Review of Robotics Activities to Promote Kindergarteners’ Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity

Abstract

Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity are core 21st century skills. Meanwhile, educational robotics is regarded as a contributor to their promotion. Hence, education tries to embrace them in school curricula. Yet, there is a lack of reviews in the existing literature presenting the robotics activities used to promote children’s communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking from an early age. Consequently, this study employed a thematic literature review aiming to 1. map the research field of robotics activities suitable for promoting kindergarteners’ skills, 2. facilitate researchers and teachers in their current and future work related to robotics, and 3. provide guidelines and a model flow related to robotics activities for supporting educators in integrating them into their school reality. The PRISMA Flow Diagram and the Atlas.ti software were used to investigate the Scopus database and the Taylor and Francis register. Finally, 16 papers were examined out of 349 initially retrieved and published from 2014 to 2025. Based on our findings, a few interventions have been aimed at fostering kindergarteners’ communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking via educational robotics, but there is rarely a clear record of robotics activities achieving that. Moreover, there is no specific model or guideline for developing such activities in kindergarten.

1. Introduction

Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity are widely known as the “4Cs” [1] and are thought to be vital skills required for well-being and success in demanding workplaces [2]. Therefore, it may be useful to promote them from an early age [3]. Active, student-centered, meaningful learning is what young children require to promote skills that prepare them to succeed in life in the 21st century [4]. The 4Cs build on each other over time and can empower childish personalities to thrive. A child who learns how to communicate successfully ideas and feelings, to collaborate effectively for a shared goal, to think critically, and to create innovatively can be a part of a high-quality educational system [5]. Hence, researchers have attempted to study the practice of fostering 4Cs skills to support educators in developing them. Based on Rusdin and Ali’s study [6], teachers face constraints in developing the children’s communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. This is attributed by the researchers to a lack of knowledge and effective strategies to promote such skills and due to a shortage of suitable teaching methods. Moreover, the stakeholders agree that the critical thinking skill is developed the most, hands-on activities might improve creativity, and communication is the skill that must be promoted since communication is vital in all fields [6]. Moreover, according to Tumbel [7], the project-Based learning model can enhance the kindergarteners’ 4Cs through activities included in four stages: 1. planning, 2. action, 3. observation, 4. reflection.

In a world continually developing technologically, the new learning paradigm should be to develop the children’s 4Cs from an early age by utilizing technological tools effectively. Consequently, educational robotics (ER) arises as a vehicle for enhancing children’s 4Cs [8,9]. Based on researchers’ claims, ER is regarded as an appropriate method for all ages [10], empowering teaching and creating effective learning experiences [11], characterized by edutainment [12]. Furthermore, traditional teaching methods, like storytelling, can be empowered with robotics and promote children’s skills [13]. Moreover, it can inspire students to think creatively about concepts meaningful to them [14]. Based on the existing literature, ER may foster preschoolers’ various skills such as motor [15], coding [16], engineering [17], sequencing [18,19], science [20], and mathematics [21]. Additionally, related to the 4Cs, robotics may enhance preschoolers’ creativity, communication [22], collaboration [23], and critical thinking [24].

Although ER is regarded as a contributor to children’s knowledge gain and development of skills [25], limited research is focused on preschool to explore the ER’s impact on children’s 4Cs [26]. This may be attributed to the lack of robotics kits tailored to kindergarten age and to the educators’ shortage of training and experience in designing and implementing robotics activities [27]. Additionally, no literature review is noted illustrating a specific format of robotics activities promoting children’s 4Cs. Accordingly, this study aims to facilitate researchers through a thematic literature review that tries to map the robotics activities that try to cultivate kindergarteners’ 4Cs. Moreover, this review aims to guide educators to integrate ER into their school routine, and it is structured as follows: 1. an introduction to the study given, 2. a background that reveals the current trends in the research field of ER and their effects on young learners’ 4Cs, 3. information related to the methodology of the study, 4. an illustration of the emerging results, 5. a presentation of the educational strategies and the robotics activities provided, 6. a discussion regarding the findings that emerged and guidelines to teachers for integrating robotics activities in their teaching, 7. the limitations of the current study, and, finally, 8. concluding remarks for future studies in the related field.

