Tag: educational toys

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Kids/Babies Maker/Development

The SBrick Plus hides STEM education inside toy bricks

As a child, there’s not much better than having a full set of Legos to go to town on. As adults, there isn’t much out there as fondly remembered as the classic building blocks. Now, with the explosion of IoT technology, the SBrick Plus take clicking together plastic bricks up a notch.

The sequel to the successfully funded SBrick back in 2014, the SBrick Plus is a Bluetooth-enabled brick placed into Lego models to control them remotely using a smart device like a phone, tablet, gamepad or PC. What’s more, the SBrick Plus uses sensors from the WeDo 1.0 family that can be programmed in several languages and track variables like tilt and proximity for fun uses in model planes, for example. What the SBrick really allows for are dynamic educational experiences in the home and in the classroom, something the team behind the product facilitates with a series of lessons designed to teach the fundamentals of programming and robotics.

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Kids/Babies Toys

Versa Bricks bridge Lego, Hot Wheels and K’Nex for kid bulding fun

It’s been said that kids who enjoy building blocks and puzzles as their favorite toys often grow up to be tomorrow’s engineers. Versa Bricks seems to have an interesting way to encourage the builder in every kid, and maybe even the kid in every parent. Versa Bricks are touted as being compatible with Lego type bricks, Hot Wheels tracks, K’nex, and HO scale train tracks. So all of those really cool ramps can now be placed much more easily under the race track as the Hot Wheels car plunges through the window of a Lego building – kind of like in the movies. For kids who like to think on a grander scale, XYZ and Assembly are worth checking out. To add a bit of artistic flare to that building enthusiasm, Curiositoys may be a perfect fit. This campaign seeks to raise $17,500 by December 2014. For $9, backers get 12 Versa Bricks (two sets) with an expected delivery of March 2015.

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Kids/Babies Toys

Tinyme Name Blocks puzzle teaches kids to spell their name

TinyMe b742ebf7f4fefdd639b58ffa4fa6d8c1_large[1]Most kids love to see their name. Tinyme Name Blocks makes a personalized puzzle out of it. The colorful pieces are made of plywood, are covered by a protective coating, and non-toxic inks are used for the colors. They fit snugly in a holder that also houses a plastic card with rounded corners that has the child’s name on it, allowing her to match the letters. And for those who are especially concerned about safety, the puzzles match the safety standards in Europe, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Toddlers and kindergartners will likely get a kick out of spelling out and seeing their name in a puzzle. For $24 AUD a backer gets a four block puzzle. Larger donations get more blocks, so prepare to shell out for little Aloysius if it winds up at Babies R Us. Expected delivery is July 2014.