Kano Computing has created a way for kids to learn coding that gets them involved in the process from the ground up, all under the guise of a Harry Potter-themed magical adventure. The $99.99 kit will allow kids to put together their own wand, figure out how it works piece by piece as they go, and eventually use the wand in conjunction with the Kano Mobile app or a Kano suite on a compatible PC to complete a ton of different coding exercises, all of which incorporate the wand and do a variety of different things. Once kids get the hang of it, they can create and share just about anything in the app. The kit is officially targeted at ages six and up, but essentially, if a kid is responsible enough to not lose the parts and can read well, they’ll likely be able to use the kit just fine with supervision.
The kit comes with the parts for the wand, a manual to show the basic operations it’s capable of, a poster, and a sheet of stickers just for fun. Once the wand is assembled, kids can take part in over 70 different coding challenges that teach coding fundamentals, mainly by having kids define functions for the wand, then watch their creations come to life. As a bonus, the custom coding language is object-oriented and has syntax that’s rather similar to JavaScript, giving kids an early advantage in learning one of the most popular coding languages in the modern job market. Kids can play games, deck out their profiles, discover iconic Harry Potter scenery and creatures, and even create whatever they please and release it into Kano World for other users to play with and tweak.
This kit is Kano Computing’s first licensed product, but it has a history of making fun tools to help kids learn how to code. The company has a buildable Raspberry Pi 3 based laptop targeted at kids that comes with the custom, learning-focused Kano OS, as one example. The company has also created a USB motion sensor that can be used with its coding exercises on a variety of desktop OSes, and that sensor, which normally goes for $29.99, is free with your pre-order while supplies last. Your $99.99 gets you the sensor immediately, and the wand kit in October of 2018.