2. Background

ER framework incorporates innovative tools and methods. It occurred several years ago when Papert developed the theory of constructionism, highlighting that robotics can support children in handling successfully “powerful ideas and abstract concepts” [28]. According to Papert’s constructionism theory, ER activities may support students in constructing new knowledge based on prior gained information and experiences. Young learners, in particular, can easily explore without fear and utilize innovative materials such as robots to experiment and gain new knowledge in various fields. Thus, a kindergarten setting may be ideal for integrating a robotics curriculum to enhance useful skills [29,30]. Prior research suggests that kindergarteners can engage highly in robotics activities and foster computational thinking skills, programming, problem-solving, communicative, and collaborative abilities [12,30]. Thus, traditional teaching methods characterized by teacher-centered activities can be enriched with robotics curricula and offer effective learning experiences to young learners while developing their 4Cs [31]. Hence, innovative, appropriate robotics could be combined with traditional early childhood content and routine to promote various skills [32,33].

ER activities can incorporate cross-domain concepts and capacities as what matters is the process till a task is completed, rather than the outcome itself [34]. Studies have demonstrated that literacy, numeracy, math, programming, science, engineering, and arts can be successfully taught in preschool during robotics activities [20,21,35,36,37,38,39,40]. Accordingly, robotics might create effective learning experiences in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) education while fostering several skills and the 4Cs [41,42,43]. As a result, it is claimed that ER and coding activities may contribute to children’s cognitive and socioemotional growth from an early age [44]. Yet, 4Cs promotion via ER should not be related only to robotics education applied in STEAM contexts.

While utilizing robots to enhance children’s skills, it may be useful to consider the shift from mere technology to pedagogy. Therefore, the focus would be on “how children can learn effectively and develop skills”. Therefore, investigating children’s robotics experiences aiming to foster their 4Cs and their behaviors and interactions with robots, teachers, and peers could offer us insights into the ways these skills can be developed in education holistically. Additionally, examining the 4Cs development via ER may help us understand better how children adopt the innovative technology of robotics and, in general, the ways they communicate, collaborate, think critically, and create nowadays in a “technological world”.

Accordingly, researchers have attempted to investigate the kindergarteners’ development of 4Cs in the last decade. For instance, Kazakoff and Bers [45] examined in 2013 kindergarteners’ sequencing skills in multiple critical thinking domains supported by ER. Flannery and Bers [46] evaluated kindergarteners’ critical thinking too in problem-solving robotics activities. In 2013, Sullivan, Kazakoff, and Bers examined 5-year-old children’s creativity during robotics curricula [47]. Additionally, 3 of the 4Cs (communication, collaboration, and critical thinking) were explored in a mixed-research study by Liu et al. in 2013 [48] and by Fridin in 2014 [49]. Moreover, kindergarteners’ communicative skills were examined in studies by Strawhacker et al. in 2013 [50], Kory and Breazeal in 2014 [51], Ioannou et al. in 2015 [52], Lucking et al. in 2016 [53], and others in following years up to 2025. Furthermore, young learners’ collaboration was investigated by Lee et al. in 2013 [54], Gordon et al. in 2015 [55], Sullivan and Bers in 2016 [56], and others in later years. Notwithstanding, from 2013 to 2016, rarely have researchers explored all the 4Cs simultaneously [26]. Yet, ER and their potential to promote children’s 4Cs successfully has attracted research interest especially from 2013 up to today [57], and there have been more studies focused on the impact of robotics on children’s communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.

Notwithstanding, challenges may arise regarding the design and implementation of robotics activities [58]. Additionally, second thoughts arise related to robots’ low efficacy in the expression of feelings and in promoting children’s warm interactions [59]. Thus, Self-Regulation Learning (SRL) has attracted researchers’ attention. This type of learning is connected to individual planning, goal setting, and monitoring to assess one’s self in small groups [60]. SRL in kindergarten refers to self-control for actions and emotions, but the research in this field is limited [61] although social-assistive robots could foster children’s socio-emotional skills [62,63]. Thus, although the empirical evidences are limited, scientists claim that ER might have the potential to build up emotional and self-regulation capacities [64].

