Let's Start Coding Ultimate Kit

Let's Start Coding Ultimate Kit

Let’s Start Coding Ultimate Kit is a hands-on coding and electronics kit that teaches real, typed programming through more than 100 projects, from beginner to advanced. Instead of dragging and dropping coding blocks, your child writes actual code using loops, functions, conditional statements, syntax, and other programming fundamentals—then watches his code control lights, sounds, sensors, games, and an LCD screen.

More than 100 online project pages, 2,200+ lines of example code, and nearly nine hours of walkthrough videos take him from blinking lights to sensor gauges, Morse code, a Simon-style memory game, Pong, a working clock, and even a custom video game built across 23 lessons. The example code is meant to be tinkered with, so following directions can quickly turn into, “Wait—what happens if I change this?”

The kit packs in plenty of hardware: Maker Board • Maker Screen 3.0 LCD screen • 15-pixel programmable LED strip • 23 electronic components, including LEDs, a speaker, buttons, a knob, and light, temperature, and sound sensors. Best of all, the wire-free, breadboard-free design means he can concentrate on coding instead of trying to figure out which tiny wire goes where.

One parent heads-up: real coding means real debugging. A missing semicolon, incorrect capitalization, or other tiny error can stop the whole program from working. That can be frustrating, but finding the problem and fixing it is also a very real part of learning to code. A child who enjoys troubleshooting will probably consider that half the fun; one who doesn’t may occasionally need another set of eyes.

A reference book covering the hardware and core coding concepts is included, along with a fold-out storage box that keeps all those little components corralled. The downloadable coding software requires a Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook; tablets and smartphones are not supported.

Motivated children as young as 10 have successfully used the Ultimate Kit. We think interest and willingness to troubleshoot matter more than age here. For a child eager to move beyond block coding—or skip it altogether—the Ultimate Kit provides an unusually complete introduction to real coding with plenty of room to grow.