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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Solving problems with algorithms: Resources for younger children and their parents


If you're the parent of a 5 to 7-year-old you may have heard them talking about algorithms. In the UK, the key stage 1 curriculum states that children should "understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions."

So what are algorithms? And how can we help young children to think algorithmically?

Algorithm isn't an easy word for kids to remember or spell, but it's not the word that's important, it's the idea.

An algorithm is a precise set of instructions for doing something. An algorithm makes it very clear how a problem can be solved or a task can be carried out.

Instructions for board games are an example of an algorithm that a person can follow. If you're playing a game and the rules aren't clear then you don't have a precise algorithm for playing the game. In the instructions for the board game we don't need all the details about how to pick up a card or roll a dice, we just need enough information to play the game correctly (and know when someone has cheated!)

Algorithms are concerned with the steps that need to be taken to produce the correct result.

Examples of algorithms in everyday life include:
  • The way the lights change at a crossing or set of traffic lights
  • A method for adding numbers together
  • Keeping your hand on one wall to escape from a maze
  • The moves for a dance routine
  • The instructions for baking cookies
  • The instructions for making an origami bird or a paper plane
  • Growing tomatoes from seedlings
  • The ordering of search results

The important thing about algorithms is that they need to be clear enough so there's no confusion about what the result should be. 

Algorithms are important in computing because we have to be absolutely clear what we want a computer to do - computers aren't able to make sensible assumptions or do the right thing because it's 'obvious'.

Also, we don't want to have to solve the same problem over and over again. An algorithm allows us to reuse the solution.
We need to clearly understand the steps needed to perform a task or solve a problem before we program a computer to do it. 

If any of our thinking about how to solve the problem is muddled then we won't be able to tell the computer what to do.

The following ideas and resources are useful for developing children's algorithmic thinking skills:
  1. Playing a musical instrument is brilliant for thinking about sequencing and repetition, important skills for algorithmic thinking.
  2. Learning magic tricks. Magic tricks are another good example of algorithms, you find lots of different versions of the same trick but the sequence of actions is the same.

    My children have this gorgeous Melissa and Doug wooden magic set. It's recommended for age 8+ but many of the tricks can be mastered by younger kids with a bit of help.

    Just as magicians reuse tricks, computer scientists reuse algorithms. 
  3. Planning a day out at a farm or activity centre is a great chance to think algorithmically. What order will you do things in? Do some things like talks happen at a particular time? When will you have lunch?
  4. Playing board games and card games. Board games and card games are fantastic for developing the clear thinking skills. You need to be really clear on the rules and you have to be able to plan ahead.

    There are some board games specifically designed to develop coding skills, but general board games and card games are great too.

    Chess is particularly good for learning how to plan ahead. The Chess Junior game specifically teaches those skills so children learn 'algorithms' that can be applied in different situations in a chess game. 
  5. Baking and cooking. It's often really important to do things in the right order when cooking or baking. 
  6. Craft kits and construction kits. They are brilliant for getting kids used to following instructions and understanding the consequences of making a mistake or not doing things in the right order!
  7. Playing computer games. What? Playing computer games is good. Absolutely! Computer games follow logical rules - each character is following an algorithm, your score is increased or decreased according to an algorithm, learning to understand the patterns in computer games helps you to play them better, kids naturally do this when they're having fun.

    We particularly recommend Toca Dance which a fantastic app where kids can choreograph dance moves for cool characters that can also be dressed up. Dance routines are algorithms and these computer characters follow them precisely.

    Minecraft is fantastic for developing algorithmic thinking skills when you feel your child is ready for it (the Pocket Edition and Windows 10 editions have an age rating of 7+. Avoid playing on servers for younger children.) All the 'mobs' are following an algorithm and there are lots of algorithms for crafting objects. 
  8. Developing digital literacy skills. Again, computers behave in a predictable way. Understanding this helps reduce frustration when using a computer - they can be annoying but there's always a reason why they did something. Encourage kids to safely explore their devices and find out what they can do, understanding how computers and tablets behave so you can predict what they will do is really useful. 
  9. Sometimes we design an algorithm first and then write code and sometimes the algorithm emerges as we try things out, but the algorithm is always there. Having a go at writing code is another great way to develop algorithmic thinking skills. 

  10. And finally there's the book we developed in collaboration with Miles Kelly, Get Set Go Computing: Algorithms and Coding.

    The book is packed with wipe-clean activities that will help children develop algorithmic thinking skills and ideas for how those skills can be applied to everyday activities in real life.

24 days of Scratch coding book cover and cute penguin
Name

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Tech Age Kids | Technology for Children: Solving problems with algorithms: Resources for younger children and their parents
Solving problems with algorithms: Resources for younger children and their parents
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