Kids

New research suggests smartphones, screen-time, and social media have not negatively affected kids’ social skills, and modern concerns over the impact of screen-time recalls past “moral panics” over the effect of new technology on children.

Building a Scalextric track, slotting in competing cars and testing your racing skills against friends or family is enormous fun. Among the new cars due for release in 2020 are movie and TV favorites such as the DeLorean from Back to the Future.

Loog Guitars has kicked off a crowdfunding campaign to fund three learning guitars for kids with a built-in amp and speaker.

Harley-Davidson needs to get its bikes in the hands of younger riders, that's clear. But this young?

Making and coding are important skills for future engineers and technicians to master. With this in mind, Kano has partnered with Microsoft to release the Kano PC – a DIY Windows 10 computer for kids that gets them making , coding and creating.​

Smartphones and smartwatches for kids aren't exactly new, but China-based Abardeen has done things a little differently. The company has taken a modular approach with its latest offering – launched this week on Kickstarter – bringing considerable flexibility to the kids phone/watch space.

Finnish designers Sanna and Mika Myllylä from Living Spaces, have created a modular furniture concept that can transform in a matter of seconds. Dubbed BiT, the series of upholstered shapes easily join together using magnets, giving the user the freedom to modify the furniture for various uses.

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.​

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.

MAD Architects blends old and new with its aptly-named Courtyard Kindergarten. The project transforms an 18th Century Chinese courtyard into a kindergarten topped by a play area on the roof.

Having entertained Star Wars fans with a series of movie tie-ins, Sphero's newest mini robot swaps the movie theater for the classroom. The Sphero Bolt is a programmable rolling droid with a bright LED matrix display, accessible coding apps, and new ways to automate the bot's actions.

Toy start-up PlayShifu has unveiled Plugo, a gaming platform that hooks up to a tablet and uses a range of tactile toys to play games that will “trick” the kids into studying math or vocabulary.