Episode 57: Holiday Gift Guide for Techy Kids

We get a lot of questions about what parents should buy for their children for the holidays. In this episode, Kelly and Sean list out some of their favorite gifts for the holidays.

Episode highlights: Kelly & Sean celebrate two years of the Teaching Python and 183,000 downloads later. Kelly wins with a student that demonstrates year over year improvement in Computer Science. Sean builds a FastAPI and gets a steep learning curve. Kelly gets a birdbrained robot finch.

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• Amazon.com: Star Wars The Child Animatronic Edition 7.2-Inch-Tall Toy by Hasbro with Over 25 Sound and Motion Combinations, Toys for Kids Ages 4 and Up: Toys & Games — He may look like “Baby Yoda,” but this lovable creature is called The Child - and now you can become his protector with this animatronic toy from Star Wars. Touching the top of The Child Animatronic Edition’s head activates over 25 sound and motion combinations, including happy and excited sounds, giggles, babbles, and more, all while the figure’s head moves up and down, ears move back and forth, and eyes open and close. Boys and girls ages 4 and up can pretend to harness the power of the Force as The Child toy closes its eyes, raises its arm, and sighs as if exerting a great amount of energy.
• Amazon.com: All-new Echo Dot (4th Gen) + Amazon Smart Plug | Charcoal: Amazon Devices — Teach your child how to set reminders, listen to stories online, check the weather. Make sure to check your security settings.
• Alexa in the Classroom [A Teacher's Guide] | Voices.com — Not only has Amazon Alexa become popular in our homes, many young students are now starting to encounter Alexa in the classroom as well. While there are many ways that technology is being used in digital learning, introducing hardware and AI represents yet another learning trend, and many teachers are finding advantages to leveraging Alexa as a learning tool and even a classroom assistant.
• Amazon.com: pi-top [4] computer with Raspberry Pi 4 - 100+ hours of Coding Projects, STEM Learning, LEGO compatible: Computers & Accessories — pi-top [4] is an easy-to-use, rugged device for creating practical computing projects and learning to code. With pi-top [4] you get to design, code and make anything you can imagine using one simple system. From beginner to superuser, pi-top powers your projects and brings learning into the real world.
• Introducing Finch Robot 2.0! - BirdBrain Technologies — Bring computer science to life from kindergarten to college with the NEW Finch Robot 2.0!
• DK Eyewitness Books: Robot: Discover the Amazing World of Machines from Robots that Play Chess to Systems that Think: Bridgman, Roger: 8601400584828: Amazon.com: Books — Take a detailed look at the fascinating world of robots - from the earliest single-task machines to the advanced intelligence of robots with feelings. Young readers will be amazed to learn all that robots can do: perform delicate surgical operations, clean city sewers, work as museum tour guides, or even battle each other in combat. Find out how humans have created these mechanical minds and bodies.
• Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop - Full Computer Kit ID: 4796 - $100.00 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits — Raspberry Pi 400 is a complete Raspberry Pi 4-based personal computer, integrated into a keyboard. The Pi 4 is the first comp...