ThinkPad Club

Links to learning resources and stuff to consider buying.

  • more club resources on github
  • my random website





    • Thinkpad Yoga (11e) 8GB of RAM

    Really anything called a ThinkPad that has 8GB of RAM or more should be fine. The 11e Yoga has a touch screen and is small enough for younger kides to move around easily. Used or refurbished is fine, you can usually find something for around $100-$200. New is fine too if you can find a good deal. Make sure it has 8GB of RAM! ⚠️
  • thinkpad 11e choices on amazon
  • thinkpad 11e choices on ebay
  • same thing on newegg




    • Lego Spike Robotics (Prime)

    This can get picked up later after going through the Scratch, Python, HTML / CSS / JavaScript basics linked below. They're a little pricey but 100% worth the money. Lego provides tons of projects and tutorials that take kids from visual block coding through to python. The Prime kit is the only one you can code with python on. Make sure to get the Prime kit! ⚠️

  • spike prime set direct from lego
  • spike curriculum portal




    • Learn Scratch!

    Scratch is (basically) a programming language and set of tutorials and projects created by MIT to teach kids coding fundamentals. It’s visual block coding and focuses on coding animated characters and games. It’s extremely beginner friendly, kid friendly and fun.

  • scratch home page
  • get started tutorial (start here)
  • starter projects




    • Learn Python!

    Python is maybe the most popular, most powerful and beginner-friendly programming language that has ever existed. It is used literally everywhere from k-12 classrooms to research labs and machine learning training. These are some fun tutorials to start with but the sky is the limit with Python.

  • learn python with turtle
  • learn python with lego spike
  • learn python with w3 schools




    • Learn HTML, CSS & JavaScript!

    HTML, CSS and JavaScript are the languages of the internet. They aren’t always pretty but they are easy to pick up, JavaScript is the only real programming language among them, and it has a strong reputation for being beginner friendly and flexible. Once we have the basics down for these we can start building real websites!

  • learn html with w3 schools
  • learn javascript with w3 schools
  • learn css with w3 schools




    • Build a Website!

    This is a big jump forward. Once you have a little HTML, CSS and JavaScript down you are ready to start building real websites and publishing them so they are live on the internet to share. To get started you’ll want to make sure you have made a GitHub account to save and share your code through, and you’ll want to make sure you’ve downloaded Visual Studio Code as a code editor.

  • dowload visual studio code
  • create a new github account
  • github (web)pages




    • image image

    “Think” Merch from IBM

    This is just for fun. ThinkPads started as physical paper notebooks that IBM gave to it’s engineers in the 1920s (?!). Eventually they used the name for their ThinkPad laptops which would become one of the most beloved and respected computer lines of all time. Anyway it’s crazy they still make “think” merch, and it’s all pretty cheap and shipping is free (?).

  • notebooks and other “think” merch
  • history of the thinkpad





    • That’s plenty for now more coming soon…