Activities tailored to kindergarteners’ needs and interests are required to set examples that children can follow easily [65]. Consequently, the dynamic interrelation in kindergarten between effective learning and optimal contexts is highlighted once more. In this strong relationship, the robots’ physical appearance and special traits may form the roles that children are inspired to adopt during the robotics activities. Thus, they may be important factors to consider. For instance, the social and humanoid robots’ ability to resemble humans can make children accept them easily as companions [66]. Furthermore, social robots’ capacity to demonstrate “interactive behaviors interleaved with emotional ones” can create positive emotions for children [67]. NAO robots’ capacity to engage in discussions with children and respond can shape a supportive learning context [68]. Accordingly, robots can act as pedagogical agents and either switch between tutor and tutee roles or encourage children to do so during the learning process. As a result, collaborative learning environments are shaped, while scaffolding is provided and children’s interactions are enriched [69]. The robots’ roles might shape the learning activity and the children’s development of 4Cs [68]. For instance, when robots act as tutors, they can contribute to learners’ communication of ideas and feelings while engaging them highly in the learning process [70,71]. Additionally, robots as tutors may spark children’s curiosity and inspire them to think critically and explore during tasks, which allow them to utilize various materials in different manners. On the other hand, robots can be used as tutees to encourage children to behave appropriately and collaborate successfully [72]. Additionally, they may prompt children to reflect during problem-solving challenges and discover knowledge related to them through creative thinking [73].

Recent technological developments have introduced innovative tools and methods to combine with ER in the learning process. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality can be regarded as two beneficial teaching approaches in preschool [74,75]. These can be utilized to accompany the robots in ER courses and offer hybrid emerging trends to enhance children’s engagement and performance [76]. Based on Karakosta et al. [77], socially assistive robots combined with Augmented Reality technology can use the traditional practice of storytelling to support young learners in gaining knowledge, being highly engaged in the learning activity, and shaping positive attitudes towards robotics education.

In addition, innovative parameters of ER have arisen recently such as tangible programming systems. These can create immersive robotics experiences connecting the physical world with digital elements [78]. The Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) may facilitate children’s rich interactions while providing them with scaffolding [79,80]. Especially related to kindergarteners, tangible programming can spark their interest and support them in managing simple to complex coding challenges playfully [81]. In addition, tangible programming robots may enable children to enhance their critical thinking via an effortless debugging process, collaborate enthusiastically, communicate ideas with peers, and inspire them to generate novel creations [82].

However, a few researchers investigated all the 4Cs holistically in a study (e.g., [83,84,85]). Additionally, seldom have researchers presented the robotics activities step-by-step to facilitate our better understanding of the manner ER may foster the 4Cs. Hence, a thematic literature review presentation is chosen for this study to provide a useful basis for robotics activities on kindergarteners’ 4Cs. Additionally, we provide, through a model flow for robotics activities, curricular and pedagogical recommendations for teachers and researchers wishing to design and implement ER curricula for young learners.

3. Methodology

Literature reviews can serve as a basis for keeping up with the state-of-the-art in a particular research field, collecting useful evidence, obtaining an overview of research gaps, creating guidelines for effective practice, and inspiring future work [86]. Additionally, a thematic literature review can connect readers to key concepts of an innovative field and provide retrospective insights into it. Also, via the thematic literature review, gaps can be discovered and support to relevant stakeholders may be given in understanding an innovative field and in developing new knowledge [87]. Therefore, this was employed as the most suitable type of study for this paper. Accordingly, three researchers collaborated to design and conduct this literature review utilizing the PRISMA method and the Atlas.ti software (https://atlasti.com/) to provide the foundation for new conceptual and practical models related to robotics activities fostering kindergarteners’ 4Cs.

The Scopus database and the Taylor and Francis register were used as the sources of relevant publications to include in this current study since they provide a range of research metrics and cover numerous peer-reviewed papers. A range of search strings was used to extract all the relevant papers: “kindergarten” AND “robotics activities” AND “communication”, “kindergarten” AND “robotics activities” AND “collaboration”, “kindergarten” AND “robotics activities” AND “creativity”, “kindergarten” AND “robotics activities” AND “critical thinking”, “kindergarten” AND “robotics activities” AND “4Cs”, and “kindergarten” AND “robotics activities” AND “communication” OR “collaboration” OR “creativity” OR “critical thinking” OR “4Cs”.

Extra inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to lead to the most suitable papers for this literature review. The papers had to be published between 2014 and February 2025 and be written in English. This specific timeframe is chosen due to the peak rise in researchers’ interest in ER in this period, according to systematic, scoping, and bibliometric reviews conducted [88,89]. Based on the existing literature, robotics are regarded as effective educational tools that have the potential to foster children’s various skills [33]. Consequently, they have attracted researchers’ interest, especially in the last years reaching their zenith in the last decade. In addition to this, papers that either examined skills different from the 4Cs or focused on computational thinking exclusively without exploring them were excluded. Moreover, studies investigating special populations and ages different from kindergarten were excluded as well. Finally, when interventions explored other skills and domains such as STEAM education and teachers’ readiness and support, without exploring kindergarteners’ 4Cs, they were not included in this study.

