This Avengers coding kit lets kids build their own superpowers like Shuri

You don’t need otherworldly powers to be a superhero: some superpowers include just being really rich or insanely smart. Now, you can actually be Tony Stark or Shuri with LittleBits’ Avengers Hero Inventor Kit, which was made in collaboration with Marvel. Each kit comes with interchangeable “bits,” or electronic building blocks, that attach magnetically to a transparent sleeve that kids can wear. Using a companion app, kids can follow along with step-by-step instructions and video tutorials to receive their “hero training” from the Avengers. Each superhero teaches a different lesson: Iron Man’s activity is centered on the LED matrix; Ant-Man and the Wasp’s lesson uses the accelerometer to teach kids about speed and movement; Black Widow will teach you to go undercover with the light sensor; and Black Panther and Shuri offer the final lesson on customizing your coding inventions. A few qualms I have with this kit is that the Iron Man arm that’s displayed in all the promotional images and on the box isn’t actually wearable. It’s just a stand to hold the transparent sleeve when you’re not using it, which is a little bit disappointing. Also, for a toy that’s centered on gauntlets, it seems like a serious missed opportunity not to have the Infinity Gauntlet in there! I know we’re not encouraging kids to eliminate half the world’s population at the snap of their fingers, but I just felt it was worth pointing out. Maybe the educational aspect could be teaching kids about the Malthusian model?… [Read full story]