It’s back to school time, and if you’re looking for an educational computer kit, you can’t go wrong with these five Raspberry Pi picks.
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The 2023–24 school year is about to begin, and a great way for your kids to learn about how computers work without putting a dent in their college funds is by buying them a Raspberry Pi kit. Raspberry Pi computers are Linux-based mini PCs that can usually be assembled in a few minutes without any special tools or, in some cases, without any tools at all. Some kits come with internet connectivity via Wi-Fi or ethernet connections, and many can be used to learn programming languages like Python, C, or Java.
A wide variety of Raspberry Pi kits are available at Amazon at prices ranging from less than $30 to more than $500. Assembling a Raspberry Pi kit will not only teach your child about the various components of a personal computer and its functions but completing one of these projects can help teach valuable lessons in following instructions and solving problems. Most of these kits contain small parts and are not intended for very young children. UCtronics Pico MicroPython Starter Kit
One of the most basic, inexpensive, and educational kits available is the UCtronics Pico Starter Kit, which sells for just $29.99 at Amazon. The kit contains the pre-assembled Raspberry Pi Pico, a solderless plastic breadboard, 30 jumper wires, five push-button switches, 12 LEDs, 10 resistors, a buzzer, two potentiometers, a motion sensor, an LCD module, an LED strip, and a micro USB cable. The Pico uses a dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ processor with 264KB of onboard RAM and support for up to 16MB of additional memory.
It supports programming in C, C++, and Micro-Python, and a compatible camera module is available for an additional $24.99. Amazon reviewers seem relatively pleased with the kit, giving it an average rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars.
Garrett Albright called it „fun, educational, and a good value“ and added, „I’m pretty happy with it. There’s more than enough stuff in here to do all of the other projects in the book as well as whatever more complex ones you might eventually come up with.
