Technological knowledge is essential in today's marketplace. By taking the time to teach your children about coding and how to code, you help prepare them for the future. Since young children often learn best through play, one fun way to teach young children coding basics is to play the Which Way? Future Cities Coding Game with them.

This $25.99 game will delight children in the 4-8 age range. It can accommodate one or more players. The colorful box comes with a magnetic board, a self-driving car, a spinner, directions, and 16 magnetic pieces of road. The board features various destinations, including Future City, Solar Panel Farm, and Bamboo Village.

As you and your children take turns playing, you work through the four key coding skills. First, you need to define the problem. You do this by spinning the spinner and seeing which route you need to build.

Then, you plan the solution. On your turn, you look at where you need to go and use your finger to draw the best route from the start. Next, it is time to code the program. To do this, players use the different magnetic road pieces to build the path from one destination to the next.

Finally, you get to test the program. The self-driving car makes this the most enjoyable part. Simply turn on the car and set it on start. The vehicle will follow the magnetic path and should arrive at all the destinations you planned. If something goes wrong, you can take the time to fix your route and try again. Once the car has successfully arrived at the destination, it is another player's turn.

You can use a scorecard to keep track of which destinations you include in your builds. However, my family did not utilize this feature. At first, I thought it was a board we could use with a dry-erase marker, but I was wrong. You could use a pencil and erase, though it will leave some marks behind. The good thing about this board is you can use it to keep track of builds over multiple rounds of play.

My children had such a blast playing this game. My four-year-old had a little trouble, as he did not line up the pieces exactly right. However, his siblings did not mind pitching in to help him fix his path. My five- and six-year-old children could play with just a bit of guidance during the planning phase, and my older children could play independently.

The board seems sturdy and held up well to much use over the past two months. The only downside with the board is that you must fold it to get it to fit in the box. This leaves a crease down the middle that can be hard to press flat while you are building. I think we will likely store the board out of the box from now on to eliminate this problem.

The self-driving car was a big hit with my kids. The track on the wheels does pop off easily, so you will want to make sure you are supervising if any of your kids put things in their mouths still. It only takes a few seconds to replace them, but it can slow down gameplay if your kids keep taking them off. Despite the few problems we found, overall, this is a great game. It kept my kids' attention, and they will continue playing for a long time to come.

If you are looking for a simple way to introduce a young child to essential coding skills, I highly recommend Which Way? Future Cities Coding Game.

-Product review by Lisa Tanner, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2021