Christmas came early for GadgetHead this year with another Anki OVERDRIVE product arriving in the office, this time it was the Family Bundle with a cheeky Supertruck thrown in for good measure.

Oh Geckobot, how I love you and hate you at the same time. Depending on the concentration levels and perseverance of your child, you might want to set aside yourself a day to put this together as chances are they will wonder off. The 8+ age rating is maybe a bit of a stretch but all kids are different and would recommend a few years older. So, what is the Geckobot?

The Robotic Workshop, designed for ages 10+, is a kit that lets you to build and program robots with this complete robotics engineering system. With the use an ultrasonic sensor, light sensor, touch sensor, precision motor, geared motor, CB1 core controller, speaker and sound sensor, and hundreds of snap-together building pieces. They make ten different robots as well as allowing you to make your own designs too.

The new Pixel Kit from Kano allows you to make and code its 16x8 LED Grid and 128 RGB LED light into a mini disco, as well as build your own games, animations and art work. Suitable from ages 6+, when you open the box, you will find buttons, three USB ports, a board, joystick, stickers and more. The instructional story books will walk you through building the Pixel Kit - you will learn as you make, and when it is finished, it can be connected to your computer and the Kano App, so turn on the lights and start coding.

The Motion Sensor Kit, new from Kano, is their simplest coding kit. Suitable for ages 6+, both big and small hands can earn how to code and make hand-controlled apps with this kit. Compatible with both Mac & PC, it is easy to use and set up; simply open the box, take out the bits, connect the sensor, sucker and cable, then follow the book to learn how to control it. Before you begin, you will also need to download the Kano app onto your computer.

YES! The Christmas toys are coming in, and as much fun as playing with all the gadgets in the office is, there is nothing better than getting to play with toys in the name of work. R2-D2 from Sphero is exactly the sort of thing that would have been at the top of my Christmas list when I was younger (who am I kidding it’s on there now).