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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.

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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.

Arckitextures with a Craft Cutter


Arckit is a fantastic tool to create beautiful architectural models. The main kit is white (there are also coloured sets available) which lends itself to adding decoration on the floors, walls and roofs.

Arckitextures are sheets of adhesive surface textures and material patterns used to decorate your models and add a more realistic finish to your project. In true Tech Age Kids style we had to come up with a clever way to use Arkitextures on our models.

Disclaimer: Arckit sent us an Arckit A360 set to review. As usual our opinions are our own. A set of Arkitextures was included in the pack, which we used for this review.


What is Arckitextures


Arckitextures are adhesive sheets of surface texture and material patterns used to add a material finish to your architectural model. Most Arckit model kits come with a set of texture sheets, but they are also available for purchase from their website.

You can also download and print your own texture on blank Arckitexture self-adhesive media sheets using an Inkjet printer.

The Arckitextures replicate real architectural finishes and in the library you can find finishes from manufacturers like Kingspan, Cembrit, Silva and Surfaceform.

Arckit suggests cutting the Arkitextures using scissors or a craft knife, but we think using a craft cutter will give you a much more accurate finish and will be less time consuming. In this post we write about how we used out Silhouette Cameo Craft Cutter to add Arckitextures to our model.



Cutting Guides for Arckitextures


Arckit provides a cut guide template for each component which you can download from their website. It's not useful to send to a craft cutter, so we created a new set of cut templates specifically for the Silhouette software. It's available for Download Here

The cut template includes all the different elements, which you could then use to create your custom cut guide for your specific model.



Custom Cutting Templates

Each model will be unique, so ideally you want an easy method to create custom cutting templates to cut out the Arckitextures.

Initially, I used Adobe Illustrator to create our custom cutting templates. I then imported a .dwg file into the Silhouette application. Frustratingly the application changes the dimensions. It's easily fixed by applying scaling it to the correct size.

Using the Silhouette Software


It's a much easier process using the Silhouette software to create your custom templates. Create a new file in the Silhouette software for your custom template. Open the "Arckit-Elements-Cut-Template" and then copy and paste the elements you need into your new file.

The picture below shows how we created a wall panel with a window cut out. I used 3 wall elements and one window picture element. Ensure all the elements are well aligned, by using the tools in the software. Now I could "weld" the shape to create the custom cutting template for the wall panel. To "weld" select all the objects required and go to Object-Modify-Weld. If the shapes didn't "weld" together it's probably because there's an alignment issue. Realign and weld again.

This process only takes a few minutes.



Accuracy with a Craft Cutter

Once you have all your custom shapes created, you are ready to send them to the cutter. Select your desired texture, fix it to the cutting mat, select all the right settings for the printer, check the blade height. We used setting 3 for our blade.

We HIGHLY recommend you do a test cut first on a blank sheet to prototype your shapes.

You can cut all your shapes for one texture in one go. Set the design size to A5 and remember there is about 6mm cut off on the short side which you can't use. Now you can position your shapes on the sheet. You can turn shapes upside down to maximise the space, however be aware of the direction of the materials so you don't end up with bricks running the wrong way!

(Can you spot our mistake on your roof tiles??)

Given a bit of practice kids should be able to use a craft cutter with some adult supervision. It's far less dangerous than using a craft knife and you don't risk cutting into your final piece (which I have done so many times making interior design models for my degree!)

A craft cutter is a really useful tool to have as part of your maker kit at home. It can cut all sorts of materials including vinyl, which we are planning to use in another Arckit project - decorating the interior space.

Beach House Project

We created a simple model to test out our theory and here are the results.

Blank Model


Custom shape cut using the craft cutter
Perfect fit
No trimming required

Arckitexture applied - Rear View

Arckitexture applied - Front View

Verdict


When we saw Arckit at the London Toy Fair, one of our first questions were whether they use a craft cutter to cut the Arckitextures. We were really surprised when they mentioned they haven't. To us it seems like a natural fit.

Using the craft cutter means you get a very accurately cut piece. You need to apply some design thinking and workout which elements is needed to create your desired shape. You also need to think about the direction of the cut on the texture sheet. All of this adds to the skills learned when using Arckit sets.

We absolutely loved doing this project and definitely recommend you trying to add Arckitexture to your Arckit models using a craft cutter. When you do, send us a picture of your model by sharing it on any of our social media channels.

Other Arckit Projects and Reviews:



24 days of Scratch coding book cover and cute penguin
Name

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Tech Age Kids | Technology for Children: Arckitextures with a Craft Cutter
Arckitextures with a Craft Cutter
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