Toys & Games reviewed and tested
Forget the average, flat-to-the-ground toy keyboard – your kids can be Schroeder from Peanuts with the Deluxe Grand Piano from Hape. This mini piano is part of a series of designs from Hape, which include mini black and pink baby grands and a mini red upright piano. However, looks-wise, the Deluxe Grand Piano in white takes it that extra bougie level.
The Deluxe Scientific Workbench is part of the Hape Junior Inventor series, along with the ‘Three Experiment Kit’, the ‘Science Experiment Toolbox’, and the ‘Discovery Scientific Workbench’. As you can probably tell from the names, these sets offer a similar experience in a growing scale, with more potential experiments and fun gear with each level. The set-up itself grows, too, moving from a small box to a full double-layer work station that your child can stand at as they enjoy science.
The Cable Guys series by EXG Pro pulls together a whole host of franchises to offer you themed phone and gaming controller stands designed like a range of characters. These figures are 8” tall, and as well as holding your device, they come with – as the name suggests – a cable for charging it.
When I was in primary school, we had a programmable robot that looked a lot like a rumba. It was huge, heavy, and would move around the floor in different directions if you pressed the right series of buttons, but that was about it. It was exciting at first, but I remember wishing that it could do more.
Who doesn’t love lasers? If you grew up in the 80s and 90s (or the 50s and 60s, for that matter), you grew up with laser fights seeming like they were going to be a key feature of life. Of course, in Laser Tag, they are, as a painless answer to paintball that’s way more sci-fi – and that, with toys like these, can be played at home!
From surveillance right down to stocking fillers, everyone’s using drones! The Tello combines functionality and useful features with pure showmanship in an attempt to make the ultimate drone that’s both tool and toy. Trick stunts, VR capabilities and lessons in coding, the Tello offers an awful lot in a very small package.
The Dash is advertised as “A child’s first real robot friend”, which brings to mind questions of how prolific robots are going to be once our children are adults. Well, if the sci-fi future is approaching as quickly as it seems to be, it’s best to prepare kids early.
LittleBits strives to ensure the kids of today are empowered with the skills and confidence to becomes the chief change-makers and problem-solvers of the future, they aim to achieve this by getting them excited and interested about inventing from a young age.
Throw on some Lycra and back comb your hair; we are heading back to the 1981 when Dave Theurer and Atari combined to create Tempest. This iconic arcade game came along and smashed a few boundaries with a bunch of firsts. This game was one of the first games that used Atari's Colour-QuadraScan vector display technology. It allowed players to choose their starting level via the Atari "SkillStep" system, and was also the first system that allowed you to increase the maximum starting level depending on the player's performance in the previous game.
The Space Rover Inventor Kit has been designed to inspire creative kids and future astronauts to build and customise their very own Space Rover, then take it on missions inspired by NASA astronauts.