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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.

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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.

Controlling Minecraft with SAM Labs Electronics


My kids thought it was great fun to be able to control Minecraft using physical electronics components. SAM Labs is a range of modular wireless electronics components that are easy to use in fun tech projects. With the new SAM Labs software you can trigger virtual keypresses and mouse events so of course we had to hook SAM Labs up to Minecraft.

In this article we'll look at the basics of controlling SAM Labs in Minecraft, our next project is more advanced (and lots of fun!)


If you haven't come across SAM Labs before then start with our other articles:
If you want to understand more about Minecraft then try our getting started with Minecraft article.

      You'll Need

      You can adapt this project to whatever SAM Labs input modules you have, we used:
      • Tilt Sensor - great for sword or pickaxe movement
      • Button - works well for placing blocks
      • Slider - great for looking left and right
      You'll also need the bluetooth dongle that came with your SAM Labs set. 

      If you don't already have a set then we'd recommend the SAM Labs Make Kit for projects like this because it includes two buttons, a tilt sensors and a slider plus other components that you can use in different projects.

      Update: Now there's the new SAM Labs Curious Kit which includes a tilt switch, button and slider as well as 2 motors and an RGB Led as well as components for making cool projects that will appeal to a similar age group.

      You'll need the SAM Labs software installed. And of course you'll need Minecraft installed.

      Optionally you can also add a toy Minecraft pick or sword and toy Minecraft blocks.

      Set Up


      This project is really easy to set up in SAM Labs. The finished project will look like this:



      1. Turn on your SAMs and they should appear in the Live SAMs area. Drag them onto the workspace.
      2. Connect the Tilt sensor SAM to a Control Cursor app and make sure the left mouse button is selected. This will send a left mouse button click when the tilt sensor is tilted.
        The tilt sensor sends a left-click (mine / attack)


        If you have a toy Minecraft pick or sword then you can attach the tilt sensor to it using sticky tack, we used a 3D printed mini pick and a cardboard sword. 
      3. Connect the Button SAM to a Control Cursor app and this time make sure the right-mouse button is clicked. This will allow you to place blocks and use items in Minecraft.
        The button sends a right-click (place block / action)



        If you have a Minecraft toy block or LEGO pieces then you could attach the SAM Button to a physical block.

        Or you could place the SAM button under a block and then push the block to place! We used blocks from the Minecraft Stop-Motion Animation studio which happened to be just about the right size to conceal a SAM. You can use a bit of sticky tack to temporarily hold the pieces together if you need to.

        Surround the SAM button with blocks
        Pop a block on top of the SAM button. 
      4. Connect the Slider to a Control Cursor app and this time make sure the X Axis setting is selected. This will allow you to look left and right using the slider.
        The slider sends an x-position (look left-right)

      Testing


      Now run Minecraft. You might want to create a new Creative world to try things out in. 

      Make sure you have an item selected in your hotbar. A basic block is fine. Use your SAM button to place blocks. 

      Try out your pick or sword. You might need to adjust the position of the tilt sensor on the pick /sword to make sure it mines / attacks in the down position. 

      Try using the slider switch to turn your view left and right - you might need to turn the SAM upside down to make sure the view moves in the right direction. 

      Verdict

      This project was a lot of fun. It would be a great way to interest a Minecraft fanatic in practical electronics and could lead on to doing more real-world tech projects.

      Kids had lots of fun with this project at the Hacksoton event. 

      If you have another SAM button then you could use that for accessing your inventory or another action you perform regularly. 

      In future projects we'll take a look at more advanced techniques using command blocks.

      More about SAM Labs:
      More about Minecraft:


      24 days of Scratch coding book cover and cute penguin
      Name

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      Tech Age Kids | Technology for Children: Controlling Minecraft with SAM Labs Electronics
      Controlling Minecraft with SAM Labs Electronics
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      https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSrL9pl4F_ShGuyJS9ORHRO0VaRV941cstLxhuSMxVmL_TUFde9SJiBzwTT8jZZqRBIWklI8glrm7JGewTZj4hr-PZIgVLdEZg6XG2v-5FKenif5OW-GxQM6m0T9HJ6IFx7O5u68IAlT4/s72-c/samlabs-minecraft-head.png
      Tech Age Kids | Technology for Children
      https://www.techagekids.com/2016/04/controlling-minecraft-with-sam-labs.html
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