build to match, Get and build and Tower record an answer only when the learner taps Done: each Done is one try, and every cube placed or removed goes into the record of how they built instead of counting as a try. A perfect run is 1 attempt.
- Compare records each answer tap, like a multiple choice question.
- Grading is recomputed on the server from the cubes, so it can't be faked from the browser.
- The attempt page sums each answer up in plain words, like "Built the match · shape and colors ✓ · 8 cubes", "Shape right, 2 colors different", or "Built a tower of 5 ✓", next to a small picture of the build.
Logic
Use the cubes in behaviors and conditions:
- Triggers: On Cubes Change (a learner places, moves or removes cubes) and On Done (a learner taps Done, or answers a Compare question).
- Properties: Cubes on the board, a count for each color (Red cubes, Blue cubes…), Tallest tower, Longest train, Done taps, Is correct and Is answered. Use them in
{{variables}}too. - Methods: Reset, Clear, and Build the card, which builds the card's object (or the target tower) on the board, for a "Show me" demonstration.
See widget properties and methods for more.