Hey gang,

Question for you all. I have never bought or tried any of the Mindstorms products. My son just turned 7 and I think would be interested in starting to learn this summer. So wondering...

- How easy is the programming? Would he be able to do simple stuff? He is reading pretty well and can navigate a mouse and keyboard a bit.

- Would past versions be easy to use? Like would a Mindstorms 2.0 still have working software? We have a Windows 7 desktop with a DVD drive, so assuming we could just install older software.

Any thoughts appreciated. He is really interested in robots and building apps so I'd like to start on an older/cheaper version before spending on the latest version.

I just literally opened my new Mindstorms EV3 this morning ... I'll keep you posted.

The box and assortment of parts look really cool and there appear to be a ton of resources out there. I think how much your son "gets" it will depend on how much "fun" he's having. Programming isn't hard so my guess is that he'd pick it up pretty easily.

Definitely interested in this too.  My seven year old has been taking apart his different toys in order to "build" a robot.  Being a Lego household, was definitely thinking of getting him a mindstorm.

Question for you all. I have never bought or tried any of the Mindstorms products. My son just turned 7 and I think would be interested in starting to learn this summer. So wondering...

- How easy is the programming? Would he be able to do simple stuff? He is reading pretty well and can navigate a mouse and keyboard a bit.

- Would past versions be easy to use? Like would a Mindstorms 2.0 still have working software? We have a Windows 7 desktop with a DVD drive, so assuming we could just install older software.

Any thoughts appreciated. He is really interested in robots and building apps so I'd like to start on an older/cheaper version before spending on the latest version.

​A few years ago, I bought the Mindstorms NXT 2.0 and from my experience with it, the programming is simple for the most part, but it gets a lot tougher when you program more advanced stuff. If you buy a Mindstorms 2.0 that is complete with the software installation disk, it is definitely compatible with an Windows 7 computer with a DVD drive. There are also several books that you could purchase along with the Mindstorms set. They have alternate instructions to build awesome stuff, like a simple working printer!!

Programming could be a bit much for a seven year old on his own but it's a great opportunity for you to bond with your kiddo! With a little help from you I think your kid will be fine.

On the box it says 10+. Its not only about building complexity or programming but also fixing pieces together may many times need more power than  7 years old hands. The best to do is work with him together and assign him parts of the work. This way he would learn better and even better: learn team work behavior.

Seven is about the age I would start recommending it if the kid is "into building robots" a bit. Programming it is pretty simple. Of course you can go overboard, and then it gets tedious, but then you shouldn't use Labview (that is what it is based on) anyway.