Anyone can become an Arduino beginner at (almost) any age. Human curiosity and creativity are the only prerequisites. 

I have been dabbling in electronics and radio hobbies for fifty five years. Quite possibly, I have never before come across anything as useful and captivating as Arduino. Anyone can learn the basics. Beyond that, the pathways to things you can do with the Arduino branch out in all directions.

We live in a world of micro-controllers. These are small computers that can connect to the outside world. Simply put, you program them to control things. You already have around 100 micro-controllers working for you every day. They are all over your home and vehicles. Likely containers are your machines, home appliances, entertainment units and toys. Usually, manufacturers program micro-controllers for you. With Arduino, you get to control things for yourself. As a result, you understand more about how things work.

Arduino is cheap. Most people begin with an Arduino Uno development board. Starter kits cost around $100. Most of the Arduino ecosystem is open sourced. Some great vendors support this ecosystem. These include Sparkfun, Adafruit and, here in Canada, Solarbotics. If you are more adventurous, check ebay.

Support for an Arduino Beginner is Enormous

So, why do I say this? Two reasons.

• First of all, the entire Arduino ecosystem is designed for beginners. Breadboards, jumpers and pin headers make it easy to put together prototype projects. Software is written in C/C++, probably the most popular programming language. The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is superb. Advanced code is provided in freely downloadable support libraries. As a result, combining code and components is easy.
• Most of all, Arduino enjoys a very active, global and easily accessible support community. In addition, there are tons of learning videos on You Tube, like this one from Ben Heck. You can find thousands of web sites and videos demonstrating specific projects. All you need is search engine. Consequently, help and fresh ideas are everywhere.

Furthermore, using Arduino is something you can do as a family. I can hardly wait for my grandchildren to get a bit older so we can do some projects together.