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Overall:
It’s a great product to introduce your child to engineering, computers, and coding. I love that the frame is made out of (sustainable) wood and that part of the product experience is building the computer itself. There’s a sense of accomplishment and ownership that comes from having built your own computer that a child doesn’t get with a finished product. I also love that it gives our son a better understanding of the inner workings of the hardware.
Building:
The box comes with a Raspberry Pi circuit board, battery, speaker, screen, wires, transistors, switches, buttons, pallets, screws, and a detailed step-by-step Blueprint that your child follows to build his computer.The first go around when he got our son his first Piper at 6 years of age, it took 3-4 hours with me and my son building it. The second time, when he was 8, it took him a little over 2 hours - and he did it all on his own!
Finished Product:
The Piper comes embedded with MineCraft, Piper Mission, Scratch, Sonic Pi, Python, and programming software. Also, there is a guide on how to use the programming software.
Difference between Version 1 and 2:
This 2.0 version is a significant upgrade of the Piper we got a few years ago. Here are some of the big improvements:
- Larger screen
- Speaker gets embedded with the screen, creating less clutter
- Less glitches - feedback directly from my son
- Computer loads faster
- Longer charger cord, which allows your child to work on the computer while it can charge at an outlet
- More efficient battery
- More circuits and wiring
- Easier to build (but your child needs to pay close attention to the Blueprint!)
Impact on Kids:
The most beautiful thing about the Piper computer is the impact it’s having on our son. He naturally and understandably has a sense of pride in the fact that he has put together a computer all on his own and he already knows how to do coding. Piper has positively affected the trajectory of this young man. You can even watch a 3-minute ‘interview’ with him as he finished putting together his Piper 2.0: https://youtu.be/LcQbSTlPqdo
