Kano Harry Potter Coding Kit – Build a Wand. Learn To Code. Make Magic.

When I first heard about this coding wand, I was immediately intrigued by the crossover between the world of Harry Potter and the increasingly complex world of programming. Getting kids involved with coding early can only help make it more accessible to the next generation, so I was excited to get my hands on a kit and play around with it.I did initially face some confusion, as I didn't realize the wand required a bluetooth connection to a tablet or PC, and unfortunately the front of the box doesn't make that entirely clear (although in fairness...I'm not sure what other magical technology I would've expected this kit to use). The software does not support phones, nor screens smaller than 7", so I couldn't use my iPhone or older Amazon Fire, and my desktop PCs don't have bluetooth baked into them. After getting into the software, I understand why the strict requirements of larger screens, since dragging around code blocks would've been next to impossible on an iPhone. I did manage to find an old Surface tablet that worked perfectly for this, but I wish the requirements were a bit clearer up front.Opening the box, you'll find an unassembled wand, and a very clean, clear guide that introduces you to the hardware. It will step you through building your wand while showing off the many aspects of the PCB). The wand itself, once you've assembled it, has a nice weight to it (from the batteries) and feels good to wave around. The single button on it is generally used to 'center' the wand in the app any time you need to reset its position. There doesn't seem to be any on/off setting available, and the instructions specifically recommend you remove the batteries when it's not in use, so I'm unclear if there's a sleep function or not. After assembly, you're pointed towards the downloadable application and ready to go!The app is clean and easy to use, with bright buttons, sounds, and large UI perfect for poking and prodding. The challenges you're presented with are all very straightforward, with it telling you to drag this, change that, push this, etc directly. As an adult, I wished it provided a bit more explanation and context for why you're changing this number or that setting while dragging the code blocks around, but the more I played with the challenges, the more I realized that the ideal teaching method being used here is simply repetition. Many of the challenges give you the same instructions over and over again, and after a number of challenges where you're being walked through how to set up a 'while' loop, for example, I knew the exact order of operations to get a 'while' code block up and running and it made future challenges much faster to set up and get going.The instructions/step-by-steps are a bit sensitive and can break easily if you jump ahead of it, but the app overall doesn't really care how closely you follow the instructions, and at any point you're able to just break free of the guide and do whatever you'd like in your coding. The sharing functions are great, and you can jump over to the Kano World part of the app to see what other people are creating. The gallery appears to be updating instantly; any time I switched over to it, there would be new creations that had been uploaded only seconds earlier. Most of the shared creations are very simple, and there are no options to filter or sort by the 'best' or most popular, so it was difficult to see some more complex creations or find some crazy ideas that had been built. Seems like a great place for a future update to the app, though!Overall, this is an extremely easy way to be introduced to the world of coding. The box says it's for ages 6+, and I'd agree with that, but I think if your child is on the younger side of the scale, it may require more supervision, given that a lot of terms used in the app are never explained (such as "frames" versus "milliseconds" on the code blocks, or some of the more complex math used to calculate wand motion). It's not crucial that a child understand the terms if they're just following the instructions, however some introductory language or guides towards not just what to change, but why, would be helpful.PS. Oh! And don't forget about the customization options...completing challenges unlocks outfits, accessories, and more for you to decorate your character with. They're all Harry Potter themed, of course, so if your child is a fan, they will definitely enjoy putting on a Gryffindor scarf or holding a bottle of Felix Felicis.

First of all, I am going to say that I can't really review the wand other than the putting together, which was really cool and understandable. The frustrating part comes when you go to install the app required to start coding and realize that you can't get it on the Amazon App store even though the wand specifically states that it is compatible with Kindle Fire Tablets. So, to use with a Kindle fire you have to Enable the Developer Options, enable ADB, and hook it up to a Windows computer to install a new driver so that you can hopefully bypass all the BS that Amazon uses to keep you from using the Google playstore. If you are lucky, you will figure out how to download the Google playstore and then download the app. However, I am not that tech savvy, and all the You tube videos in the world did not help me, so the wand is unusable unless I buy a new tablet of some kind for my kid that is compatible with google products. I am not rich, and this gift was already a huge splurge for me, but I was willing because it was going to give my kid some skills that would allow her to make more money than me in the future. So, Amazon, if you read these things, thanks for making your tablet incompatible with the worlds most used search engine and products, just so that people would be forced to use your worthless Bing and Amazon Appstore, and Kano, don't tell people that this is compatible with Kindle Fires if you aren't going to make your app available on the Amazon appstore.

