what is the best option for 7-9 year olds?

Question

gpolder · Answer

give them a pi 3, and a official raspberry pi display in a SmartiPi LEGO compatible case, with a small keyboard and mouse and let them program Scratch. Gerrit.

tonydbeck · Answer

Hi Elliot,

It is a little late for me to reply in time for you to buy a Christmas present!.....But if you wanted to buy a present for a 7-9yr old in the future, there are some really good products made by Makeblock. I bought my 7 year daughter a pink mbot. She absolutely loves it. It was really fun to help her assemble it too.

It is based on the Arduino and so can be programmed very easily with the arduino tools. Once out of the box, you can use the pre-loaded program to follow a line, avoid obstacles and if you download the makeblock app on your phone or tablet, you can control it over bluetooth!

You can re-program it using the mblock editor, which is basically scratch with some specific add inns for the mbot. This is great for a child as it is very graphical and is likely that they will learn scratch at school.

If you want to dive deeper with it, you can buy add on accessories such as displays and LED's. You can even add other items such as LCD displays to it and connect through the I2C bus! I have added a 20x4 LCD and 8x8 neopixel array - you do need to jump into coding in C/C++ on the arduino sketch editor, but there is plenty of example code out there!

Here is what my duaghters mbot looks like currently:

Hope this is useful!

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Tony

Robert Peter Oakes · Answer

I guess the question is more... What do you see them learning The PI is an educational platform and a very good one, but not really aimed at the age group in question Something more appropriate may be this https://www.microduino.cc/index-mcookie I am currently reviewing the Advanced Cookie set and it seems very good, and almost imposible to connect up wrong due to the magnetic parts involved and that they use POGO pins. Think Lego Arduino

dougw · Answer

The BBC micro:bit was targeted at this age group...might be worth checking out.... https://www.microbit.co.uk/ BBC micro:bit | Farnell element14

jkutzsch · Answer

I think it will depend on how much time you may want to put into teaching them as well.

Running a RPi 3 and using Scratch & Minecraft to intrigue them is a great thing to offer if they have the drive to jump into programming and playing. Grabbing a spare tv/monitor and keyboard/mouse is a great way to set up a more secure/locked down work space for the younger kids.

The Codebug is a better way to try and wet their interests since it has some great coding potential and can be worn and displayed. My problem was not getting enough codebugs for all of the kids! :-)

mcb1 · Answer

Some of the electronic kits that they assemble can also be a great starting point. I've introduced 10yr olds into Arduino, but it really depends on what they are interested in to start with. If they pull things apart to see how they work, and then put them back together, or extract parts from something to use in another item, then they are much more likely to be hands on and will enjoy the 'construction' type environment. Many think they want to program games, and I agree with others that the RP is not really suited to that age (generally speaking). While scratch is a programming language, it comes standard on Macs I believe and can certainly be downloaded onto something to use ...if you must. We run an introduction to Arduino in schools and myself and a few software guys think that drag and drop software such as scratch doesn't help makes them good programmers. Yes it is a little biased (you should hear what they say about html programming) ... Robotics is always a good one, and they can be an inexpensive one to start, which may lead to more advanced versions as their capabilities outgrow the hardware. Whatever you choose it needs to be easy to get results, even if it is to flash lights. The quick interaction is what hooks them and once hooked they may continue. As dougw said the BBC Micro or even some Codebugs are a really good starting point. Good luck Mark

clem57 · Answer

I agree a more toy like would ease them into the fun and later a Pi would be for older say early teens. Make sure it is what they want and not what you want. Clem

dwinhold · Answer

Lego Mindstorms is also a great way to get the younger generations involved.