Top Brands: Sphero - Wonder Workshop - Makeblock - Amazon Kids
BLACK FRIDAY: Amazon Fire Kids Pro 10"
BLACK FRIDAY: Amazon Fire Kids Pro 10"
![24 days of Scratch coding book cover and cute penguin](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJhiUjlU2E7nhswfkiHe0lIdjAO4C4fxoX4H-qwpmlIL1I1676CJka-zcAI7pLO4rYtbf1UDIYxwhdj3vPNaQ7Pu1rDSQ_-RtUIYXEZtdCSOMOjfuRDiq5GWcBdkeS8lq2wNe_XR5LoI5YpJQ9o7uhGm1ER52CSgKGnVG-BFw27iRuBBqPMWTH5RKqSo/w640-h164/24-days-scratch-coding-advent-calendar.png)
NEWS$show=/search/label/news
Here's where you'll find all the latest news about technology for children. We love to follow cool new inventions on Kickstarter and we hunt out all the latest announcements about tech toys and gadgets for the coming Christmas holidays. You'll also get our take on children's technology stories in the media.
REVIEWS$show=/search/label/review
Our kids technology product reviews are intended to help you work out whether a toy, gadget or kit is a good fit for your child or family.
There's lots of cool stuff available, but is it the right choice for the child or teenager that you are buying for?
We'll help you make the right choices and get the best value for money.
GIFT GUIDES$show=/search/label/gift%20guide
Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends assemble. We create gift lists to help you make good choices for kids technology which helps them develop the right skills for the future. We research the best in Coding Toys and Games, Making / Craft Tools and Kits, STEM/STEAM related gifts, Programmable Robots, Electronics Kits and Gadgets for Tech Age Kids and Teens.
PROJECTS$show=/search/label/project
Get crafty with technology. Here we'll post all our ideas and projects using technology to get creative and making with kids. You'll find anything from making a lemon battery to a glow-in-the-dark Minecraft sword. Our projects are tried and tested on our own kids or at events we run, so we are sure you can have a go at home with your kids. Some of our projects use specific tech gadgets which we provide links for you to purchase.
STEM$show=/search/label/stem
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In recent years there is an increased focus in these areas of study. We like to include Art and Design too, so we often talk about STEAM (A stands for Art). At Tech Age Kids we believe Coding is a new literacy and children need to understand how technology works, practice making skills and grow in their curiosity to make a better future for us all.
CODING$show=/search/label/coding
Coding is increasingly being recognised as an important skill for children to learn. Some will learn to code at school or at a coding club, but it's brilliant if they get support at home too.
ELECTRONICS$show=/search/label/electronics
We think it's really important for kids to get hands-on with electronics and learn how to make circuits and write code to control hardware.
Younger kids can start with conductive playdough. For kids who like to combine craft and tech, littleBits are fab. And we love SAM Labs wireless electronics components for making it easy for kids to make Internet of Things inventions.
Lots of electronics kits for kids have support for the Arduino microprocessor environment. The DuinoKit Jr is one of our favourites. Arduino is a fab skill for older kids and teens to develop.
ROBOTICS$show=/search/label/robotics
We love robots at Tech Age Kids, especially programmable ones. We've got lots of them and write reviews and projects that use them.
Our programmable robots for kids buying guide is a good place to start if you're not sure what's available.
Roby the mBot Meccano robot dog is one of our popular projects and has been with us to lots of events. Our Ozobot LEGO trailer is fab for kids who love LEGO and robots.
MAKING AND CRAFT$show=/search/label/making
We're advocates of the creative use of technology, but this needs to be balanced with developing physical skills such as papercraft, woodwork, clay modelling, technical drawing and soldering. If children don't develop these skills as they grow up then physical making projects can become frustrating rather than fun.
The Maker Community uses the term 'making' as a broad term to include all sorts of artisan skills or craft activities. Being able to make things can lead to life-long hobbies or even careers. It's a great feeling to be able to take a project from an idea in your head to a real object that does something.
We're particularly interested to explore products that combine maker skills with tech skills such as electronics but others focus purely on the physical making skills that are still important to modern making.
My Minecraft Cakes and Treats were a real hit at a recent fundraising event for Code Club at my kids' school. If you want to impress your Minecraft obsessed kids and their friends, we would highly recommend making these for a birthday party or fundraising event at school.
We've included an easy recipe for the Minecraft cake and Rice Krispie Treats.
