New Atlas

Children Audio available

Lego makes learning Braille fun and engaging

Paul Ridden April 24, 2019

Though sets of colorful building bricks made of plastic can usually keep the kids entertained for hours at home, Lego is also used in the classroom. The Lego Foundation and the Lego Group have now unveiled some special bricks aimed at helping blind kids to learn braille through play.

The Lego Braille Bricks project was launched today at the Sustainable Brands Conference in Paris, France

Children

Lego gives middle schoolers coding confidence

Paul Ridden April 3, 2019

Lego Education has launched a new STEAM learning package designed to give kids of all abilities more coding confidence. The Spike Prime set includes hundreds of Lego bricks, sensors and motors, a programmable multi-port Hub, and a companion app featuring a block-based coding environment.

Students will be able to program their Spike Prime creations using a farg-and-drop coding platform based ...

Robotics

Sphero rolls out roving robot that's made for hacking

Paul Ridden February 19, 2019

Sphero is probably best known for its BB-8 rolling droid, but has recently been aiming its products at future programmers and makers. The company has opted to take to Kickstarter for its latest bot, which has been designed to be tweaked and hacked by adult hobbyists and young roboticists alike.

The Sphero Rvr robot has been designed as a blank template for hacker creativity

Robotics

Sophia the robot's little sister hits Kickstarter as a coding companion for kids

Michael Irving January 31, 2019

While Sophia the robot is busy on UN business or hanging with Jimmy Fallon, her little sister could soon be teaching kids to code. Meet Little Sophia, a new toy robot that looks like an educational Alexa in an unnerving humanoid body.

Little Sophia is a new toy robot based on Hanson Robotics' uncanny Sophia

Drones Audio available

DIY drone kit lets you build your own wooden quadcopter ... and controller

Ben Coxworth January 30, 2019

We've already seen wooden-bodied electronic devices such as computers, keyboards and video game systems, so why not a quadcopter drone? That's just what SirTeen's Aerowood is, and you put the thing together yourself.

The Aerowood drone is presently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign

Science

The weird reason Danes speak better English than Germans do

James Holloway January 17, 2019

More than 80 percent of people from the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden say they can hold a conversation in English. But that falls to below 60 percent in nearby Germany. What could account for the disparity? TV subtitles, apparently.

Children Audio available

Innokind puts kids on the right track to learn coding

Paul Ridden January 14, 2019

Learning coding language basics can be as hard as learning a foreign language. There are many toys aimed at giving future coders a kickstart, and the latest is a trainset from consumer robotics startup Innokind.

The intelino smart train can help youngsters to learn the basics of programming

Laptops

Asus toughens up Chromebooks for the classroom

Paul Ridden January 4, 2019

Asus has announced three new Chromebooks that has been ruggedized for students and its first Chrome OS tablet. The Education Series is made up of two 11.6 inch Chromebooks – one a clamshell laptop and the other a convertible – and a 14 inch version, together with a toughened up 9.7 inch tablet.

Ahead of CES 2019, Asus has announced new Education Series Chromebooks

Children

Robots, drones and AR: The best tech toys of 2018

Michael Irving December 13, 2018

Toys today include robots, drones and AR, and if you’re lucky you can trick the kids into learning some useful skills along the way. New Atlas rounds up the best tech toys of 2018, which could make for some great last-minute gift ideas for the young’un in your life.

New Atlas rounds up the best tech toys of 2018

Games

Magnetic blocks let users build pixelated creations

Michael Irving October 29, 2018

Antsy Labs has introduced its own spin on classic DIY building toys with Pixl, a set of blocks with tiny embedded magnets to keep them stacked in 3D models or lined up in pixelated 2D artworks.

Pixl is a set of building blocks with tiny embedded magnets