I think it's meant to be thought of more as an educational tool. Something like this might be good for teaching kids about each of the parts that goes together to form a simple computer, and what each of those components does, for example. A class could then maybe learn a bit of BASIC programming and enter some simple programs in, with an explanation of what each chip is doing in response to each command. Something like a Raspberry Pi might be fine for teaching programming on, and probably a lot more useful as an end-product, but it's a system on a chip with a lot of complex systems obfuscating its operation from the end-user.
On a side note, if you search for SmartyKit on Amazon, you get a bunch of "SmartyKat" cat toys instead. : P