NEWS$show=/search/label/news

Here's where you'll find all the latest news about technology for children. We love to follow cool new inventions on Kickstarter and we hunt out all the latest announcements about tech toys and gadgets for the coming Christmas holidays. You'll also get our take on children's technology stories in the media.

REVIEWS$show=/search/label/review

Our kids technology product reviews are intended to help you work out whether a toy, gadget or kit is a good fit for your child or family. There's lots of cool stuff available, but is it the right choice for the child or teenager that you are buying for? We'll help you make the right choices and get the best value for money.

GIFT GUIDES$show=/search/label/gift%20guide

Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends assemble. We create gift lists to help you make good choices for kids technology which helps them develop the right skills for the future. We research the best in Coding Toys and Games, Making / Craft Tools and Kits, STEM/STEAM related gifts, Programmable Robots, Electronics Kits and Gadgets for Tech Age Kids and Teens.

PROJECTS$show=/search/label/project

Get crafty with technology. Here we'll post all our ideas and projects using technology to get creative and making with kids. You'll find anything from making a lemon battery to a glow-in-the-dark Minecraft sword. Our projects are tried and tested on our own kids or at events we run, so we are sure you can have a go at home with your kids. Some of our projects use specific tech gadgets which we provide links for you to purchase.

STEM$show=/search/label/stem

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In recent years there is an increased focus in these areas of study. We like to include Art and Design too, so we often talk about STEAM (A stands for Art). At Tech Age Kids we believe Coding is a new literacy and children need to understand how technology works, practice making skills and grow in their curiosity to make a better future for us all.

CODING$show=/search/label/coding

Coding is increasingly being recognised as an important skill for children to learn. Some will learn to code at school or at a coding club, but it's brilliant if they get support at home too.

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.

ROBOTICS$show=/search/label/robotics

We love robots at Tech Age Kids, especially programmable ones. We've got lots of them and write reviews and projects that use them. Our programmable robots for kids buying guide is a good place to start if you're not sure what's available. Roby the mBot Meccano robot dog is one of our popular projects and has been with us to lots of events. Our Ozobot LEGO trailer is fab for kids who love LEGO and robots.

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.

7 Ways to get Arty with Pixel Art


Computer images are made up of many, many, many tiny points of colour, known as pixels. Pixels can render as squares, dots or lines, but pixels on computer screens are usually square. Nowadays, you hardly notice the pixels in images with such high resolutions.

It's lots of fun making art using pixels. Many products like Bloxels, Simbrix and Minecraft allow you to design in pixels / blocks. We like producing art work with pixels at Tech Age Kids because it feels techie and requires lots of creative and logical thinking skills!

Inspired by computer pixels and we've tried out some arty ways to make pixel art as a screen-less activity.


Below are 7 ways you can get arty with pixel designs. Try some of these ideas by making a picture using one of our Christmas pixel designs, or design your own.

  1. Colour Square Grids

    You can either buy some squared paper, print our template, or draw your own grid to colour in blocks to make up a pixel image. There are also plenty of pixel colouring books available. We really like the Pixel Pix colouring books available in lots of different themes. Colouring pixels is a brilliant activity to develop fine motor skills. The picture below was coloured in by my 6 year old son. I drew a boarder around each colour section with a sharpie pen.

  2. Paint Dots with a Pencil Eraser / Ear bud

    Using a pencil eraser or an ear bud to paint little dots is great fun for kids. I particularly like using ear buds, as there is no washing up required. Add a drop of each colour you want of acrylic paint on a paper plate. Use one pencil eraser / ear bud per colour, so you don't mix the colours. You can either paint on a squared grid or make the dots in rows and columns by sight. It was easier for my younger kids to use a grid. I made this angel using only two colours and painted it with ear buds.
  3. Print Squares with a Potato

    Cut a potato in half and create a square shape. Follow a pixel art design by printing the squares with poster paint. I recommend you cut up enough potatoes so each colour can have it's own potato printer. If your kids are anything like mine, they like to keep their pixel art precise!
  4. Cut Squares and Stick

    There's lots of little square stickers on the market - foam ones, sparkly ones, metallic ones. They are often part of a kit, but you can get them separately too. If you can't find square stickers, you can make your own by cutting up foam sheets or coloured paper. The kids can then "build" the pixel design and stick it in place with glue to make their masterpiece permanent.
  5. Make a Stone / Glass Tile Mosaic

    Mosaics are usually made with small pieces of glass / tiles cut or broken in different shapes. You could try make a pixel mosaic by using only square shaped ceramic or glass tiles. The size of tile will determine the size of your mosaic. We recommend finding really small tiles, so that a 16 x 16 pixel grid doesn't end up being too big.

    Baker Ross (UK) sells 10mm squared glass tiles
  6. Paint a Stained Glass Picture

    Glass paint is another great option for making pixel art. Use a glass paint outliner or porcelain marker to draw a grid (Sharpie pens also work well). Allow the grid to dry properly. Now let the kids colour in the squares using glass paints or porcelain markers (or Sharpie pens). You can make these on glass sheets, but we recommend acetate/transparency sheets, which you can cut to size and stick on the windows. (Note if you use acetate, don't bake it as recommended for use on glass/porcelain wares.) You could decorate a plate/mug using this method.

  7. Make with Plastic Beads

    Use Simbrix, Perler/Hama beads to make a pixel picture. If you use Simbrix, don't iron them, so you can use the bricks again to make other pictures. Perler / Hama beads need to be ironed, and make effective decorations, and small gifts for kids to give their friends. We made our angel pixel design with Simbrix.


Use some of these ideas to make our Pixel Art Advent Calendar. If you've not signed up yet, join us TODAY!


24 days of Scratch coding book cover and cute penguin
Name

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Tech Age Kids | Technology for Children: 7 Ways to get Arty with Pixel Art
7 Ways to get Arty with Pixel Art
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