Kano Harry Potter Coding Kit – Build a wand. Learn to code. Make magic

Product Information

Code your own creations with 25 official Harry Potter spell motions, 200+ sounds, creatures, artefacts and backgrounds inspired by the Wizarding World. Moreover, AAA batteries feel like a throwback to a bygone era — it would’ve been better to fit the wand with a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Bring your kit to life, make lights flash, use motion sensors, move, wave, and play while learning to code. You can also adjust the colour of the LED for different events, though it’s a slight shame that a) the LED isn’t on the tip and b) there’s no built-in rumble motor.

Harry Potter Coding Kit review: The art of programming Kano’s Harry Potter Coding Kit review: The art of programming

I’ve been working through it with my daughter, and while she has a bit of experience with Scratch and Sphero’s stuff behind her, she’s really taken to this, the Hogwarts theme and the challenge structure pulling her from one task to the next – and she’s actually taking things in and learning. There is also a lanyard that attaches to the wand so you can tether it to the wrist of overly zealous kiddies. You build the wand yourself, connecting up its pieces, including a Bluetooth sensor and its computer brain, to make it ready to use. Each challenge is really a tutorial for Kano’s Scratch-like, block-based coding language, covering how to move blocks from the different categories on the left side of the interface, drop them into position in the workspace, change values and add variables to the mix. Coding toys offer a fantastic way to spark a child’s interest in coding and ignite their passion for technology.

This demonstrates that the accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer are all working for accurate detection of direction and motion. The coding wand is linked to a computer or app-based program compatible on most computers and tablet devices. Kano provides a really neat set of instruction that takes you through the components of the wand and explaining what they do. At the time of writing, we’ve yet to make it all the way to the end of the challenges — such is the nature of working with a six-year-old.

Harry Potter Kano Coding Kit Review | Trusted Reviews

Conventional wisdom holds that it’s easier to learn something when you’re young, be that tennis, a new language, or, indeed, software development.

Where Scratch runs on just about anything through the Web, Kano’s apps have some more rigorous system requirements.

Harry Potter Coding Wand, by Kano - Official app in the

With a background in neuroscience, she is passionate about sharing her love of all things STEM with her kids. We LOVED the Kano harry potter coding wand, it certainly is one of our most favorite coding toys on the market. If parents wanted a fun way to get their kids coding, Sphero’s robots and apps were easily the best way to go.For example, you can include multiple “while” loops and create fireworks in the sky that are different colors depending on whether you swipe up or down. At times you have to get used to Kano’s idiosyncrasies – collision detection, for example, isn’t handled by a logic instruction but by an event – but there’s nothing major and nothing kids won’t quickly get used, and you can do some really cool and interesting stuff. Level up slowly through 70 step-by-step coding challenges, whilst learning about loops, logic, and variables.