ELECTRONICS$show=/search/label/electronics

We think it's really important for kids to get hands-on with electronics and learn how to make circuits and write code to control hardware. Younger kids can start with conductive playdough. For kids who like to combine craft and tech, littleBits are fab. And we love SAM Labs wireless electronics components for making it easy for kids to make Internet of Things inventions. Lots of electronics kits for kids have support for the Arduino microprocessor environment. The DuinoKit Jr is one of our favourites. Arduino is a fab skill for older kids and teens to develop.

MAKING AND CRAFT$show=/search/label/making

We're advocates of the creative use of technology, but this needs to be balanced with developing physical skills such as papercraft, woodwork, clay modelling, technical drawing and soldering. If children don't develop these skills as they grow up then physical making projects can become frustrating rather than fun. The Maker Community uses the term 'making' as a broad term to include all sorts of artisan skills or craft activities. Being able to make things can lead to life-long hobbies or even careers. It's a great feeling to be able to take a project from an idea in your head to a real object that does something. We're particularly interested to explore products that combine maker skills with tech skills such as electronics but others focus purely on the physical making skills that are still important to modern making.

Kids Movies About Robots - Buzz, Whirr, Beep!

Tracy Wednesday 10 February 2016 Edit this post

We've been thinking about kids movies about robots. We just watched Astro Boy and I realized that we've watched a lot of family and kids robot movies.

With the upcoming DVD and Blue-Ray release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens with BB-8 and a new Signature Edition of The Iron Giant available to pre-order, it's a good time for a roundup of our favourite kids movies about robots.

We've included fun movies that feature robot characters as well as movies that have a more techie focus on robotics.

Astro Boy
Astro Boy
? @ Amazon
Astro Boy is a very good movie from 2009. Astro Boy is based on a 1950s and 60s manga series of the same name which was adapted for TV. It's deep both emotionally and in the way it presents the future relationships between humans and robots. A lot of thought has gone into planning the world presented in the film.

Astro Boy is also packed with neat robots. The window cleaning robots were my favourites. The voice cast is very good. Bill Nighy is a real treat.

Be aware that this movie does have a lot of violence, but it's not mindless.
Flubber
Flubber
? @ Amazon
Flubber was made in 1998 but its themes are still very relevant. Robin Williams plays the main character who is an inventor who is so involved in his work that other parts of his life suffer.

Although the 'Flubber' material is the invention in the title, a lot of the story is concerned with an fantastic companion robot called Weebo. It's a science fiction film but provides a great platform for family discussion about the future relationship between humans and robots.
Roborex
RoboRex
? @ Amazon
Roborex is a 2014 kids science fiction movie. The main character is an 11 year old child inventor. The plot is a time travel adventure involving RoboRex a robot dog from the future.

Very entertaining and packed with technology. My kids loved RoboRex.
Big Hero 6
Big Hero 6 DVD
? @ Amazon
Big Hero 6 is one of our real favourites. It's set in futuristic San Fransokyo. The lead character Hiro is a robotics enthusiast and his older brother introduces him to the researchers at his university robotics lab.

There's lots of emotion, adventure and technology in Big Hero 6. Unlike a lot of robot movies there is a focus on the technology and how it gets created. Highly recommended.
The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant (Signature Edition)
? @ Amazon
The Iron Giant is a fantastic film based on The Iron Man book by Ted Huges. I first watched the film, which was released in 1999, long before having children. My kids have now watched it several times.

This film is suitable for young children but older ones will find plenty to get them thinking. It's a story of friendship between a boy and a giant robot that appears unexpectedly. This is a proper movie with plenty of depth.
Wall-E
Wall-E (Three-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo)
? @ Amazon
Another movie that has to be included. Wall-E is a robot movie from Disney Pixar from 2008 which stars Wall-E the waste clearance robot and his robot friend EVE. Humans have destroyed earth and abandoned it. Wall-E has been left behind to clean up.

Wall-E is a funny family film with a romance story between Wall-E and EVE and lots of space adventure.
Short Circuit
Short Circuit/Short Circuit 2
? @ Amazon
Short Circuit is a classic family robot movie from 1986. Yes it looks very dated, and there are things that will make you cringe. But it's still worth a watch. It features a military robot with other plans!

The movie features the classic line 'Johnny Five is Alive!' and that's reason enough to watch it.
Robots
Robots [Blu-ray]
? @ Amazon
Robots has to be on this list. This is a funny family film set in Robot City which is inhabited by robots who live human-style lives but with robot touches. The animation is fantastic and the voice cast is very high quality and include Robin Williams.

Parents will be happy to watch Robots along with their kids and it will appeal to older kids too.
Hugo
Hugo
? @ Amazon
Hugo isn't a typical robot movie. Instead it features an automaton.

Automatons were the predecessor to robots. This is a fantastic family movie packed with clockwork technology. Hugo Cabret works to fix the automaton to make a connection with his past.

This is a very throughtful and artistic movie. My kids were entranced by it and have watched it a couple of times now.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Plus Bonus Features)
? @ Amazon
Of course the Star Wars movies are packed with droids. Robotics has come on a long way in the real world since C-3PO and R2-D2 first appeared. The robots have their own characters and were very innovative when they first appeared.

And BB-8 has been a huge success in The Force Awakens. We did take our kids to the cinema to see Star Wars VII but we'll definitely be watching the movie again at home (the others have been watched many times!)