Help - Raspberry Pi, what to buy?

[Chillywhippet]

my gaming, code/scratch club attending kids do not yet have a raspberry pi. What do I need to buy?
I looked on pimorion but am still confused.
What sort of monitor will they need?
Would a pi each be a good idea?
Do you sort of develop your own pi? Or would they be better of with more bits between them?
They are 9, 13 and 16 and would enjoy working together on a project.
So one pi or three? And what else?

[Chillywhippet]

Help! Thread disappearing without trace in festive sparkliness.
One last try before I have to look for tec topic.
Anyone?

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

Am watching with interest - my ds has just discovered Scratch as well!

[easterlywinds]

We've recently bought a raspberry pi hacker kit. It came pre-loaded with a minecraft app and a link to YouTube for videos on using it.
The kit had a keyboard and a mouse, and ds connects it to a TV. We went to a raspberry pi event on the weekend and they used computer screens and keyboards. I don't know whether it's best to have 1 pi per child - mine were happily sharing them at the event.

[LittleMissGreen]

We connect our pi to our tv using hdmi cable. We had to buy a usb keyboard and usb mouse. We also bought a micro sd card which we then downloaded the raspberry pi software onto. We started with one but DS3 did so much programming on scratch on my computer we got a second one so I could get my laptop back!

[CatKirk]

You could have one pi, but with an SD card each; as long as their SD card is in it , it will be exactly as they left it. If they get on well with it maybe one each then?

Make sure you have a good power cable, it takes standard USB ones of some sort, but apparently the cheaper cables cause problems. I use the branded one that came with my android phone.

You need an HDMI cable to connect to a television. Make sure your TV has HDMI input, our last one didn't but most do now.

You need an internet (ethernet) cable to connect it to your router.

You need a USB keyboard and possibly a USB mouse.

If you hate your employer and are planning to leave soon, you could probably get most of this from work, except the HDMI cable.

[Chillywhippet]

Thanks everyone. That's really helpful. I think we have USB mouse and keyboard that came with last home desk top. Also have lots of USB cables from various devices around the house and box of random Ethernet and other cables.

We have a smartish telly but they will drive DH mad if they use that all the time.

Hmmm will have another look now I'm getting idea.

Work for nhs and wouldn't take anything from work but could ask tech support guys for obscelete stuff but probably some daft regulations that mean it has to be destroyed not sold!