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.

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.!!

I really wanted to love the Piper Computer Kit because I truly believe it’s a great product if all the parts work. Unfortunately, our experience ended up being very frustrating, and I returned it in the end. I bought this as a gift for my 12-year-old nephew who lives in Europe and carried it in my backpack on my trip there to make sure nothing got damaged in transit (especially knowing there is a lithium battery that can’t go in checked luggage). The build itself was actually fun and easy, and he really enjoyed assembling the computer. The problems started when we reached the part where the buttons needed to be connected. The Story Mode videos show what appears to be an older version of the kit that includes a wooden panel placed over the breadboard with holes for the buttons, making it clear where everything goes. The newer version we received does not include that panel. That’s where my nephew got stuck. I had to watch all the videos and read through the manuals on the website, but there was no helpful guidance for the newer setup. I don’t have a technical background, so I even called friends who do for help. I had read reviews saying 7-year-olds were able to complete this kit, so I assumed a 12-year-old wouldn’t have trouble, but neither he nor 41-year-old me could figure it out. To make things more confusing, the Amazon product page still shows that wooden panel in the “what’s included in the kit” picture. I literally went through all the trash bags to make sure we hadn’t accidentally thrown it away The second issue happened during the color sensor part of Story Mode. The instructions say to scan something with specific RGB values to continue, but our sensor kept showing extremely high numbers no matter what we scanned. I even printed paper with the exact RGB color requested, and the readings were still way off. At that point my nephew became frustrated and completely lost interest. I ended up asking a computer engineer to help us figure out whether we were doing something wrong or if the sensor was defective. It turned out the color sensor itself wasn’t working properly. Since my nephew lives in Europe, I decided it was easier to bring the kit back with me and return it rather than try to coordinate replacement parts internationally—especially after reading reviews saying customer support can be slow to respond. I still think this is a fantastic concept and could be an amazing product if these issues are addressed. I would absolutely consider buying it again once the inconsistencies between instructions and hardware are fixed and quality control improves.

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

Got this a few years ago, and the motherboard never worked and couldn't get any customer service help.

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.

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.