With so many young faces glued to various devices you may despair at the thought of what maybe happening to their minds, however there is so much potential to inspire creativity and curiosity with this modern world, the Kano Computer Kit Complete allows children from the age of 6 to build their own laptop and learn to code. The Kano is powered by Raspberry Pi 3 and Kano OS and comes with all the apps and programs you need, including a DIY Speaker, a 3,000 mAh lithium battery, four USB ports, keyboard with 15m wireless radio frequency and 40h battery life, sound sensor and 10.1” HD screen. Fear not about the big scary online world as the Kano has three levels of parental controls and a comprehensive set of controls to restrict aspects like internet browsing. Kano introduces the process of building the kit with a clear step by step story book style instructions (seriously, why don’t they do this for flatpack?) children aged 6-8 may need so help with the setup, but it is relatively easy. Once the computer is constructed you can then learn to code, with 150 hours of step by step challenges, type code, drag simple blocks, learn Python, JavaScript, Unix and understand loops, variables, and logic, you will even earn XP and medals as you level up. The Kano Computer is compatible with loads of games, hack Minecraft, Pong and Snake and make your own games, and there are 100’s of apps to download, including Wikipedia, Google Maps and YouTube. It comes with Kano World - a global community, full of other people’s creations of all skill levels for inspiration, as well as the opportunity to tweak and hack the code to make it your own. With so many ways to interact the Kano it should engage even the shortest of attention spans, all the components are robust and child friendly, it is portable, and the best thing is that parents don’t need to know anything about computers at all. The Kano Computer Kit Complete is an excellent way of introducing young minds to computer science and coding, it is very well made, engaging and inspires creativity as well as good fun, so if the kids insist on staring at it all day, you can ensure they are learning at the same time. RRP £229.99

4.7 out of 5

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Pros

Robust, good quality pieces

150hours of coding challenges

Enteraining

10.1” HD screen

Parental controls

Browse the internet, watch YouTube, write stories, 100+ apps.

Plugs into any HDMI screen.

Cons

Pricey