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.
View-Master into the Labyrinth is a really interesting virtual reality game and concept from Mattel. It's a two player game where one player, the Traveler, is walking round a virtual reality maze and the other has a set of physical resources that help solve puzzles that the Traveler encounters. They must work together to escape the labyrinth.
Note that to play View-Master into the Labyrinth you'll need a VR-headset such as the View-Master VR Headset or VR Deluxe Headset and a Google cardboard compatible phone. We used an HTC One M7.
View-Master Headsets
Into the Labyrinth is designed to work with a View-Master VR headset. The game works with the original headset or the new deluxe model.
The new model has immersive sound which isn't particularly useful for this game as you need to be able to converse with the Guide when playing the game. The field of vision is also wider.
The new Deluxe VR viewer also has adjustable lenses which will be very useful for anyone who wears glasses. I wear glasses and have to take them off to use the headset and it's too small and you can't get close enough for an optimised view. The deluxe version definitely makes sense if anyone in your family wears glasses or you want visitors who wear glasses to be able to have a go.
Unboxing View-Master into the Labyrinth
View-Master into the Labyrinth comes as a fold-out hardback book which is designed to look ancient and mysterious.On the whole this is really nicely designed but some of the parts are a bit flimsy and not particularly high quality - the blue film on our glasses doesn't actually cover the hole.
Everything does go back into the book for storage although we found the problem solving booklet is fiddly to get back in.
Getting Started
We used an HTC One M7 which my son uses to play Pokemon Go, it doesn't have a SIM and there's a problem with the camera which is why my son gets to use it! It has a gyroscope though which is important for Google Cardboard VR.
The only thing we found tricky about getting started is that it's really important to get the phone centred in the viewer, but the centre line doesn't appear until after the app has told you to close the viewer! We had to open it up again and centre the phone (otherwise you can see two images rather than one and it's rather uncomfortable.)
It's worth going through the optional setup process which involves choosing setup in the app and scanning a QR code inside the View-Master headset. (This was a bit of a challenge for us as the camera is broken on the phone and turns everything pink! A bright light did the trick.) The VR experience seemed smoother after we did this, though it worked before.
Game Play - First Impressions
Honestly we spent a while being a bit baffled about what was going on and what we were supposed to do. The instructions aren't very specific and there's no walkthrough to teach you the basics, you just get thrown into a maze and have to figure it out.
For the first hour we felt like we were trying to figure out what we were doing rather than actually solving the puzzles in the game. It wasn't a bad experience but I can imagine some younger kids would get a bit impatient while an adult was trying to figure it out.
Now that we've gone through that process it seems hard to imagine that we didn't get it straight away. Maybe we were just a bit slow! But it might be worth parents having a sneaky play through before letting the kids have a go so that you can steer them in the right direction (it is a lot of fun!)
Game Play
Since we've oriented ourselves in the game we have had a fantastic time. In each game one player is the Traveler and wears the VR headset and must move around the maze telling the Guide what they see. The Guide must interpret what the Traveler tells them and solve puzzles so that the Traveler can progress.
Don't expect high quality graphics, that's not where VR on a phone is right now, but the feeling of being in a the physical space of a maze is very effective.
As you walk around the maze you need to assemble its map from the spiral bound map segments in the booklet. The Traveler will see symbols on posts in different parts of the maze and will need to work out how they are laid out (Tip: look down and you'll see a compass.)
The Traveler also needs to solve puzzles that are placed around the maze, the number of puzzles depends on the level of difficulty you choose. In each puzzle, the Traveler describes what they see and the Guide uses the book, booklet and included tools to solve the puzzle and give instructions to the Traveler.
Once you've understood the concepts you can solve an easy maze in a few minutes.
As you progress you can choose harder levels and will need to solve different kinds of puzzle. The first time you encounter a puzzle you have to figure out the puzzle mechanics, but the details of the puzzle are different every time so there's plenty of replayability.
The puzzles are all classic code-breaking, adventure puzzle style things with a nicely mysterious twist.
As things get harder you can write down notes on the wipe-clean map and note area with the included pen.
Note that the View-master headset is not included and must be purchased separately (and you also need a compatible phone.) |
I really liked that you have to describe visual symbols to each other. My 10 year old found this really hard at first, but it felt like a really useful thing to do. After a while we developed our own shorthand vocabulary for the symbols like 'the ear' and 'face with a twirly moustache', this was lots of fun!
I've played the game with each of my children, aged 8 and 10, and we took turns in the two roles which means that no one uses the VR headset for an extended amount of time. This works really well.
As a parent there are some things you play with your kids because it makes them happy, it's always nice to find things that you enjoy as much as them (or possibly a little bit more!) Into the Labyrinth is a game that I'm more than happy to play with my kids. It's a really nice way to spend time together.
At the end of each game you get time and number of steps it took to complete the level. This adds to the replay value as you want to beat your previous time, or your sibling's previous time ...
Into the Labyrinth reminds me of The Adventure Game (some episodes recently re-released by the BBC, yes kids have been made to watch them :) and The Crystal Maze TV programs which I watched as a child, but this time we actually get to participate.
Verdict
View-Master into the Labyrinth is a fantastic way for a parent and child, siblings or friends to spend some quality time together in a way that's engaging and develops useful skills.
It's important to understand that you do need to put some effort into understanding the game and that you should see it as an edutainment activity, something that develops useful STEM skills and requires some thinking rather than something that's pure fun. It's great for developing logical and analytical thinking, collaboration and communication skills and spatial awareness.
I'm sure our children's children will laugh when they realise that this is what they had for a VR experience when they were kids, but it's pretty cool to be in at the start of something. Mattel have really tried to do something interesting with VR for kids and it definitely feels worth the RRP of $19.99 to us to be part of that.
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/fa-dice/ RANDOM$type=blogging$m=0$cate=0$sn=0$rm=0$c=3$va=0$src=random-posts
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- angry birds
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- arduino
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- automaton
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- battling robots
- bedtime
- big kids
- big tablets
- bigtrak
- bike
- binary
- birthday
- bitsbox
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- blockly
- blogging
- bloxels
- bluetooth
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- cameras
- card game
- careers
- catroid
- celebration
- cellphone
- ces
- chemistry
- chess
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- circuit playground
- circuit scribe
- cleaning
- climbing
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- code-a-pillar
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- comparison
- competition/challenges
- computational thinking
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- computer vision
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- computing
- conductive playdough
- 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
- electronic pets
- electronic toys
- electronics
- electronics kit
- electronics kits
- electtronics
- elementary
- elenco
- energy
- engineering
- entertainment
- ereader
- ereaders
- esafety
- escape the room
- event
- ewriter
- exercise
- family
- family tech
- fathers day
- Festival of Code
- fiction
- fire
- fitbit
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- fitness tracker
- 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
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- java
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- 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