Arduino is a programmable electronic board that can be used to create interactive electronic objects. It allows adults and children to develop their creativity in a fun way, as it allows them to approach coding in a tangible way, seeing the results of their programs firsthand.

From a technical standpoint, if we wanted to give a very brief summary, we could say that Arduino is a microcontroller board. A microcontroller can It can be seen as a small computer (equipped with a CPU, memory, I/O ports, and analog-to-digital converters) contained in a single integrated circuit.

In summary, Arduino:

• is a programmable board, so you can create numerous projects with the same board;
• contains everything needed to support the microcontroller (e.g., USB connector, input/output pins, power supply).

Numerous projects can be found on progettiarduino.com, which is a resource in Italian; the official website is Written in English.

Personally, I would recommend it as a gift for kids, because it is among the most educational. For those who want to get started with Arduino, it is advisable to purchase a starter kit, such as the Arduino Uno Starter Kit or the 100% compatible (and cheaper) Elegoo Starter Kit. Both can be purchased in the shop and ordered through Amazon.

The Arduino Uno Starter Kit has the advantage of including a project book, which is great for starting from scratch. If you choose the Elegoo Starter Kit, it's good to know that the accompanying CD contains numerous projects whose documentation is originally written in English and then automatically translated into other languages.