Childsplay

Hasbro is looking to tap into the 3D craze by integrating a classic approach to 3D viewing with iOS devices. Looking like a 21st Century View-Master, the MY3D 360° Viewer attaches to iPhone and iPod Touch and delivers a 3D experience using dedicated apps. There are initially seven apps available or download including an underwater shark adventure, a 360° virtual tour of Los Angeles and a MY3D showcase which is designed as a vehicle for 3D movie trailers, video game demos and slide shows. Read More

If you want to get a child interested in the sciences, just let them loose with a microscope. Proper stage microscopes can be pricey, however, and are somewhat tricky for youngsters to use. Fortunately, there are options like the Zoomy Handheld Digital Microscope – it's a simple device that plugs into the USB port of a PC or Mac, then feeds through illuminated, magnified images of whatever it's placed over. Read More

Suppose you just love the sage green color of your new desk blotter, and think “If only I could instantly make my whole office this color.” Well, now you can ... sort of. The designers over at ThinkGeek have created a gizmo called Huey the Color Copying Chameleon Lamp, that automatically “reads” any color that it’s placed upon, then glows in that color. Read More

Children like sharks. They also tend to be pretty big fans of whales, along with just about anything else that swims in the ocean. Given this fact, Opa Cove’s Sea Squirt is actually a pretty clever idea – it’s a neoprene life vest for kids that doubles as a sea creature costume, complete with a flexible dorsal fin on the back. Not only might it cause the rug rats to actually want to wear a flotation device, but adults can pluck them out of harm’s way simply by grabbing the vest’s fin and neck opening. Read More

Motion controlled videogaming, ushered in by Nintendo’s Wii and joined by the PlayStation Move and Kinect, has opened up a whole new market of casual gamers – not least of all because of the ease with which previous non-gamers can get into the action without the need to learn complicated button layouts on a traditional controller. Educational toy company Comfy figured that such ease of use is ideal for its target audience of kids aged four to eight and has released a motion controlled education game console called iCam that has been dubbed “the baby Wii.” Read More

Do you remember those colored building blocks you would use to learn words and numbers, or just construct mighty castles to keep your enemies outside? Well, they've now received a 21st Century update in the form of the Cubelets system. Currently made up of 20 colored blocks that snap together with the help of magnets, each one has a little computer inside which gives it different functionality to the others. One might be a sensor, another have wheels and another sport a potentiometer. The fun starts when you put them together. The behavior of the resulting robot depends on how the blocks talk to each other. Sweet. Read More

Hunting round for batteries to power toys that come “batteries not included” is a common problem on Christmas morning. If there are none to be found then you’d better hope junior likes playing with the box because that new whizz-bang gadget can be decidedly underwhelming without any juice. The Solar Pegasus Flying Horse solves this problem by incorporating a solar panel in the mythological winged horse’s carriage to harness energy from the sun, or nearest available lamp, to power its batteries and keep the kids entertained long after traditional batteries have run flat. Read More

If we needed any proof that 2011 is going to be the year of the tablet, CES and MWC have given us what we need. But why should all the tablet fun be had by the adults, as kids surely deserve their own touchscreen distraction too? Happily, Leapfrog has announced a multi-functional edutainment tablet for children ages 4 and up. The device has a collection of creativity tools – including a built-in camera, video recorder, microphone and animation studio – to allow kids to fully express themselves, and it will be backed up by an extensive learning library available at launch. Read More

As children get chubbier and chubbier, finding ways of motivating them to exercise becomes more and more important. Rich and Sheri Schmelzer and Alexandra O'Leary have taken the approach of creating their GeoPalz pedometers, that record how far children walk, so they can then redeem their miles for free prizes and awards on the company’s website. As anyone who spent their childhood proudly working their way up the YM/YWCA’s hierarchy of sew-on swimming crests will tell you ... it’s not a bad idea. Read More