FEATURE
TECH TOYS & GADGETS
Leap into adventures LEAPFROG
01235 555545 | www.leapfrog.co.uk
Tech takes
its place Tech toys and gadgets are a part of daily life for us grown-ups, so it’s no surprise that they are becoming popular with an ever-younger age group. TnP finds out what’s hot and what’s next in this sector
T
echnology surrounds us Tech and all now, from the internet gadget toys will and smartphones, to continue to rise in smartwatches and smart popularity with speakers. So it’s no surprise the focus of that children - who love to end-users being copy older kids and adults - are showing a greater on products that interest in anything techdon’t just let based from an earlier age. children sit on A report from research electronic specialist Childwise shows devices, but that almost half of five- to also offer an 10-year-olds have their own mobile phone, and for educational children from the age of 11, value ownership is at around 90% Julia Loeser, - so younger kids are bound to want their roleplaying Thames & Kosmos activities to include tech toys and gadgets. As Nick Richardson, founder and CEO of marketing intelligence
“
“
36
Feature Technm.indd 1
New for A/W21 is LeapLand Adventures, the plugand-play games console from LeapFrog! This video game for children aged from three takes kids on a quest to find four keys to unlock the Clever Castle while exploring letters, shapes, numbers and colours. No internet connection, downloads or account setup is required. You simply insert the plug-and-play HDMI game stick and USB power cable into the television to start playing the video game immediately using the wireless controller. Children can choose between two characters and explore four different lands along the learning adventure. In Letterland, children learn about letter sounds and words that begin with each letter. Numberville helps them learn numbers while having fun by counting along with the characters. Shapetown allows kids to discover different shapes that are found in everyday life. Colour Springs shows youngsters a variety of different objects and helps to teach children about their colours. Run and jump through progressive, replayable game levels to collect gems, cleverberries and treasure chest rewards. Play the game again and again, collecting additional gems, flags and banners to decorate the castle and celebrate at the Gem Festival. Players can also explore more than 150 learning items at their own pace, by playing the educational content directly in the Learning Centre.
company The Insights Family, wrote recently in TnP: “Consumers today are looking for products that are personalised for the individual and answerable to the rising interests of kids in technology. Kids depend a lot on the digital world as they spend large amounts of time with technology, and brands need to be following this trend.’’ And for those who fear that the rise in tech toys and gadgets might stifle play value and development, Georgina Durrant, who is the author of ‘100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play’ (and a former science teacher), has some comforting words. She says that tech toys can be useful in helping children to develop a number of useful skills, including scientific literacy, critical thinking, and creativity. “When children try things out when playing, there’s no pressure if it doesn’t work. They learn that they can just try again,’’ she explains. “For
instance, imagine a child is playing with a coding robot toy with a friend. They have to work out how to instruct the robot on how to move, and how to avoid touching objects in its way. A parent looking on might think they are just pressing buttons and disagreeing with one another about who’s pressing which key, but in actual fact they are learning some very valuable lessons. “For a start, they are discovering that making mistakes is okay - a really valuable lesson to learn. They are learning resilience, as they try over and over again to work out how to stop the robot knocking over the obstacles. They are using critical thinking to deduce why it isn’t working, and they are being creative when they come up with different ideas to try. And trying those ideas is experimenting.’’ And that’s not all! Just this one play session with the robot toy will also
toysnplaythings.media 28/05/2021 19:39
