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.
At Tech Age Kids, we believe it is really important for children to continue to engage in craft activities beyond their toddler and early years. The increasing distraction of more exciting (screen-based) activities means children today spend less time developing physical skills, like cutting, tinkering, drawing, molding and constructing.
As children grow they become more able to use craft tools and learn more physical making skills. We've put together a carefully curated gift guide for children who like to craft, tinker and make (and those that need some encouragement to develop these skills.) Because it's Tech Age Kids, we've narrowed down the vast array of choice to ones with a techie edge.
Take a trip to your local Arts & Craft store to help kids get ideas of things they like to make. Buying kits is a good way to get started and you don't have to think too much about everything you need. My kids love a browse in a craft shop and I always try to encourage them to choose something they haven't tried before if they don't already have an idea of what they want to make.
There are plenty of retail stores, physical and online to buy arts and crafts material from. Our favourites include Baker Ross, Hobby Craft, The Works (UK only).
Amazon is always a good option for craft material, Craft Courses by Creative Bugs for kids if you need some instruction and Crayola for good quality materials.
As children grow they become more able to use craft tools and learn more physical making skills. We've put together a carefully curated gift guide for children who like to craft, tinker and make (and those that need some encouragement to develop these skills.) Because it's Tech Age Kids, we've narrowed down the vast array of choice to ones with a techie edge.
3D Printing with 3Doodler Start
3D printing is a modern craft tool that is becoming more accessible to families and the home due to the reduction in cost and software that is easier for children and amateurs to use. The 3Doodler Start 3D Printing Pen is our choice for this age group because it is specifically designed with small people in mind. It's not a 3D printer but uses the same principles to draw and make in 3D. It takes a bit of getting used to creating drawings that your child can peel off the paper and then hang up!
- Read our full review of 3Doodler Start.
Play dough moulding with Dough Universe/Electro dough
Play dough is a classic craft activity for young kids. As they grow older you can introduce electronics and discover soft circuits with Electro dough from Tech Will Save Us. The Dough Universe is made up of 3 packs that explore electronics that make things light up, move and make sound. These are well-made kits that can breathe new life into an age-old activity.
- Read our full review of the Electro Dough kits.
Cardboard Construction with MAKEDO
With modern life, comes Amazon deliveries which provide brilliant material for construction projects - Cardboard! We used to call it junk modeling and made all sorts of toys and structures out of junk. Thankfully with MAKEDO construction kits, you can save rolls of sticky tape and kids can learn some basic construction skills using the screws and connectors in the kit. We love Make Do Kits at Tech Age Kids and have written a number of posts and reviews about the product.
- See our reviews and projects we'd made using MakeDo.
Blocks or Bricks Construction
Building things are so important at this age and there is plenty of choice in terms of construction bricks and blocks. It's useful to stick to a couple types so that you can build up the number of construction blocks or bricks. Choose something that will encourage building by following instructions and has enough flexibility to allow creative free play. When my kids were this age we have wooden blocks and LEGO. We still have Duplo LEGO which makes a great tool to build quick stands for stop-motion animation or mazes for robots. Simple wooden blocks can later be used to build chain reaction machines, which my youngest is really getting into now.
- See our reviews of different construction kits for young children: Engino; Arckit Play; Laser Pegs; LEGO; Kid K'Nex
Pixel Art with Simbrix
At this age, there is a big range of kids' fine motor skills. One product we love to develop this skill is Simbrix. It's a bit like Hama beads without the pain of having to iron the plastic beads. The 'bricks' slot together like a puzzle and you can make any 2D pixel art creation. The bricks are reusable as you don't need to iron them to keep them together. It's the type of skill a child of this age may find frustrating at first, but with a little bit of patience and perseverance will reap great rewards. I often take Simbrix out for a quiet afternoon activity when everyone just needs some downtime. As with most of these things, the more bricks you have the more you can make with it. In my opinion it's well worth the investment and a 'toy' your kids will come back to year after year.
- See our hands-on review of the Simbrix Creative Kits.
