NEW YORK — It's never too early to turn your child into a computer programmer.

A new board game called Robot Turtles is attracting plenty of attention at the 2014 International American Toy Fair for teaching kids as young as 3 the basics of coding.

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Robot Turtles by ThinkFun is the most-funded board game in Kickstarter history, far surpassing its $25,000 goal with $630,000 in pledges. The company is now accepting preorders, priced at $24.99, and will ship in June.

The concept comes from former Google programmer Dan Shapiro, who wanted to share his love for coding with his two daughters. Although many computer-based platforms for preschools are already on the market, Shapiro wanted to take the learning process offline with a traditional board game.

He designed the game so kids can pick up the essentials in just a few minutes. It's also approachable for parents who might want to get kids on a tech literacy track but didn't know how to get started.

"If parents don't work at Google all day, they might not know the best way to introduce coding and other tech to kids", a company spokesperson told Mashable.

The child plays the role of the programmer while the adult is the computer. The young player picks one of four turtles (blue, purple, yellow or red) and a corresponding jewel, and places them in different spots on the board. Up to four players can play at the same time.

The child has to direct — or write code — for the adult to follow and get the turtle to the jewel. Each card instructs the user to take a specific action, so the child can lay down a left-hand card or forward-step card. The adult then follows the cue from the card and helps move the turtle closer to the gem. The child then puts down another card to build a coding sequence.

Some obstacles, such as blockades or ice walls, come up along the way. Others cards have special abilities, such as shooting a laser to melt the ice wall.

"As the child gets more advanced, they can do more planning and lay down a few cards at once," the spokesperson said. "Coding for kids is huge right now, but a lot of it is screen based because that is the obvious route. This brings the computer world to traditional play."