Top Brands: Sphero - Wonder Workshop - Makeblock - Amazon Kids
BLACK FRIDAY: Amazon Fire Kids Pro 10"
BLACK FRIDAY: Amazon Fire Kids Pro 10"
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.
We got to see some cool kid tech at the London Toy Fair this week. We were pleasantly surprised! In the past mainstream kids tech toys haven't demanded much more that button pressing from kids. Now we're seeing a lot of toys that allow kids to explore technology for themselves, and we're seeing a younger age group being targetted. Yes, there's still lots of cool stuff for the 8+ crowd but we're seeing a lot more for younger age groups than we have in the past. This is fantastic, we know from our clubs, schools and our own children that children are very capable of absorbing technical concepts at an early age.
Let's take a look at our favourites from the show:
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The Sam Science Museum Inventor Kit is the latest kit from Kickstarter graduates SAM Labs. Sam Labs wireless electronics building blocks allow kids, families and hobbyists to develop cool tech projects that don't need to be physically connected together. This is a big deal! The flexibility of a wireless solution comes at a cost, but for the projects that really benefit from it we think it's worth it.
The Inventor Kit contains a Light Sensor, Buzzer, Tilt Sensor and DC Motor and includes 5 STEM-themed activities to get you started.
There's a competition to create a cool project with the SAM Science Museum Inventor Kit and win lots of SAM goodies, but you'll have to be quick. The closing date is Jan 29th 2016.
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LEGO has a new Nexo Knights range which is set in a high-tech world with characters from medieval history and fantasy.
There's an accompanying game app which can be updated by scanning physical shields from the Nexo Knights sets.
My kids have already spotted this range and really like the idea.
- The new K'Nex Robotics system looks great. This is aimed an the education market, but we think it would be great for families too. Lots of kids already have big collections of K'Nex and it would be great to be able to create proper programmable robots with it. We've covered the Mighty Makers range from K'Nex before and we're pleased to see more products including a film studio which kids can use a mobile phone with.
- We got to see the Meccano Micronoids that we included in our CES Kid Tech roundup. These are less expensive and involve less building, but still have some programmability. We also got to see the new upgraded Meccanoid G16 and G16KS too, these are the next generation of the G15 robots which we have been enjoying.
- Thames & Kosmos have a great robotics line including the Smart Robotics robot kit which is programmable from a tablet. What really caught our eye was their new programmable games controller kit which will allow kids to develop games that run on a tablet and control them from a physical controller. It will also be possible to plug in external electronics components to extend the possibilities. Definitely one we'll be keeping our eye on.
- Clementoni are bringing out a new version of their low cost robot kit and this time it's programmable from a tablet. Lots of the robot kits we use are fantastic but expensive. Clementoni are managing to release robot kits that will be affordable for more families and still develop tech skills.
- VTech are continuing to update their kid camera line and kid smartwatches and also their Toot Toot line for little kids. We were also excited to see an upcoming line that is very much in line with our goals here at Tech Age Kids, more on that in a future post.
- Magformers are extending their range of magnetic construction toys with more Hi-Tech sets that include electronics components. They components with motors, LEDs and sounds so kids can build their own electronic toys. New models are USB rechargeable which parents will appreciate.
- Skroppy is a new tech toy for encouraging physical activity. It's a game for up to four players where you have to jump at the right time and it gets harder as the game progresses. It can be played indoors (if you have enough space) and taken outdoors. We had a go and it looks like one to watch.
- We love construction toys and LaQ is not widely known in the UK, although it is elsewhere. It offers a really different building style to stud-based blocks so you can create useful objects and smooth contours.
- The Games Gang were there with their Jigpix high-tech jigsaw puzzles. The pieces are all the same shape and have emojis on to identify them, the accompanying app shows you where to place them. This means that lots of images can be created from the same pieces. We also liked their 6-fold games boards - we love board games but they usually take up so much space!
There was lots more there and we'll be going into more detail on some new products in coming weeks. Overall we were really pleased to see the focus moving to tech toys that encourage kids to explore, design and create.
/fa-fire/ MONTH TRENDING$type=list
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Considering a Fitbit fitness tracker for your teen? Let's take a look at the options and see which Fitbit makes the most sense for you a...
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At Tech Age Kids we've been testing and writing about kids coding toys for over 10 years. This post is our round up of the current optio...
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I asked my kids what they wanted to do, other than playing Minecraft, over a long weekend. Not that I didn't want them playing Minecraf...
