Last month, I joined Gabriel Carrillo on the EdTech Bites podcast to talk all things drones and food—from how drones have redefined agriculture to live drone deliveries.

Now, we’re keeping the culinary CoDrone theme going with a Thanksgiving twist. It’s harvest time, and this little drone is joining the feast prep!

This month, turn your classroom into a STEM farmyard where drones use sensors, logic, and code to identify crops, harvest them, and deliver them to the Thanksgiving table.

Students will use their drones to “harvest” colorful crops and deliver them to the Thanksgiving table. This lesson is structured to allow students of all ages to participate. Choose the level which will engage and challenge your students, or have them move through the lesson to see how they do with progressively more complicated programming! 

Looking for more? Explore our free CoDrone EDU curriculum in our new lesson portal, learn.robolink.com.

Classroom Set Up / Materials Needed

• 1 CoDrone EDU per group

• Colored paper or mats to represent crops. Some ideas:
  

  • 🟨 Yellow = Corn

  • 🟥 Red = Cranberry

  • 🟩 Green = Green Beans or Collared Greens
    

• Tape to mark the fields and a Thanksgiving Table Zone (a paper plate works great!)

• A device to program CoDrone EDU (student laptop or TI calculator)

• Clear classroom space for takeoff and landing

Set up the classroom by placing colored mats or sheets of paper around the room to represent different harvest fields. Label each location with a crop, such as Pumpkin Field, Corn Field, or Cranberry Bog. Designate a central location as the “Thanksgiving Table,” which will serve as the final delivery zone for the harvested crops.

Challenge 1: The Simple Harvest

Students will program or pilot their CoDrone EDU to travel to each colored field, where the drone will hover or briefly land to simulate harvesting the crop. After harvesting, students will fly the drone to the Thanksgiving Table to deliver the food before continuing to the next field.

The objective is for students to practice safe takeoff, navigate to each field, pause to simulate harvesting, and then successfully return to the Thanksgiving Table to land and complete each delivery.

Challenge Extension:
Add timing! See which team can complete the full harvest with the best time without crashing or skipping any crops.

Challenge 2: The Smart Harvest

Once students are comfortable navigating their drones around the classroom, the harvest mission can become more advanced by incorporating sensors. Instead of choosing which crop to harvest based on sight alone, students will use the CoDrone EDU’s color sensor to determine which field the drone has landed on and respond accordingly.

Students should program or pilot their CoDrone to take off and land on each "colored field". Once landed, the drone should detect the color underneath it using the color sensor. If students are piloting, they can scroll through the controller screens to view the color being detected. If students are programming, they can reference Lesson 3.7 for guidance on using the color sensor and include print statements in their code to “announce” which crop has been harvested.

After identifying the crop, students will then fly the drone to the Thanksgiving Table and land to simulate delivering the harvest.

Here is an image of the color sensor on the controller if the student decides to fly their drone to each field.

Challenge Extension:
Students use custom messages in the print statement. Rather than just printing out the color that the sensor is detecting, use conditional statements to have it print out the crop that is associated with the color. Use Lesson 2.4 for guidance.

Challenge 3: The Creative Harvest

Now that students understand how color-based harvesting works, let them get creative!

Mission:
Add your own Thanksgiving crops and include them to the harvest mission.

Step 1: Determine new crops to add to the Thanksgiving harvest. Some ideas:

• 🟧 Orange = Pumpkin

• 🟨 Yellow = Squash

• 🟥 Red = Beets

• 🟩 Green = Peas

• ◻️ White = Mashed Potatoes

• 🟦Blue = Blueberries

• 🟪 Purple = Sweet Potatoes
  
  

Step 2: Program your CoDrone to recognize and respond to your new foods by uploading a new color data set. Use Lesson 3.7 for guidance.

Step 3: Add your new fields to the classroom layout and update your flight plan to include them.

Challenge Extension:
Host a “Drone Harvest Festival!”
Each team presents its unique harvest mission — with new foods, custom field designs, and drone routines.

Wrap-Up: Gratitude in the Air

As your students finish their harvest and fill the Thanksgiving table, take a moment to reflect.

Discussion Prompts:

• What did you learn about precision and planning?

• How does technology make farming or delivery more efficient?

• What are you thankful for in your classroom team today?

Then, gather everyone around for a “Grateful Group Photo” drones and all! Be sure to tag @robolinkinc on all socials. 

Additional Lesson Ideas:

• Math Connection: Estimate and compare flight distances between each field.

• Science Connection: Discuss how drones are used for crop monitoring and data collection in real-world agriculture.

• Art Connection: Design decorative “mini floats” or drone accessories inspired by the Thanksgiving parade!

The CoDrone EDU Thanksgiving Harvest is more than a seasonal project — it’s a celebration of curiosity, creativity, and community. Your students will not only learn how drones use sensors and logic to navigate the world — they’ll also experience how STEM can bring people (and turkeys!) together.

Continue to engage students with CoDrone EDU with our new lesson portal, Robolink Learn, at learn.robolink.com, where you’ll find ready-to-teach lessons, interactive coding challenges, and tons of classroom project ideas.

Happy Thanksgiving, and happy flying!