When you start Kano it plays a game in DOS reminiscent of the Matrix. It's a great way to get children in and then when you press StartX it all comes to life. Naturally it doesn't matter what you put on a menu, when a 10 year old sees Minecraft, that's what they are going for! What is especially nice about it, is that it presents Minecraft with a Scratch like interface and so children can make their own sculptures and in-game commands via the interface.
For parents who are not technical, this is probably as simple as a Raspberry Pi gets. The gamified experience takes you through the steps and it is not long before children are coding! As a teacher, this provides the introductory point that 8 to 12 year olds need to get started and get interested in the Pi. A fantastic job all-round and what is especially nice is that for existing Raspberry Pi users, the whole kit is free.
I have a few reservations as a teacher, I feel the choice of videos is a little inappropriate. Yes, we want to encourage children to get inside PCs but a monkey destroying a Macbook isn't the best way to go about it and something I know a lot of teachers will strongly object to, we're not here to replace Tablets and Computers, but to provide another tool. I hope that the kit will include a WIFI module, because without it the inability to complete levels feels unfair. These are minor points that I hope will be taken on-board before final production.
I would stress this is not a kit for hobbyists, who have already found a 1,000 ways to use the Pi, GCSE or A-level students who've already cracked the basics of Computer Science. This is about giving children their first taster and getting them into CS!
