KANO Computer Kit or other Coding Gift?

[MamaBearTeacher]

Does anyone have this? I was thinking of getting it for my 11-year old son. He already uses a computer program?/website called Scratch but only knows how to do simple things with it. Would the Kano kit teach him something new? Would it be challenging enough for him? It is very expensive so I don't want to get it if it will only occupy him for a couple of days.

 

Is there anything else that you would really recommend for an 11-year old who loves technology?

[nixpix5]

Kano took my 6 year old barely any time to put together. For 11yo I am not sure I would do it. Plus it can be glitchy.

 

Raspberry Pi kits in general have a ton of cool stuff for that age range outside of kano. Here is something to look at to get an idea

https://www.kidscodecs.com/my-adventures-with-raspberry-pi/

[luuknam]

My 10yo just started this today (so I can't say a whole lot about realities of the book yet):

 

https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Program-Scratch-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593275439/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

 

The reason I chose that book is that it actually covers a fair bit of standard programming knowledge - it even teaches you how to do a bubble sort on pages 229-231 (something that I doubt many other books about Scratch cover, but that's standard kind of stuff in an introductory programming course). 

 

I've glanced at Kano before, but I didn't see the point, or at least not for that kind of money. But it's been a while since I've looked at it, so I don't really recall much. You could also do something like Snap Circuits but with the guide that actually explains the stuff (the kits don't do much explaining):

 

https://www.amazon.com/Student-Electronic-Circuits-Electricity-Electronics/dp/B005JJ9VK2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

 

Or, since he's 11, you could also do something like Arduino, but I don't really know anything about that, other than that it's really popular. Basically, he's old enough that you could do electronics stuff involving soldering, albeit under supervision until you're confident that he's careful enough (not entirely sure if Arduino requires soldering). 

 

If he's reasonably competent at typing, there are also a number of programming books for Python for kids, or how to program Python games, etc. But since he could probably still learn a lot more from Scratch, you might want to just get an in-depth book about that.

 

ETA: and yes, Raspberry Pi is also very popular, but I also know nothing about that, other than that I'd probably pick that over Kano. 

Edited November 26, 2017 by luuknam

[luuknam]

Or, for something else tech-related, there's ham radio. Your local club might offer a course, or you could self-study with the book. 

[MamaBearTeacher]

Kano took my 6 year old barely any time to put together. For 11yo I am not sure I would do it. Plus it can be glitchy.

 

Raspberry Pi kits in general have a ton of cool stuff for that age range outside of kano. Here is something to look at to get an idea

https://www.kidscodecs.com/my-adventures-with-raspberry-pi/

 

Thanks.  I knew the putting together part would be easy though he would like it.  It was the programming/hacking part that I thought would interest him the most.  If it is glitchy, that would frustrate him.

 

I will look into the Raspberry Pi kits.

[nixpix5]

Thanks. I knew the putting together part would be easy though he would like it. It was the programming/hacking part that I thought would interest him the most. If it is glitchy, that would frustrate him.

 

I will look into the Raspberry Pi kits.

Amazon has the 2017 version of Kano, I just looked so maybe the glitchy bits have been upgraded.