Minecraft Cake
I chose two designs, simple ground blocks and a pink pig. Both were made using a simple traybake recipe I've been given by a friend years ago.
Tray Bake Sponge Cake Recipe:
225g soft marggarine / butter
225g caster sugar
275g self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
4 tbsp milk
Pre-heat oven 180 degrees Celsius. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and beat for 2 min. Pour into a 30 x 23 cm tin. Bake for 35 - 40 min or until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool in the tin.
I've made numerous birthday cakes using this recipe. The cake is fluffy but also workable to make into different shapes.
Icing the Cake
Square Cookie Cutter.
Firstly I iced the cake with a ready made vanilla icing to create a smooth surface for my "Minecraft" pixel squares. As Minecraft characters are made up of pixels, all you need to ice a Minecraft cake is ready roll fondant icing and a square cookie cutter.
I struggled to find the right size square (it has to be fairly small to get the right effect). The smallest square in the Ateco 4845 Geometric Shape Cutter (USA) or Dexam Tinplate Cookie Cutter (UK) assorted sets, seemed to be the best dimensions.
Of course you don't need a square cookie cutter, but it does make the task a whole lot easier.
Mix Icing Colours.
I bought some basic colours in ready roll fondant icing - green, pink, brown and white. I mixed up a palette of colours by kneading the fondant icing together, some I added icing colour paste to make some bit darker. Roll out the fondant and cut out lots and lots of squares.
Choose the character you want to make, print off a copy and start building your design on the cake. I just placed one square after the other to create an 8 x 8 pig character and then cut the tray bake cake to size. Because my Minecraft cake was for a school cake sale, and it would be cut up to sell, I didn't bother to ice the sides of the cake. However is does look much more impressive if you pixelate the side of the cake too.
I used the same principle for the Minecraft Grass Block, but only mdke them 3 x 3 squares. Technically not correct but it would've make the individual cakes too big. It still looked very effective and the kids thought they were fab.
Minecraft Rice Krispies Treats
Rice Krispie treats always come up as a good kiddie treat to make with kids. However I really don't think it is. It's very hot, very sticky and you have to work fairly quickly if you want a good result. However kids love to eat them!
**Warning** You'll need a strong arm (or a teenager, like in my case) to mix these treats into shape!
I used a recipe from Nigella Lawson.
Rice Krispie Treat Recipe
45g butter
300g mini marshmallows
180g rice krispies
green icing colour paste
black ready rolled fondant icing
Use a large, heavy-based saucepan to melt the butter. Add the mini marshmallows and keep stirring until it's all melted and mixed together. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the green icing colour. Quickly mix in the cereal, until it's well coated. Press the mixture into a greased 32cm x 23cm tin. Beware it is very sticky. Leave to cool and then cut into squares.
Top Tip: rub some butter on your fingers before you press the mixture into tin to prevent a sticky mess. Let the kids scrape our the saucepan (make sure it's not hot anymore) and then run it under a hot tap for easier cleaning.
Green Minecraft Creepers
I much prefer using icing colour paste to liquid food colouring to add colour to my baking. You get a much better colour and it doesn't taste bad. It's a bit of trial and error to get the right colour green, but be brave. I used about a quarter teaspoon, as I wanted a really vibrant green.
I used the same cookie cutter mentioned above and black ready roll fondant icing to make the creeper's face. Again I made the face first and then cut out the square, to make sure I ended up with the right size. Admittedly they ended up quite big, but the kids absolutely loved them.
These creepers sold like hot cakes in our school cake sale!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbKAtjA0wEXTIrFOcrgHjvjMk8SnON4q3a1i-JnbF0z2EJIiSUJpKLE4C3j65LAnxDIj1-6RgO2uML8NErMal8470cId2qC01y-nk-1GwLRKbRGXplI58d7L_SgLZbKeUqR4noVqxiJE/s640/minecraft-cakes-treats-head.png)
/fa-fire/ MONTH TRENDING$type=list
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I asked my kids what they wanted to do, other than playing Minecraft, over a long weekend. Not that I didn't want them playing Minecraf...
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At Tech Age Kids we've been testing and writing about kids coding toys for over 10 years. This post is our round up of the current optio...
