basics for a kid to start building and coding
Since they retired all the good programable sets in favor of the Ed program which is designed for schools (hello $500 sets), it seems like you have to piecemeal your way into the hobby. We have a billion basic lego and a fair number of technic pieces we inherited from neighbors. He has successfully built some Technic sets that don't involve any motors, but he has never built with motors.
The employee we spoke to at our local lego store suggested buying a hub and the klutz lego book ( i thought he said the car building one, but that appears to be building very simple cars and not technic at all). I'm thinking the Gear bots book or the gadgets book would make more sense.
Is the hub really all you need to power your creations if you already have a good stash of technic pieces? I just want to have what we need to bundle together for his birthday, he has some emotional struggles and he won't take it well if it doesn't work without an aspect we forgot.
thanks for the advice!