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/fa-dice/ RANDOM$type=blogging$m=0$cate=0$sn=0$rm=0$c=3$va=0$src=random-posts
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- angry birds
- animation
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- app
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- appcessories
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- apps
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- architecture
- arckit
- arduino
- art
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- astronomy
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- automaton
- awards
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- battling robots
- bedtime
- big kids
- big tablets
- bigtrak
- bike
- binary
- birthday
- bitsbox
- black friday
- blockly
- blogging
- bloxels
- bluetooth
- board games
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- bricks
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- careers
- catroid
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- connected toys
- construction
- conversational ai
- cozmo
- craft
- craft cutter
- creative thinking
- creativity
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- crowdfunding
- css
- cubs
- curiosity
- curious chip
- cyber monday
- dads
- data
- deals
- dens
- design
- design process
- design thinking
- digital parenting
- digital skills
- disability
- disney infinity
- dog tech
- dolls
- drawing
- drones
- duinokit
- earth day
- Easter
- ebooks
- eco
- edblocks
- edison
- edtech
- education
- egypt
- electricity
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- electronic toys
- electronics
- electronics kit
- electronics kits
- electtronics
- elementary
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- ereader
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- event
- ewriter
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- fiction
- fire
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- flotilla
- flow charts
- flutterbye fairy
- flying
- force awakens
- force friday
- future
- gadgets
- games
- games console
- games consoles
- gaming
- gift guide
- gifts
- girls
- giveaway
- glow in the dark
- grace hopper
- grove
- hackaball
- hacksoton
- halloween
- halloween costumes
- hardware
- headphones
- health
- hexbug
- hexbug aquabots
- hexbug project
- high school
- history
- home
- home education
- homeschool
- hot toys
- hour of code
- html
- humanoid
- ICT
- in app purchasing
- indiegogo
- industry event
- innotab
- innotab 3
- innotab 3s
- internet access
- interviews
- invention
- ios
- IoT
- ipad
- ipad mini
- iphone
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- japan
- java
- javascript
- k'nex
- k'nex robotics
- kano
- keyboard
- kickstarter
- kids
- kindle
- kindle fire
- kit
- kits
- kodu
- kubo
- label printer
- languages
- laptop
- laptops
- last minute
- leap motion
- leapfrog
- leappad
- leappad 2
- leappad ultra
- leappad2
- leapreader
- learning
- learning resources
- learning tablet
- learning tablets
- leds
- lego
- lego boost
- lego chain reactions
- lego mindstorms ev3
- lego power functions
- lego technic
- lego wedo
- let's start coding
- lights
- lightseekers
- little kids
- littlebits
- logiblocs
- logic
- logical thinking
- loom
- machines
- magnetic
- make it
- makeblock
- makedo
- maker
- makey makey
- making
- mardles
- mars
- mars rover
- marty
- math
- maths
- mbot
- mbot ranger
- me arm
- meccano
- meccanoid
- meccanoid 2.0
- merge vr
- mews
- michael faraday
- micro:bit
- microbit
- microcontroller
- microscope
- microsoft
- middle school
- miles kelly
- mindstorms
- minecraft
- minecraft mods
- mixed reality
- mobile
- modular electronics
- monsters university
- morse code
- mothers day
- motion capture
- motors
- mover kit
- movie
- movies
- mu
- mu toys
- munzee
- music
- my first robot
- national dog day
- nature
- new
- new year
- news
- news coding
- nikola tesla
- nintendo
- nintendo switch
- ohbot
- ollie
- on the web
- opinion
- origami
- osmo
- outdoors
- ouya
- ozobot
- papercraft
- paperwhite
- parental controls
- parenting
- parrot
- pc
- people
- pet tech
- pets
- phone
- photography
- photon
- physics
- pi day
- picks
- pimoroni
- pinoccio
- pixel kit
- pixelart
- play
- playstation 4
- plezmo
- pocket code
- pocket money
- pokemon
- pokemon go
- poll
- pre order
- pre-teens
- prehistory
- preschoolers
- primary
- printable
- products
- professor einstein
- programming
- project
- projects
- puzzles
- python
- racing
- raspberry pi
- reading
- reivew
- remote control
- research
- resource
- resources
- retro
- review
- rights
- robot
- robot dog
- robot fish
- robot wars
- ROBOTERRA
- roboticals
- robotics
- robots
- role models
- role play
- romo
- romotive
- root
- rover
- safety
- sam labs
- samuel morse
- sandbox
- schools
- science
- scratch
- scratchjr
- screen time
- screenless
- screens
- sensors
- servos
- simbrix
- skills
- skylanders
- skylanders superchargers
- skylanders swap force
- smart pens
- smartphone
- smartwatch
- snap circuits
- social media
- solar power
- soldering
- sonic pi
- sony koov
- sound
- space
- sparki
- speaker
- speech sythesis
- sphero
- sphero mini
- spider
- star wars
- stars
- STEAM
- stem
- stikbot
- stop motion
- stop motion studio
- storage
- story
- strawbees
- students
- subscription
- subscriptions
- sugru
- summer
- swift
- tablet
- tablets
- tangible coding
- tech
- tech age
- tech craft
- tech is bad
- tech is good
- tech toys
- tech will save us
- technology
- technology will save us
- teens
- teknikio
- tekno
- teksta
- tenka labs
- tesla
- textiles
- thames & kosmos
- the extraordinaires
- tim berners lee
- tinkercad
- tinybop
- toddlers
- toot-toot
- top pick
- touch
- toy
- toys
- travelling
- TTS
- TV
- tween
- tweens
- tynker
- typing
- ux
- vehicles
- videos
- view-master
- views
- virtual reality
- voice assistants
- voice recognition
- vr
- vtech
- web
- websites
- wifi
- wii
- wii u
- windows 8
- wonder workshop
- wowwee
- writing
- writing. education
- xbox one
- xyzprinting