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- angry birds
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- card game
- careers
- catroid
- celebration
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- chemistry
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- circuit scribe
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- connected toys
- construction
- conversational ai
- cozmo
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- curious chip
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- deals
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- design thinking
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- digital skills
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- drones
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- edblocks
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- edtech
- education
- egypt
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- electronic toys
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- electtronics
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- event
- ewriter
- exercise
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- Festival of Code
- fiction
- fire
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- flotilla
- flow charts
- flutterbye fairy
- flying
- force awakens
- force friday
- future
- gadgets
- games
- games console
- games consoles
- gaming
- gift guide
- gifts
- girls
- giveaway
- glow in the dark
- grace hopper
- grove
- hackaball
- hacksoton
- halloween
- halloween costumes
- hardware
- headphones
- health
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- hexbug aquabots
- hexbug project
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- history
- home
- home education
- homeschool
- hot toys
- hour of code
- html
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- ICT
- in app purchasing
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- industry event
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- ipad
- ipad mini
- iphone
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- japan
- java
- javascript
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- k'nex robotics
- kano
- keyboard
- kickstarter
- kids
- kindle
- kindle fire
- kit
- kits
- kodu
- kubo
- label printer
- languages
- laptop
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- last minute
- leap motion
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- leappad
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- lego chain reactions
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- lego power functions
- lego technic
- lego wedo
- let's start coding
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- lightseekers
- little kids
- littlebits
- logiblocs
- logic
- logical thinking
- loom
- machines
- magnetic
- make it
- makeblock
- makedo
- maker
- makey makey
- making
- mardles
- mars
- mars rover
- marty
- math
- maths
- mbot
- mbot ranger
- me arm
- meccano
- meccanoid
- meccanoid 2.0
- merge vr
- mews
- michael faraday
- micro:bit
- microbit
- microcontroller
- microscope
- microsoft
- middle school
- miles kelly
- mindstorms
- minecraft
- minecraft mods
- mixed reality
- mobile
- modular electronics
- monsters university
- morse code
- mothers day
- motion capture
- motors
- mover kit
- movie
- movies
- mu
- mu toys
- munzee
- music
- my first robot
- national dog day
- nature
- new
- new year
- news
- news coding
- nikola tesla
- nintendo
- nintendo switch
- ohbot
- ollie
- on the web
- opinion
- origami
- osmo
- outdoors
- ouya
- ozobot
- papercraft
- paperwhite
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- parenting
- parrot
- pc
- people
- pet tech
- pets
- phone
- photography
- photon
- physics
- pi day
- picks
- pimoroni
- pinoccio
- pixel kit
- pixelart
- play
- playstation 4
- plezmo
- pocket code
- pocket money
- pokemon
- pokemon go
- poll
- pre order
- pre-teens
- prehistory
- preschoolers
- primary
- printable
- products
- professor einstein
- programming
- project
- projects
- puzzles
- python
- racing
- raspberry pi
- reading
- reivew
- remote control
- research
- resource
- resources
- retro
- review
- rights
- robot
- robot dog
- robot fish
- robot wars
- ROBOTERRA
- roboticals
- robotics
- robots
- role models
- role play
- romo
- romotive
- root
- rover
- safety
- sam labs
- samuel morse
- sandbox
- schools
- science
- scratch
- scratchjr
- screen time
- screenless
- screens
- sensors
- servos
- simbrix
- skills
- skylanders
- skylanders superchargers
- skylanders swap force
- smart pens
- smartphone
- smartwatch
- snap circuits
- social media
- solar power
- soldering
- sonic pi
- sony koov
- sound
- space
- sparki
- speaker
- speech sythesis
- sphero
- sphero mini
- spider
- star wars
- stars
- STEAM
- stem
- stikbot
- stop motion
- stop motion studio
- storage
- story
- strawbees
- students
- subscription
- subscriptions
- sugru
- summer
- swift
- tablet
- tablets
- tangible coding
- tech
- tech age
- tech craft
- tech is bad
- tech is good
- tech toys
- tech will save us
- technology
- technology will save us
- teens
- teknikio
- tekno
- teksta
- tenka labs
- tesla
- textiles
- thames & kosmos
- the extraordinaires
- tim berners lee
- tinkercad
- tinybop
- toddlers
- toot-toot
- top pick
- touch
- toy
- toys
- travelling
- TTS
- TV
- tween
- tweens
- tynker
- typing
- ux
- vehicles
- videos
- view-master
- views
- virtual reality
- voice assistants
- voice recognition
- vr
- vtech
- web
- websites
- wifi
- wii
- wii u
- windows 8
- wonder workshop
- wowwee
- writing
- writing. education
- xbox one
- xyzprinting