Based on the above, initially, 349 articles were extracted from the Scopus database and the Taylor and Francis register, and 16 articles were finally selected to be thoroughly analyzed (see Figure 1 PRISMA Flow Diagram). Accordingly, the following Research Questions (RQs) are addressed:

• RQ.1: Are there specific guidelines for designing and implementing ER activities in kindergarten to promote 4Cs?
• RQ.2: Which ER activities in kindergarten promote the children’s 4Cs?
• RQ.3: What types of robots are used in the activities?

4. Results

4.1. Descriptives of Included Studies

The finally selected studies in this literature review originated from various countries. Most of them come from the USA (21%), followed by Greece, Italy, and Turkey (16% each). In terms of affiliation sources, universities from China (11%), Indonesia, S. Korea, Uruguay, and the United Kingdom (5% each) are represented. In detail, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Beijing Normal University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Tufts University have conducted research. Thus, this global distribution can strengthen the emerged findings and their generalizability (see Figure 2).

4.2. Guidelines for Designing and Implementing ER Activities in Kindergarten to Promote 4Cs

In the finally selected papers, researchers (67%) often provide guidelines for the effective design and implementation of ER activities in preschool settings instead of step-by-step robotics activities. In detail, play is suggested for supporting often open-ended robotics challenges in STEM frameworks to enhance the 4Cs [91]. Moreover, computational thinking and 4Cs are presented as core elements to be incorporated into STEM activities [92]. Computational thinking is also recommended to be integrated into school curricula and combined with the 4Cs in social context learning tasks using small group sizes and robots tailored to kindergarten cognitive level [93]. Furthermore, computational thinking is proposed to be developed via ER and is found to empower children’s mental models and enhance the 4Cs [94]. In addition, a program called “Coding and Robotics Education Program” is presented that improves children’s cognitive outcomes and creativity through unplugged and block-coding activities using suitable robotic tools [95]. Kindergarteners’ creativity is depicted to be fostered during ER tasks that inspire children to design during STEM courses [96].

Also, it is suggested that stakeholders should consider the content and duration of programming activities that are useful to start from an early age. Additionally, interdisciplinary approaches and visual programming tools should be used to develop children’s 4Cs [97]. As long as the ER tools are tailored to kindergarten age, full activities, and modular evaluation tools and are at educators’ disposal, ER can develop children’s 4Cs successfully [26]. Finally, tangible programming as a part of the ER framework is regarded as an innovative means of improving young learners’ coding, problem-solving, and social skills [98].

Furthermore, the researchers recommend designing robotics activities in “maker spaces”, utilizing block-based visual programming tools. In addition, hands-on-making activities using co-robotic platforms and robots are often proposed [98]. Furthermore, the “Ask-Imagine-Plan-Create-Test-Improve-Share” process is often illustrated as a basis for the conduct of robotics [96].

4.3. Robotics Activities Step-by-Step to Promote 4Cs

Only a few (33%) presented the robotics activities step-by-step in the framework of their interventions. The 16 relevant papers have been grouped into five categories related to the robotics activities they incorporate to promote the C-skills: 1. ER activities promoting communication, 2. ER activities promoting collaboration, 3. ER activities promoting critical thinking, and 4. ER activities promoting creativity. Most researchers designed robotics activities to foster one C-skill via robotics activities. Less frequently, two C-skills were explored simultaneously and never three C-skills. Finally, it is revealed that all the 4Cs are often explored when researchers aim to present the required learning environment to promote them, especially in review papers (see Figure 3).

In detail, initially, educators should focus on how to attract the learners’ attention. Then, they can allocate roles in groups such as navigator, designer, builder, observer, and others. These can help young learners to experiment, share, and reform so that the outcome is enhanced. Proceeding, the children should understand that there are multiple solutions to problems, and finally they can assess and reflect upon their ideas. Six researchers of the sixteen finally selected papers of this study presented thoroughly the robotics activities they implemented in their interventions. Three of them aimed to foster young learners’ critical thinking, one investigated creativity, one communication, and one collaboration.

