If programming knowledge is the new literacy, you have to start early.
People of a certain generation are expected to know how to replace fuses or even do elementary repairs on a washing machine. It's either your father or your grandfather, or maybe you yourself, sir. When today's kids grow up, however, they will probably live in a world where it's expected that one knows a little bit of C#. If for nothing else, at least to know how to do some elementary debugging around the house.
BrainPad from GHI Electronics is the latest offering in tools that aim to teach children how to code. It's an ARM-based development board with illustrative silkscreen drawings that show the main MCU as a brain, and various peripherals connected to it. A metaphor any kid can relate to.
Of course, children have short attention spans and crave for a steady supply of novelty. To keep young minds interested, BrainPad cleverly implements a mikroBUS™ socket. Click boards are like Lego blocks, and there's endless discovery and experimentation to do with the many available boards.
The board comes in two versions. One is for C#, with Microsoft's .NET Micro Framework (similar to Quail), while the other is for C++, compatible with Arduino software (similar to Flip & click).
Apart from the vivid silkscreen design, the board is of interest to educators because of the extensive documentation it comes with it. The GHI Electronics web page has several tutorials, divided by age groups of the intended reader.
Get your kid a BrainPad, and your grandkid will have someone to rely on to do some basic programming chores around the smart home of the future. Or even something more.
Yours sincerely,
MikroElektronika