There is no shortage of fun programs designed to teach kids the basics of programming, from Microsoft’s Minecraft coding game to MIT’s Scratch project, and now Google has launched its own program called Project Bloks, which will kids a hands-on programming experience—literally.

Unlike most other coding programs aimed at kids, which are generally games played on a computer, Google’s Project Bloks uses physical toys that can be connected together to build simple programming functions.

“Kids naturally play and learn by using their hands, building stuff and doing things together,” Google said in an introduction on the Project Bloks website. “One of the benefits of tangible programming is that it makes code physical, so kids can play with it.”

“Ultimately, our goal is to enable kids to develop computational thinking (a set of foundational problem-solving skills) from a young age through coding experiences that are playful, tactile, and collaborative.”

Rather than producing and selling Project Bloks toys itself, Google intends to make it an open platform that can be used by third-party companies to develop their own toys powered by Google’s technology. According to Google, this will “remove the technical barriers that get in their way: so they can focus on innovating, experimenting, and creating new ways to help kids develop computational thinking.”

You can find more in-depth information on how Project Bloks is supposed to teach programming on the project’s research page.

Image courtesy of Google