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.
Amazon Fire tablets are great for young children (3-8 years). They are small, affordable and the kids' edition provide additional features specifically with little kids in mind.
One thing to note is that you will not have the range of apps available on iPads or Android tablets. Many companies also opt to create educational apps for iOS first and often these apps never make it to the Amazon Appstore.
So we've done some searching and found some great apps for young children using Amazon Fire tablets which will help teach coding and computational thinking skills.
At Tech Age Kids we don't think all screen time is equal and make a distinction between passive and creative screen time.
Apps that help teach kids skills like coding, logical, computational and creative thinking fall into creative screen time and as modern parents, we should encourage our children to choose these apps during screen time.
You can always find free apps, but for younger kids, I prefer to pay for an app which I know will be safe and specifically designed for them. All the apps in our list contains no ads or in-app purchases. (Codespark Academy provides a free trial for 7 days.)
Here's our list of top apps for young children with an Amazon Fire tablet:
If you know of an app that works well on the Amazon Fire tablet and aims to teach coding and computational thinking skills which we've not included in this list, we'd love to hear about it!
One thing to note is that you will not have the range of apps available on iPads or Android tablets. Many companies also opt to create educational apps for iOS first and often these apps never make it to the Amazon Appstore.
So we've done some searching and found some great apps for young children using Amazon Fire tablets which will help teach coding and computational thinking skills.
At Tech Age Kids we don't think all screen time is equal and make a distinction between passive and creative screen time.
Apps that help teach kids skills like coding, logical, computational and creative thinking fall into creative screen time and as modern parents, we should encourage our children to choose these apps during screen time.
You can always find free apps, but for younger kids, I prefer to pay for an app which I know will be safe and specifically designed for them. All the apps in our list contains no ads or in-app purchases. (Codespark Academy provides a free trial for 7 days.)
Here's our list of top apps for young children with an Amazon Fire tablet:
ScratchJr
This is one of our favourite free apps for teaching coding skills to young children. It was inspired by Scratch, which many children now use in school. ScratchJr is specifically designed for non-readers. There's a lot of scope to create your own games, interactive stories and animations. One of my son's favourite features is recoding his own voice. I also like that you can use the camera tool on the device to add your face to your project. ScratchJr is an open-ended digital playground for children to explore coding and digital art.
Toca Boca: Blocks
Toca Boca Blocks is a 2D platform style game which you can build and then play. There are 3 characters to play in the game and each have their own super powers. This is one of my son's favourite apps on his Amazon Fire tablet.
The Toca Boca apps are paid apps, but they are worth the money for younger kids as they will not be interrupted by unwanted ads and in-app purchased.
Toca Boca: Builders
Toca Boca Builders allows you to build a block-based world in 3D. There are 6 diffrent characters and they all build in a different way. You need to manuouver a ball to move around in the 3D space. It's fantastic for 3D spatial awareness and planning which character to use to build a world. It's open-ended and you can create different worlds. You can change the colours of the blocks, but your only tool to create is a block.
My son loves this app and it works really well even on the smallest Amazon Fire tablet screen.
Codespark Academy - The Foos
Codespark Academy is a brilliant app for learning coding concepts, but it's not free. You get a 7 day free trial and then it's a subscription based app for $7.99 per month. You can have up to 3 children registered on the account. Codespark Academy regularly updates the app with new content. The games are fun and kids learn coding concepts in a playful way. It's aimed at non-readers, but my 9 year old son still loves playing this.
Thinkrolls - Avokiddo
I love the Thinkrolls apps to develop logical thinking skills. The graphics are fantastic. There are 3 different apps - Thinkrolls, Thinkrolls 2 and Thinkrolls: Kings & Queens. My son started playing these games when he was 5 and still loves them. I also like playing the games and you really have to sit and think how to solve the puzzles. Definitely recommend paying for these apps.
Lightbot Jr
Lightbot Jr is a young children's version of the popular Lightbot app, in which you programme a little robot in a 3D block platform to move around and light up blocks. It's good for spatial awareness and debugging as it's not necessarily easy to see which way your bot needs to turn! There are 5 sections of puzzles with 9 levels in each section. The sections cover, basic movement, jumping, overloading, procedures and loops. Some of the concepts are slightly advanced, but I've enojoyed sitting with my son figuring them out with him. The first level in each section is a tutorial and you can always tap help for more information.
Run Marco!
Run Marco! reminds me a little of Hour of Code type coding games wher you use coding blocks to navigate a character through a maze. In this case it's a cowboy and the setting the wild west. We found the code blocks quite small and there is a fair bit of reading required. My son commented that it wasn't easy to tap and drag the blocks on his small screen.
If you know of an app that works well on the Amazon Fire tablet and aims to teach coding and computational thinking skills which we've not included in this list, we'd love to hear about it!
- Also see: Coding Books for Young Children
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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
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- ohbot
- ollie
- on the web
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- origami
- osmo
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- ouya
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- 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