Regarding critical thinking robotics activities, Glezou [99] utilized the Bee-Bot and the Lego WeDo 2.0 to foster young learners’ creative thinking. During the intervention, the teacher’s role was to provide the groups of children with Bee-Bot-driving activities of graded difficulty and encourage them to approach the best algorithm with the lowest number of commands. Additionally, Cakir et al. [40] designed a 4-week robotics curriculum to develop critical thinking skills. Young learners were encouraged to build their robotics designs, program, and explain their coding after having participated in robotics activities. Furthermore, Kapaniaris [100] used educational scenarios in Bee-Bot-robotics activities to foster children’s mathematics and critical thinking skills. The activities followed graded levels of difficulty, and a mathematics fairy tale was recommended to be used.

Related to creativity promotion via robotics learning, Sullivan et al. [101] utilized the KIBO robotics kit to supply kindergarteners with playful strategies for creating in a STEAM framework. In terms of communication development through robotics activities, Conti et al. [22] used the Nao humanoid robot and humans as storytellers and created three sessions of robotics activities.Throughout the activities, the children were asked to listen carefully and then draw details they could recall. Regarding the promotion of collaboration via robotics activities, Benvenutti and Mazzoni [102] created robotics activities utilizing humanoid and non-humanoid robots to enhance children’s wayfinding skills through collaboration. During the activities, the robots facilitated them to reflect and debug.

A Sample Lesson Plan Used in the Activities Presented

Researchers often design and implement activities in the framework of STEAM education to promote skills. For instance, Sullivan et al. [101] created activities to support young learners in gaining geometry-related knowledge while thinking critically, communicating ideas to collaborate, and creating. The activities lasted five weeks, and 10 children participated using the KIBO robot. Initially, the teacher invited children to brainstorm the two-dimensional shapes that they were familiar with. Then, they were asked to draw lines and shapes on a paper. Next, children were urged to explore whether the KIBO robot could draw shapes through “turn” movements and “spins” and were led to deductions. Finally, KIBO had crayons attached to the front and sides of it and was programmed to create shapes. During this ER course, the teacher would be more of a facilitator than an instructor in a constructionist learning environment. Moreover, he should encourage children to discover knowledge during playful inquiries.

4.4. Distribution by Types of Robots Used

In terms of the robotics kits utilized in the interventions studied, we found that researchers often present the ER tools by putting them in categories while providing useful information about them. This may be attributed to their attempt to guide potential users and help them choose the robot that would fit them the best. Thus, various robot types are presented in categories such as coding/programming tools, social/humanoid, robots with physical buttons, tangibles, hybrid, and others. Moreover, in the finally selected papers, humanoid/social robots (Nao, Botley), wheeled robots (Bee-Bot, Matatalab, Lego, Turtle Bot, Ozobot, Blue-Bot, Colby Mouse), and modular (ModBot) are often utilized (see

Table 1. Information related to the robots used.

Authors	Title of Paper	Type of Paper	Robot Name	Robot Type	Robot Role
Canbeldek, Isikoglu [95]	Exploring the effects of “productive children: coding and robotics education program” in early childhood education	Experimental	Matatalab, Bee-Bot, Doc	Wheeled	Tutees, instruction kit
Rapti, Sapounidis [26]	“Critical thinking, Communication, Collaboration, Creativity in kindergarten with Educational Robotics”: A scoping review (2012–2023)	Scoping Review	Bee-Bot, Lego Robotics kits (WeDo and Mindstorms), KIBO	Wheeled, Social, Humanoid	-
Hu [97]	Programming and 21st century skill development in K-12 schools: A multidimensional meta-analysis	Meta-analysis	-	-	-
Benvenuti Mazzoni [102]	Enhancing wayfinding in preschool children through robots and socio-cognitive conflict	Experimental	Blue-Bot, MecWilly	Wheeled, Humanoid	Teammate
Sullivan, Strawhacker, Bers [101]	Dancing, Drawing, and Dramatic Robots: Integrating Robotics and the Arts to Teach Foundational STEAM Concepts to Young Children	Framework	KIBO	Wheeled	Tutee
Amri, Budiyanto Yuana [92]	Beyond computational thinking: Investigating CT roles in the 21st century skill efficacy	Literature Review	-	-	-
Bakala, Gerosa, Hourcade, Tejera [93]	Preschool children, robots, and computational thinking: A systematic review	Systematic Review	Bee-Bot, LEGO WeDo/Mindstorm, KIBO, Colby mouse, TurtleBot, and Ozobot Bit	Wheeled, Modular	-
Conti, Cirasa, Nuovo, Di Nuovo [22]	“Robot, tell me a tale!”: A Social Robot as a tool for Teachers in Kindergarten	Experimental	NAO	Humanoid	Storyteller/tutor
Montuori, Gambarota, Alto’e, Arfé [98]	The cognitive effects of computational thinking: A systematic review and meta-analytic study	Systematic Review and Meta-analysis	Bee-bot, LEGO Education WeDo	Wheeled	Tutees
Moraiti, Fotoglou, Drigas [94]	Coding with Block Programming Languages in Educational Robotics and Mobiles, Improve Problem Solving, Creativity & Critical Thinking Skills	Framework	Nao, Botley, Bee-bot, Lego Mindstorms EV3	humanoid, wheeled, modular	Instruction kits, tools, tutors
Başaran, Metin, Vural [44]	Meta-thematic synthesis of research on early childhood coding education: A comprehensive review	Review	-	-	-
Liu, Oh, Zhang, Fang, Huang, Hao, Wang, Yao, Ying [96]	A study of children’s learning and play using an underwater robot construction kit	Experimental	ModBot	Modular	Instruction kit
Çakır, Korkmaz, ˙Idil, Ugur Erdogmus [40]	The effect of Robotic Coding Education on preschoolers’ Problem-solving and Creative Thinking Skills	Experimental	LEGO Education WeDo	Wheeled	Instruction kit
Sullivan [91]	The Creative Nature of Robotics Activity: Design and Problem Solving	Framework	LEGO Mindstorms	Wheeled	Tutee
Kapaniaris [100]	Teaching Aids and Manipulative Teaching Means: Educational Robotics and Mathematics Using the Planned Bee-Bot Floor Robot	Framework	Bee-Bot	Wheeled	Tool
Glezou [99]	Fostering Computational Thinking and Creativity in Early Childhood Education	Framework	Bee-Bot, LEGO Education WeDo	Wheeled	Tool

