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.
Hackaball is a programmable throwable ball that kids can use to create their own active games. We've written a version of catch that keeps kids interested in playing for longer and makes playing catch fun in the dark - good for getting outside on long winter days.
See our Hackaball review for more general information about the ball.
Light Up Catch Surprise
"It's like catch, which is already fun, but funner." 8 year oldThis game is played with multiple players and the goal is to keep going for as many passes as possible without the ball staying still for too long - either because it gets dropped on the floor or someone doesn't pass it on quickly. This means that everyone needs to pay attention and work together.
What's the surprise? Every time Hackaball detects a throw it will change to a random colour. The Hackaball colours are gorgeous especially in the dark so this is quite rewarding! The ball will also make a Tweet noise so that you can tell it's detected a throw if the new colour is similar to the old one.
The program also keeps track of the score - the number of throws - on a connected device. You can also play without a connected device, you just won't see the score.
The Code
Hackaball code is created in the app and very visual so it should be easy to work out what's going on.
The ball goes purple and miaows when the game starts. The two paths are active: one reacting to throws and changing the colour incrementing the counter, and one waiting for the ball to be still for two seconds which then triggers a rumble vibration and sound and ends the game.
You can of course choose different sounds and colours to the ones we selected - that's part of the fun of hacking your own toy.
The Experience
Indoors
The game played really well indoors (with enough space and instructions to be careful!) the colours are gorgeous and the sounds are fun. It was easy to keep the app nearby and check our score and then try to beat it.
We found that not all throws would trigger the Hackaball. The children were really interested in this and we tried lots of different styles of throwing to see what worked best, was it to do with speed, loopiness, was it the thrower or the catcher than made the different. We decided loopiness was important.
For younger children and kids who can be trusted to throw gently indoors, this activity was a great way to encourage the kids away from their devices.
Outdoors: Daytime
"I like the way Hackaball feels, it's nicer than an ordinary ball." 8 year oldWe took Hackaball to play Catch Surprise at our local park on a sunny winter's day.
Unfortunately we could barely see the colours in bright daylight, the vibrant colours that we saw indoors were very muted outside. Brighter/more LEDs for the next version please Hackaball.
We could still hear the sounds just fine but we had the park to ourselves (the temperature was around freezing!) A louder speaker would be brilliant too.
We also found that Hackaball got a bit damp when it was dropped because the grass was damp, this made the outer cover start to slip off. Hackaball isn't designed for use in wet conditions but it is splashproof. We haven't found the cover slipping when it's dry.
When playing outside we discovered that a long throw would reliably trigger a throw event - our indoor throws were shorter.
When playing outside we discovered that a long throw would reliably trigger a throw event - our indoor throws were shorter.
Outdoors: Night-time
We've also played Catch Surprise in the dark (it's winter, so that's pretty early) and it's awesome! The colours look fantastic.
The promise of playing Hackaball catch even gets my younger son out on an walk after dark or playing catch in the garden on a very cold evening.
The only problem we found is that while we can see Hackaball really well, we can't see each other! The kids have had the idea of programming other light up wearable gadgets so we can see each other, so that's going to be a future project.
The promise of playing Hackaball catch even gets my younger son out on an walk after dark or playing catch in the garden on a very cold evening.
The only problem we found is that while we can see Hackaball really well, we can't see each other! The kids have had the idea of programming other light up wearable gadgets so we can see each other, so that's going to be a future project.
Verdict
I did the coding this time to try it out, but my 8 year old has since coded his own Hackaball games - more on those and what he thinks in a future post.
I loved the way my kids got thinking about how a throw was detected. As it happens this is covered in the Hackaball FAQ "We’ve defined a throw as a strong impulse followed by a drop, or a strong impulse in one direction for at least half a second. The first throw is a hooped throw, the second a straight throw." This matches what we found - we needed loopy throws or long throws. Neat.
I loved the way my kids got thinking about how a throw was detected. As it happens this is covered in the Hackaball FAQ "We’ve defined a throw as a strong impulse followed by a drop, or a strong impulse in one direction for at least half a second. The first throw is a hooped throw, the second a straight throw." This matches what we found - we needed loopy throws or long throws. Neat.
My kids definitely play outside less in the winter when it gets dark early and Hackaball has made it easy to encourage them outside. Recently we were expecting a visitor and played Hackaball Catch Surprise in the front garden so we wouldn't miss them (who expects you to be playing ball games in the garden when it's below freezing?) My 8 year old said "Is this what it was like when you were a kid, playing out front?"
We were expecting Hackaball to be more of a summer toy, but our experience is that it's best in winter for indoor games and playing outdoors in the dark or low light. That actually works well for us as it's easier to get the kids active and playing outdoors in the summer, it's during winter when they need a bit more of a nudge and Hackaball is awesome for that.
We were expecting Hackaball to be more of a summer toy, but our experience is that it's best in winter for indoor games and playing outdoors in the dark or low light. That actually works well for us as it's easier to get the kids active and playing outdoors in the summer, it's during winter when they need a bit more of a nudge and Hackaball is awesome for that.
Hackaball: good old-fashioned outdoor play with a modern twist.
/fa-fire/ MONTH TRENDING$type=list
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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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It's getting close to December so we've been thinking about coding,tech and video game themed advent calendars for kids and teens....
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- halloween costumes
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- high school
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- kids
- kindle
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- kit
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- kodu
- kubo
- label printer
- languages
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- last minute
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- leapfrog
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- learning
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- 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