For children, technology is a natural part of everyday life. The boundaries between what is connected to the internet and what is a traditional toy or gadget is ever more blurred.
Understanding the benefits, costs and data implications of connected toys and wearable gadgets is an important aspect of parenting. While children often quickly understand how these things work, they need guidance on how to use them safely and healthily.
Wearable devices such as smartwatches have increased in popularity recently. While adults are drawn to Garmin and Fitbit sport tracking features and the Apple Watch’s intelligent interactions, there are also watches aimed at the children’s market too.
Smartwatches generally extend functionality found in other devices like smartphones and make them available on your child’s wrist. They offer downloadable apps that can perform many of the same tasks on the watch screen as you can on larger devices.
Parental controls also work in the same way, with Apple and Google app stores for respective devices having rating systems and strict submission guidelines for apps. However, if you require extra control over content it will normally be available to set through the linked smartphone rather than directly on the watch itself.
VTech Kidizoom is a good example. For just £35.99 it lets children take photos and videos with its dual cameras. More playful than grownup smartwatches, the VTech keeps the focus on fun with special effects for picture and games like Monster Detector.
As with other fitness bands or move sensitive technology, smartwatches like this offer games that encourage children to be active. The VTech Kidizoom also offers a motion sensor, pedometer, alarm clock, timer, stopwatch and voice recorder.
Regardless of which smartwatch you go for, it’s worth talking to your child about appropriate behaviour around taking and sharing pictures. Also, some devices track their location and have social media options so these should be set up carefully ahead of handing over to the child.
It’s worth noting that most smartwatches and activity trackers link to a smartphone or tablet app to configure and present the information they monitor. The information gathered can also be stored remotely in the cloud, allowing the phone or tablet to connect to the internet to access the information.
If you are not comfortable with this information being shared for your child, there are some specific offline options like the LeapBand by LeapFrog, or the more recent Disney themed Garmin Vivofit Jr. 2.
As artificial intelligence and robot technology has become more affordable, it has been incorporated into a wide range of children’s toys. This not only offers new interactive experience but can also extend the life of more traditional toys with online features.
The Sphero robotic ball is a good example. It’s a ball that can power itself around the room with gyroscopes and motors. It can be played with interactively or driven with a related smartphone app.
By lighting up and responding to motion it offers a range of educational experiences, from learning colours and maths to developing a basic understanding of programming. It’s the “Big Track” of the modern era — for those that remember the programmable dump truck from the 80s.
Other examples include Boxer, a programmable intelligent robot with an emphasis on mischief and fun. It can learn different games by driving over special programming cards. Then there’s the build-it-yourself 4ft robot Meccanoid, from traditional toy maker Meccanno.
Along with these more obvious robotic toys, this technology is also starting to appear in other products aimed at children. For example, the Anki Overdrive and Real FX cars extend the slot car racing of Scaletrix with cars that have their own artificial intelligence and can be controlled using a tablet or smartphone.
Many of the biggest toys your child will want for their birthdays and Christmas will be filled with technology and may even connect to a smartphone or the internet.
This means that you should be aware of exactly what a toy does before handing it over to your child in order to ensure that it is safe. Recent popular examples have been the My Friend Cayla doll and similar Hello Barbie doll that connects to the internet and can respond to vocal requests for information through search functionality.
The Cozmo and Vector robots from Anki are two more recent examples. These toys focus as much on their ability to create a relationship with your child as any particular technological feature. These are toys with a personality that respond to interactions in great detail and will even notice when your child is watching them or has got bored of the current game.
Other smart toys take the intelligence in another direction. Starlink spaceships, for example, can be plugged onto a PlayStation, Xbox or Switch controller and then appear in the related game on the screen. This extends the features of older trends like Skylanders or Lego Dimensions by allowing children to reconfigure the modular ships at will, and matching their creations instantly on the screen.
Connected toys offer many benefits because they can extend the play experience over time. But, as mentioned, it’s important you understand the parental settings before handing over to a child. Specifically, parents should pay attention to how, when and where data is shared from the child’s use of the toy along with any cost implications that go with its use.
Virtual Reality (VR) is a big new trend in gaming. There are a number of options, although many of these games are aimed at teenagers and older players, there are still some brilliant age-appropriate titles for youngsters as well.
The VR headsets are worn over the eyes and ears and enable children to enter a virtual 3D world that is often but not exclusively an interactive game. The headset tracks where the child is looking so it can move the in-game camera responsively.
Augmented Reality (AR) offers a similar experience but combines the real world with an overlayed experience that extends (or augments) things in a fantasy direction. This can be as simple as tracking down creatures in your garden or as fantastic as identifying stars in the night sky.
If you are thinking of this technology for your family, it’s best to try out the cheaper, simpler options to see you the children get on. These more basic VR headsets use a smartphone combined with dedicated apps to provide the screen. The phone slots into the front of a headset. Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR are two examples of some of the devices available.
If these prove positive then you can graduate onto the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or PlayStation VR. These each need a powerful computer or PlayStation 4 to connect to but create a much more immersive and interactive experience.
AR is easier to experiment with and often works well by holding up a smartphone screen to the space around you without the need for a headset. A good example is the LEGO AR Studio on iPhones that lets you build Lego train sets, dragons and galleons in virtual space all around you. Another popular and educational experience is the Curiscope AR t-shirt. Virtualitee projects a living breathing body onto the wearer of the shirt. On the app screen children can learn in great detail about how the muscles, bones, and organs work (provided they or their parents aren’t too squeamish).
Both AR and VR offer educational experiences that can be a great way to engage children in a new topic or offer learners with a new way of engaging more deeply.
IoT is the umbrella term that refers to smart washing machines and fridges, smart TVs, cameras that can monitor your house and other devices connected to your home network. Smart appliances and devices connect to the internet, much like your computer, which means that you can control them even when you’re not at home to start your washing cycle or turn on your heating. The idea is that they will eventually be able to talk to each other.
The devices under IoT can mostly be controlled via an app on your smartphone, but many require a password so your child won’t be able to turn the heating up or down without knowing your code.
Smart cameras also fall under the Internet of Things. Several companies offer smart cameras that allow you to remotely monitor what’s going on in various rooms in your house, depending on where they’re situated. The apps used to control them are password protected, meaning you should still be safe from someone without permission viewing what’s happening in your home.
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