, Figure 4). However, some of the researchers do not mention the robot type, especially in review papers (see Figure 4).

Robots can have different appearances, software, and hardware, and functional traits. These can determine the kind of ER activities and shape the potential learning objectives [34]. Accordingly, there are different robots to be utilized in activities to promote different skills. For instance, there are modular-wheeled robots in activities promoting computational thinking skills and coding. Additionally, construction robotics kits facilitate children’s designing ability, and social and humanoid robots enhance children’s social and emotional growth. Related to the robots used in the selected studies, researchers selected well-known robots that have been widely utilized in early childhood education. Bee-Bot is a widely known bee-shaped robot. It is commonly used for teaching computational concepts in preschool and primary school. It has arrow keys illustrating the commands (forward, backward, and turn left–right) that can be given to move the Bee-Bot [103]. Regarding Lego WeDo 2.0, this robotics kit is used in the first grades of primary school to facilitate co-creative projects. It contains Lego bricks, an engine, sensors, and a controller connecting the model to a computer [104]. As for the KIBO robotics kit, it is a robotics construction kit incorporating both hardware (robot) and software (tangible programming blocks) to make the robot move. It has wheels, motors, sensors, light, and motors and includes art platforms to support young learners in personalizing their own unique projects with articrafts [17]. Finally, in terms of the Nao robot, it is a programmable, humanoid robot that is 58 cm high. It has sensors, motors, and voice recognition ability and is used in various fields [105]. (See Figure 5).

To achieve the goals of their designed activities, researchers allocate special roles to robots. These can be coding tools, assistive instruction kits, tutors, tutees, teammates, and storytellers, among others. Notwithstanding, it should be highlighted that some challenges and barriers potentially arise while utilizing the above robots in educational settings. For instance, the high cost of ER equipment often leads to a shortage of it, the teachers’ limited training and inadequate content knowledge, and their low self-esteem regarding robotics usage [106,107].