Our Kano Harry Potter Coding kit arrived on Thursday and my 6 year old daughter couldn't have been more excited! I was very impressed with the quality of the packaging, from the cool Harry Potter logo on the front of the box, to the fact that all of the pieces were very neatly displayed and easy to access. The directions were very easy to follow, so my daughter and I were able to assemble the wand quickly and get to playing!As my daughter did her first "spell" in the play section of the app, her little face lit up! She was so thrilled that she was "making magic"! As we started to explore the app a little more, she began to try the "challenges", where you create codes to do things like changing the color of an owl or creating rainbow fireworks with a waive of your wand! The first challenge is very simple and begins to build as you go along to each challenge. My 11 year son began to take notice of what my daughter was doing and was very impressed that his little sister was coding! The kids played with the wand until it was time to go to sleep, and it was the first thing they requested to do when they woke up in the morning (and again after school)! It is wonderful to see my kids having fun and being introduced to coding in such an approachable way! We are only a few days in, but I have a feeling they will love this kit for a long time to come!

Love this coding kit. As a software engineer, I wanted to get my kids started in coding at a young age. This kit has detailed instructions of all the components of the printed circuit board, very detailed assembly steps and some good learning tutorials via the iPad app (also supports macOS). You can also view code in block syntax or JavaScript (I would’ve preferred swift) but still good.Challenges are comprehensive and easy to understand, they could do better with explanation.My issues with this are* App is glitchy. We use this on an iPad Pro and screen real estate isn’t effectively used. Cannot resent in full screen mode which is annoying at times.* No iOS Playgrounds support. Although, that may not make sense yet since playgrounds allows control of external devices (usually robotic learning toys) while this wand is more of a command input device.

Very cool product. Well made and my daughter is obsessed!

This was bought as a Christmas present for a ten year old; mainly because they are obsessed with Harry Potter and the chance to combine that with something educational was too good to pass up.It comes nicely presented and starts with a wonderful page by page guide to assemble the wand, explaining the PCB and it’s sensors. This really helps build an experience of what’s happening. From there you’re guided to install the Kano app to your tablet (more on that below). From there it’s into a Scratch style development environment but nicely wrapped in a gamified experience based on Harry Potter combined with the various capabilities of the wand. It’s really well done and the Harry Potter stuff is integrated well - not just a simple skin over a generic app.If you’ve ever seen Scratch you’ll be right at home - the coding aspect is a drag and drop graphical interface. It supports the usual loops, conditions and so on while integrating with the Wand and it’s capabilities really well. So for example moving the wand in a particular motion to trigger a set of events in the app (like making a broomstick hover).It’s worth bearing in mind that this needs a tablet (or a laptop) to work. I’m using a Kindle Fire 10 HD which is okay but it’s a bit slow at times. I wouldn’t want to use any of the smaller Kindle Fires. I’ve not used it on an iPad but as they tend to be faster devices, I suspect you’ll get a better experience on these.This is really well done and one of the highlights of our Christmas. Yes, it’s a little on the pricey side but from a value point of view it’s top notch. Top marks.

Very fun, only qualm is it’s quite difficult to log out and reset passwords. We’ve received no emails to activate account so in a bit of a difficult position as can only do on one device.

It's ok for basic coding logic.I purchased for my 10 year old.I think the age range is off.he played with it for 30 min and he hasn't touched it since.I think it would be a better gift for 8 and under. great tool for learning basic code logic non the less. Hense the 4 stars.

Purchased this for my 5 year old son.Whilst I am familiar with the Kano brand, I have never used any of their computer kits, and though my son has never seen any of the Harry Potter movies, I thought the Harry Potter Wand Kit could be a good way of introducing him to coding.Tip: I showed him the TV advert first to get him in interested… then presented the box to him. He loves it!The app is simple and clean; you’re presented with a map of Hogwarts which you navigate through and complete puzzles and challenges by creating (coding) spells.The actual coding process is quite simple too, dragging & dropping block codes to build / create your spell, then using the wand to initiate them. My son beamed when he cast his first spell - changing the colour of an owl from orange to blue (then to green, then red, yellow and so on). Then bouncing a cauldron around and recolouring the potion. The coding puzzles and challenges do get more difficult as you progress.It’s still early days, but so far he’s having lots of fun with the kit and developing an understanding of the concept of coding.

I bought this because the specification says that it runs on Android Tablets and Windows 10 PCs. It worked on neither, in fact it would not allow me to install on either of these. Whilst my PC is old my daughters Samsung Android Tablet cost £300 two years ago and has a very nice spec. No explanation is given as to why it's not compatible with this device.The spec now says minimum specifications required but does not say what these are.Unless you enjoy paying a lot of money for a product you can't use avoid this like the plague.