Cutting Skills with Scissors and Cutting Stamps
Young kids are fascinated with cutting, but really they need to be a little older to really master the skill. Just having a pair of scissors available with paper that can be cut is a good start. If your child (like my son) is left-handed, it is well worth investing in left-handed scissors at this age. It's frustrating to cut when the tool doesn't work well. With this in mind, I also buy 'proper' scissors and not plastic kiddie ones. Scissors are sharp and should be used under adult supervision, but as your child skill develop they will thank you for sharp scissors! Try resisting the urge to do cutting for your child. Rather do your own cutting alongside them. Encourage them to draw a shape on paper and cut on the line, this will develop their precision cutting which will be useful when they are older.
We also use shape punchers, to cut neat shapes, which is great for this age.
Craft and Tinkering Kits by Kiwi Crate
We love the idea of ready-made kits that come with everything you need. Kiwi Crate is a subscription craft and tinkering kit that you can buy per month or subscribe for a whole year. It works out slightly cheaper per kit to buy an annual subscription. The beauty of Kiwi Crate is that you don't have to think about it. Every month a box is delivered with the materials needed to complete the project. Kids get an opportunity to explore a variety of different skills. Their kits are age appropriate and high quality. You definitely get what you pay for here.
- Check out their Kiwi Range for 5-8 year olds.
Take a trip to your local Arts & Craft store to help kids get ideas of things they like to make. Buying kits is a good way to get started and you don't have to think too much about everything you need. My kids love a browse in a craft shop and I always try to encourage them to choose something they haven't tried before if they don't already have an idea of what they want to make.
There are plenty of retail stores, physical and online to buy arts and crafts material from. Our favourites include Baker Ross, Hobby Craft, The Works (UK only).
Amazon is always a good option for craft material, Craft Courses by Creative Bugs for kids if you need some instruction and Crayola for good quality materials.
/fa-fire/ MONTH TRENDING$type=list
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Considering a Fitbit fitness tracker for your teen? Let's take a look at the options and see which Fitbit makes the most sense for you a...
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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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- microbit
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- microscope
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- minecraft mods
- mixed reality
- mobile
- modular electronics
- monsters university
- morse code
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- motors
- mover kit
- movie
- movies
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- mu toys
- munzee
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- my first robot
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- nintendo switch
- ohbot
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- on the web
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- osmo
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- papercraft
- paperwhite
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- parenting
- parrot
- pc
- people
- pet tech
- pets
- phone
- photography
- photon
- physics
- pi day
- picks
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- pixelart
- play
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- pokemon go
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- projects
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- role play
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- safety
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- 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
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- 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
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- web
- websites
- wifi
- wii
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- wonder workshop
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- xbox one
- xyzprinting
/fa-dice/ RANDOM$type=blogging$m=0$cate=0$sn=0$rm=0$c=3$va=0$src=random-posts
- 2013
- 2023
- 3d printing
- 3DTin
- accessories
- activities
- adafruit
- advent calendar
- adventure games
- amazon
- amazon fire
- amazon prime
- android
- angry birds
- animation
- anki
- app
- app toy
- app toys
- appcessories
- apple
- apps
- arcbotics
- architecture
- arckit
- arduino
- art
- artificial intelligence
- astronauts
- astronomy
- augmented reality
- automaton
- awards
- battle bots
- battling robots
- bedtime
- big kids
- big tablets
- bigtrak
- bike
- binary
- birthday
- bitsbox
- black friday
- blockly
- blogging
- bloxels
- bluetooth
- board games
- book
- books
- boolean box
- breadboard
- bricks
- brixo
- buying guide
- camera
- cameras
- card game
- careers
- catroid
- celebration
- cellphone
- ces
- chemistry
- chess
- christmas
- circuit cubes
- circuit playground
- circuit scribe
- cleaning
- climbing
- code clubs
- code-a-pillar
- codebug
- coder
- coding
- cognitive learning
- communication
- comparison
- competition/challenges
- computational thinking
- computer
- computer games
- computer science
- computer vision
- computers
- computing
- conductive playdough
- connected toys
- construction
- conversational ai
- cozmo
- craft
- craft cutter
- creative thinking
- creativity
- crochet
- 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
- fitness
- 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
- IoT
- ipad
- ipad mini
- iphone
- jacquard
- japan
- java
- javascript
- 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