5. Discussion

This review aims to map the field of robotics activities promoting children’s 4Cs in kindergarten and offer all relevant stakeholders with useful guidelines for the design and implementation of robotics activities in the related field. Related to the first RQ and the guidelines provided for robotics activities, it is recommended considering various factors. For instance, the number of participants and the way they should work, individually, in pairs, or groups. Furthermore, the special traits of kindergarten age, needs, and interests should be taken into account. Additionally, the duration of the activities and the type of suitable robots to use should be considered. Accordingly, researchers often propose the design and implementation of ER activities in established, educational frameworks tailored to kindergarteners’ developmental characteristics. Thus, successful strategies related to ER learning may emerge from the studied papers (see Appendix A). The early years in a child’s life are regarded as “quality” ones due to their potential contribution to children’s future social, emotional, and mental growth [108]. Therefore, preschool may play a vital role in providing ideal frameworks that can foster children’s lifelong, useful skills. Playtime characterizes these frameworks. Kindergarteners act like natural, curious researchers while engaging in playful, learning experiences that are meaningful to them according to Piaget’s theory [109,110]. Play can inspire children to explore, experiment freely, compare, share ideas, and socialize with peers and adults [111]. Additionally, based on Vygotsky’s deductions, a child can communicate ideas successfully during playtime, utilize various materials, and promote critical thinking and problem-solving abilities through scaffolding from more experienced agents with whom he/she interacts [112]. Additionally, during playful, inquiry activities, kindergarteners get used to adopting positive, social behaviors, and collaborating for a common goal [113]. Thus, as long as playtime is tailored to kindergarten age, needs, and interests, it may support young learners in engaging actively, exploring their hypotheses, debugging, reforming ideas, and learning [114].

Today’s educational settings need to encompass innovative learning models instead of the traditional, teacher-centered ones to prepare 21st-century citizens [2]. Hence, we suggest the following model flow for creating a playful inquiry in a robotics curriculum based on the 5E learning model. It is named by the five stages–phases beginning with the letter “E”: 1. Engagement, 2. Exploration, 3. Explanation, 4. Elaboration, and 5. Evaluation. These phases facilitate a. the educator to act as a facilitator, b. students’ better understanding of new information, and c. the development of useful, lifelong skills for both of them [115,116]. The 5E model is based on constructivism and cognitivism [117] and can create joyful, meaningful learning experiences. Moreover, it can be applied to a range of courses in contrast to other established pedagogical frameworks, such as project-based learning, which is most suitable for experimental activities in small research groups [118]. Additionally, the five stages–phases of the 5E model may create a learning environment that can contribute to students’ enhanced learning outcomes [119], their promotion of problem-solving abilities [120], and 21st-century skills [121]. These are facilitated by inquiries in learning cycles (observe, ask, plan, design, analyze, answer, explain, predict, and share) during collaborative tasks that enrich children’s interactions with peers, teachers, and the social environment [116]. Yet, support and training need to be supplied to teachers to feel confident enough to implement the strategies of the 5E model in their classrooms.

In the Engagement stage, the kindergarten teacher will spark the children’s curiosity and engage them in the learning activity. In the Exploration stage, the children’s scaffolding of knowledge will be supported. In the Explanation stage, students will focus on a specific aspect of their engagement in the activity. The educator will guide them toward a deeper understanding of the topic examined and in the Elaboration stage, and students will be encouraged to apply their new knowledge in a new context while developing communicative and collaborative skills. Lastly, in the evaluation stage, both the teacher and the young learners will assess the knowledge they have gained so far and evaluate their understanding of the information they have been exposed to. In addition, we recommend designing and implementing the robotics tasks within the above stages in a playful learning environment. In this, teachers should act as facilitators helping students adopt an active role in small groups. This would lead to high engagement in playful experiences tailored to children’s interests and routines, thus contributing to effective discovery of new knowledge. Finally, in such a learning environment, children would communicate ideas and feelings effortlessly, collaborate effectively, think critically, and create joyfully.

Model for Robotics Curricula

• Engagement stage: Ice-breaking/warm-up activity

• The participants present themselves (short talk, logo, singing, drawing, and dancing) (communication promotion).

• Exploration stage: Introductory activity

• Engage children in the topic-concept of activity/investigate prior knowledge/experience (critical thinking and communication promotion).
• Set goals for the activity challenge (collaboration promotion).

• Explanation stage: Pre-workshop activity—Meet the ER partners

• Present robotics gear and functional characteristics, abilities/robot = partner to reach a goal (critical thinking and collaboration promotion).
• Allocate roles to achieve a common goal (collaboration promotion).

• Elaboration stage: Workshop

• Activity workshop: collaborate, investigate, create, and share
  (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity promotion).

• Evaluation stage: Evaluation of the Workshop

• Children are encouraged to evaluate (liked most, easy/hard to do, would like to do again, and would change) (critical thinking, communication, and collaboration promotion).
• Reform–reflect (critical thinking, communication, and creativity promotion).

• Share our work

• Praise for the effort and inspire for future work (communication, collaboration, and creativity promotion).
• Share our work projects (communication and collaboration promotion).

