Piper Computer Kit: Award-Winning, STEAM Learning, with Raspberry Pi, Drag-n-Drop Coding, StoryMode, Games, Python, and Amazing Projects!

The Piper kit is very well made and has an intuitive build process complete with actual blueprints. My 10 year old daughter didn't require any assistance (although I sat nearby watching her, just because it was cool). In fact, I wasn't allowed to help. She made fast work of the build and kept saying out loud, "I can't believe I'm building an actual computer." and "I just can't believe I'm doing this." What I liked watching was that, although it was easy to build - it wasn't "too easy" because she actually needed to read each portion of the directions, which are very well designed and written. The quick start guide gives the kid the push they need: charge battery/ build it/ start rolling with the software. As a professional, I'm an Instructional Technology Designer (and jr. high teacher), so I'm hyper critical of products that have less than stellar directions for kids. The provided prompts and diagrams are excellent; my daughter was totally engaged and really loved the process. If there's a question on how to do something, the online support features are provided. My kid immediately got things online and began the programming adventure with great enthusiasm. I love that this kit utilizes the Raspberry Pi board - very expandable and there are TONS of fun experiments. The provided software has a look that echoes of Minecraft and will no doubt engage; it provides great tutorials/challenges along the way that requires her to "get her hands dirty" in terms of physical building/install and critical thinking. This product explores some of the more important early fundamentals of computing (binary/circuits/logic gates). The fact that she gets to build the computer frame with the provided hardware adds the kinesthetic magic that as a parent, I appreciate. Kids too often are only consumers of technology - the Piper makes them a producer of technology - Powerful and inspiring. Few tech products do what this cool kit can do, and I mean beyond teaching programming alone - but yeah, it does that too. Highly recommended - it's like a digital chemistry set.

My husband and I purchased the new version of the Piper for our 8-year old son a few months ago. We absolutely love the product and what it is doing for our kid! 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

Great design and overall concept and many 8 year old's will be able to build and run it. The quality of the case, instructions, and software is impressive. However, it wouldn't run....at all. Raspberry Pi are little motherboards with a cpu and graphics output (a tiny PC so to speak)that runs Linux. Their memory including the OS is on a micro SD card. The 16GB SD card we got was fried probably due to aggressive image loading by the seller and lack of QC to verify the SD card and therefore the Raspberry will work. Fortunately I had a 32 GB card and fortunately the seller provides .img files online that can be used to create a bootable SD replacement. It worked and my grandson is having a great time using it. I've built many PC's and run Windows, MacOS and Linux, so good luck to those not able to create a new SD card for it.

We just purchased the Piper Computer Kit for our 8 1/2 year old son who loves legos and building. It was a surprise and when it arrived and we told him it was a computer for him to build from scratch; he got so excited and couldn't wait to jump right in. The directions are a blue print of how to and are straight forward and fairly easy to navigate. I like that it teaches kids how to follow instructions, use tools and be patient. It is a process and takes approximately 2 hours for a child of my sons age to put together. In a world where kids are opting to play computer games, I like that the Piper kit had my son build this from scratch which not only got him excited but introduced and taught him fundamentals of electronics and coding. The kit comes with everything you need. It is hands on and interactive and my son loves it. It was great seeing him so proud once he completed it and it gave him that sense of accomplishment. As a parent, we try to find activities that are fun and at the same time stimulating and offer an introduction or learning component and this product was it! With this product, our son learned about real science and electronics. Their website promotes "re-usabiity" so we are considering taking it apart and giving it to our 7 year old nephew for Christmas whom we know will enjoy and love! This is a fantastic product and we highly recommend.!!

After opening Piper, we made an open invitation to the neighborhood kids to come see what it has to offer. When I was a kid, we used a typewriter, and in college computers were operated with punch cards. I never learned how to build a computer or how to code properly. From the minute you open the box, you can see that Piper DIY computer is beautifully laid-out, colorful, and the organization of the packaging nicely matches the Mission Zero roadmap for assembly. Having the easy-to-follow visual instructions makes Piper a fun project for adults and kids alike. In addition, Piper has a great support network of users. Piper is a great tool that came out of Stanford University. It provides a quality hands-on learning experience. Piper enables kids to quickly move forward in the competitive world of information technology. I’m extremely impressed with this Piper product -- it is an intuitive, interactive, clever, and easy to learn tool that’s highly relevant to modern life. Most importantly, it is really fun and allows sharing of experiences spanning ages 8 to 80. We love Piper!

This is an awesome invention and my techie child loves it. FIVE STARS FOR PIPER!!! I am giving one star because Amazon sent me a used/returned computer kit. The slip cover was on backwards, first clue. There are sticker seals and they had ripped the outer packaging on the opposite side. Inside, the contents were not secure in the packaging. Piper took some thought into this to make sure the fragile components could handle shipping, but the monitor laid flat in the box rather than in its proper slots. The mouse's cover was broken off. We were missing FIVE "B" screws, which made it impossible to build. I opened the kit before giving the gift and Piper was AWESOME in responding to my voice mail, sending a new mouse out asap. It arrived before the birthday. Unfortunately, I didn't go as far as counting all the screws and nuts. My birthday kid was totally disappointed that he was unable to put everything together and we had to go fishing at a hardware store the next day. Amazon TOTALLY let me down. As far as the computer kit, once we got the screws, it has been fantastic. I like that there are several USB ports to add flash drives, keyboard, etc. My child is having a great time with this! Best gift for the 9 year old.

Watching my two daughters, ages 8 and 11, put this computer together was a treat. No fighting, lots of cooperation. The only time I had to assist was to screw in the speaker, which takes a bit of muscle. There were a few missteps, which, in itself, was a great learning experience. The first step of the process is all engineering -- following blueprints to assemble the housing. The kit comes with everything you need, including a kid-sized screwdriver. I was impressed with the quality of all the materials. As soon as the raspberry pi is connected to the battery pack and the monitor, the computer comes to life. (Note: Do make sure that you charge the battery before your kid(s) get started, because it would be a real bummer if they attach the computer and nothing happens.) At that point, the instructions continue through a minecraft-style game. It begins by instructing the user on how to set up buttons on a breadboard for moving forward/left/right within the game. There is also a mini-mouse, but no physical keyboard. I love that there is a storage compartment in the housing itself where the mouse and other components can be kept. We are still in the engineering part of the process, and I am looking forward to the coding. I think it's brilliant that it eventually transitions to coding in Python, a "real" programming language. I don't know of any other product designed for kids that actually teaches them a programming language used by adults. Great product, highly recommended.

A friend of mine recommended Piper Computer, and I got one for my 10-year-old boy. It's really an easy-to-make and fun-to-play computer kit. I had tried Arduino and Raspberry Pi to him before, but it seems too early to introduce serious embedded programming to a ten-year-old boy. But the Piper Computer kit makes it so easy to get him engaged and I didn't even help a bit before he powered up the computer to explore lots of functions. My boy even wrote his own review of this product: "my dad bought this awesome Piper Computer for me to build, learn and create. Making the computer was pretty easy. The instructions and online videos were very clear. The wood pieces were easy to fit together. When I was done building the computer, I started programming. The Piper Computer is way more than a screen. It can make LED blink and flash and make computer games. I have played the computer for a week now, and there's a lot more I can't wait to explore. "

Got this for my 11yo kid who has little exposure to STEM and he’s been enjoying the gamified learning process - helps that he loves Minecraft. The only bummer is that many Pi apps (such as MCPE - Modded) are not able to run on it - suspect the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ isn’t fast enough to support it.