Winter is here, and your classroom is about to become a bustling delivery hub. In this activity, students program their CoDrone EDU to complete a series of package drop-offs at different locations and safely return to Command Center. Each step builds drone skills while introducing sequencing, print statements, and loops.

This lesson follows a simple progression so teachers can build confidence and deepen learning one layer at a time. Students begin with a basic flight path, then add output statements, and then repetition. By the end, your class will have a fully autonomous holiday delivery system.

Want to take this activity even further? Our FREE Robolink Learn curriculum walks students through everything from remote flight to full Blockly and Python programs. Explore the full library at learn.robolink.com.

What You’ll Need

• CoDrone EDU

• Compatible devices, such as a Chromebook (read here for more information)

• Tape or construction paper markers for:

• Command Center

• House 1, House 2, House 3

• Clear flying area

Classroom Set Up

Create your holiday map by placing 2 or 3 “houses” around the decided floor area that is your flight zone. To create your houses, you can use things such as construction/butcher paper, chairs, landing pads, or boxes. Mark each”house” with a clear landing or hover zone. 

It’s important to note that if this lesson is done completely as written, the “houses” will need to be equidistant from each other so that Part 3 (loops) can be implemented. 

Part 1: The Simple Delivery

Students begin by writing a basic flight sequence. The goal is to take off at the Command Center, travel to each house in order, “deliver a gift” and return to home base at the end of their journey.

Students write a simple program: take off, fly to House 1, hover or land to deliver, fly to House 2, deliver again and return home to land.

Note: CoDrone EDU does not support a payload, and therefore the gift delivery should be simulated and not actually executed. 

This first round focuses on short movements, safe altitude and accuracy. Students learn how individual commands work together to form a complete program. Once every group completes a successful run, they are ready to expand their mission.

For information on how to use simple flight commands, such as take off and land, check out Blockly: Flight Commands and Python: First Flight on Robolink Learn. 

Bonus challenge: Have students program their drone to signify a delivery by either changing the LED or using a buzzer.

Part 2: Adding Print Statements

In this step, students practice using print statements to track their progress. The drone’s flight path stays the same, although students may want to adjust their code. What changes is how the students know if the drone was successful in its delivery.

Before each major action, students print a message such as:

• “Taking off from the Command Center”

• “Delivering to House 1”

• “Gift delivered to House 2”

• “Returning to Home Base”

These statements help students visualize their mission. Adding print statements is also a debugging strategy we suggest when troubleshooting your code. When a drone misses a house or lands early, printed messages make it easier to identify where the sequence went off track. This is also where students begin connecting code with real operational logs used in drone delivery systems.

For information on how to use print statements, check out Unit 2 on Blockly and Python on Robolink Learn - coming soon!

Part 3: Using Loops to Deliver Faster

Now it is time to introduce efficiency. Students look at the code they wrote in Parts 1 and 2 and notice how much repetition is happening. Every house requires the same pattern: fly, hover, deliver.

Loops help simplify this work. Students create a repeating pattern that handles multiple deliveries at once. For example, if houses are evenly spaced in a line, students can write a loop that repeats a movement and hover step for each house in the neighborhood.

A loop might look like:

• repeat 3 times:

• move forward

• hover for 2 seconds

This teaches students how programmers reduce long code into shorter, cleaner instructions. It also shows how drones in the real world operate along repeated routes during deliveries.

For information on how to use loops with CoDrone EDU, check out Blockly: Loops or Python: For Loops on Robolink Learn.

Extension: Variable Weather Challenge

In this extension, students practice writing code that adapts to changing “weather conditions”. Instead of knowing the challenge ahead of time, each group receives a weather card at the start of their mission. This simulates the unpredictability real drones face during flight.

How It Works

Create a small set of weather scenarios. Each one requires students to adjust their flight path or behavior using conditional logic. Place the cards face down and have each group draw one at random.

Here are sample weather options students can encounter:

1. Clear Skies
No adjustments needed.

• The drone follows its planned route without changes.

2. Light Snow
The drone must fly lower or slower for safety.

• If weather is "light snow":

• reduce speed

• hover longer at each house

3. Heavy Snow
The drone must avoid a zone entirely.

• Mark a section of the delivery map as a “snowstorm zone.”

• If weather is "heavy snow":

• take an alternate route

• increase altitude to clear a hazard

4. Blizzard Warning
The mission becomes a safety-first operation.

• If weather is "blizzard":

• take off

• print an alert message

• return to home base immediately
  Example behavior: “Blizzard detected. Mission aborted.”

Real World Connection

Adding a Santa narrative is just one possible lens. Some students may enjoy the imaginative theme, and others might prefer to treat this purely as a logistics challenge. At its core, this activity is about planning routes, coordinating deliveries, and applying code to solve real-world problems — skills that lead directly into careers in aviation, robotics, and supply chain industries. If you want to highlight those pathways even more, explore our CoDrone to Career blog on Supply Chain and Logistics.

Wrap Up

Bring students together to reflect on how their flight paths evolved throughout the activity. Ask questions like:

• What helped you complete your deliveries successfully?

• How did print statements make your mission easier to understand?

• Why were loops useful when you visited more than one house?

Encourage students to take a group photo with their drone and delivery map. You can even decorate the classroom with holiday houses, street signs and a Command Center banner for extra cheer.

If this mission sparked excitement in your classroom, you’ll find even more hands-on lessons, coding activities, and flight challenges on Robolink Learn. All resources are free and ready to use at learn.robolink.com.