The proposed model for robotics activities incorporates evaluation in its last stage. Evaluating the learning process is very useful since it may contribute to successful reforming, minimize risks, and enhance the design and the way the activity is implemented. Additionally, stakeholders need to assess the activities to determine whether they can meet their goals. Accordingly, evaluation tools appropriate for assessing kindergarteners’ 4Cs development are required.

In terms of the RQ2 and the activities presented in the finally selected studies, merely a few researchers present the robotics activities in detail (see Figure 1 PRISMA Flow Diagram). Consequently, there is no clear suggestion for how to design and implement a full robotics activity to promote kindergarteners’ 4Cs. Most of the time, researchers either present the theoretical framework in which they construct their interventions or the factors that should be considered while integrating robotics into the learning process. Yet, well-structured and full ER activities might be an effective educational teaching aid tool [95]. Therefore, step-by-step guidelines should be provided for creating playful inquiries in educational robotics contexts from an early age [122].

In the activities provided, it is found that critical thinking is promoted most frequently, and this often coincides with the creative way of thinking and creativity. That may be attributed to the fact that critical thinking is often combined with other cognitive skills such as problem-solving strategies and creative thinking due to the lack of clear definitions for it among the other 4Cs in kindergarten [123]. Moreover, collaboration is often investigated because perhaps it is easy to evaluate since it encompasses a lot of behaviors and is easy to observe [124]. Furthermore, not all the 4Cs are explored simultaneously in the robotics activities (see Figure 3). That could be explained by the shortage of suitable evaluation tools for them [26].

Related to the RQ3 and the robots used in the selected studies, it would be useful to gain insight into them to better understand the close connection between them and the effectiveness of the robotics activity. So, the most commonly utilized robots, wheeled robots are often used (see Figure 4). This aligns with the existing literature that wheeled, easily programmable, floor robots—like Bee-Bot—are suitable for preschool [125]. Also, humanoid robots seem to contribute to the development of skills. It is found that they can be very good partners for kindergarteners in conflictual situations that acquire negotiation [102]. Additionally, if they utilize humans’ reactions and behaviors, they could facilitate children to express their emotions [22]. Moreover, if robots are designed according to young learners’ needs and interests, they can develop both “internal” skills, such as critical thinking and creativity, and “external” skills like communication and collaboration [92]. Therefore, robots that can make kindergarteners feel cozy while interacting with them, are tailored to their developmental characteristics, and inspire them to experiment without fear would be appropriate for robotics activities in preschool [33]. Furthermore, robotic construction kits are often used in robotics activities to inspire young learners to design and construct through creative thinking and reasoning across various domains and STEM disciplines [41]. However, there have not been yet in the existing literature any selection criteria for the most suitable ER activities in kindergarten to promote the 4Cs.

6. Limitations

Regarding the limitations of this study, we searched for suitable evidence in one database and one register only, thus papers in other databases may have been missed. Additionally, we studied papers examining exclusively the kindergarteners’ 4Cs, and publications exploring mixed ages and various capacities have been excluded. Finally, the timeframe of our study (2014–2025) may be restrictive for generalized deductions as there might have been relevant papers published before 2014.

7. Conclusions and Future Directions

In the past, several attempts have been made to illustrate the ER’s potential impact on children’s 4Cs development. However, they did not either examine kindergarten age exclusively or provide a clear framework for designing and implementing robotics activities. Thus, this review focuses on kindergarteners and supplies researchers and educators with useful information and guidelines about robotics activities. Moreover, it highlights the need for ER tools tailored to kindergarteners’ needs and child-centered activities fostering the useful 4Cs. Critical thinking seems to be explored the most in robotics activities in kindergarten while utilizing wheeled and humanoid robots. However, thorough robotics activities are not provided to support teachers willing to integrate ER into their classrooms to promote kindergarteners’ 4Cs. Thus, regarding recommendations for future research, it would be useful to 1. design full robotics interventions that could facilitate ER teaching step-by-step for improving kindergarteners’ 4Cs, 2. provide suggestions for robotics kits tailored to kindergarten age to facilitate educators’ work, and 3. develop evaluation tools for assessing kindergarteners’ 4Cs. Shortly, we aim to present findings from a long-lasting intervention in the framework of the educational research program “TINKER” (Tangible INterfaces in Kindergarten and Educational Robots). This encompasses 12 robotics activities (using the Bee-Bot and the tangible programming robot DuckyCode) of graded difficulty for developing the kindergarteners’ 4Cs together with computational thinking and motor creativity. Findings emerging from studies like this can serve as useful guidelines to stakeholders wishing to foster children’s skills via ER from an early age.