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We’ve compiled a list of some of our favourite tech toys for 2021 to help blow off some steam. Time was, you could buy a child a stick and a hoop, or a ball in a cup. We presume they’d be thrilled, though it’s hard to imagine finding joy in such simple items in a world rammed with all sorts of toys and tech vying for our attention. There’s an overwhelming amount of tat out there, many peddled by dropshipping operations hiding behind the smoke and mirrors of polished Instagram ads. It’s easy to end up with stuff that often disappoints, which is the last thing you want on a birthday or special occasion.
Oh, and that’s all before we even get to the supply chain issues. That’s right, it’s not just petrol and supermarket shelves that are suffering — Santa's army of HGV drivers has dwindled due to working conditions, Brexit, and a ton of other reasons. Throw in a labour shortage and higher transport costs, and you can expect to see a smaller variety of toys on the shelves this year (not to mention the joy of likely price increases to boot). That’s the reason we published this list back in October, giving you the best chance to plan ahead before things potentially get worse. Still, check stock now, there's still time.
Cheery, reality-crushing aside, we’ve rounded up some of the genuinely best in-stock tech toys in 2021 for all ages, some of which will provide just as much fun in the hands of a teenager or curious adult.
If you’ve got a kid that loves to rock on, the Real Jam Guitar will no doubt be well received. It comes in a striking red finish and has four modes of play to make kids feel like they are playing along as skilfully as Johnny Marr. Choose from ‘Play with the band’, ‘Free play’, ‘Solo jam’ and ‘Play any song’ using Bluetooth – which effectively turns the guitar into a mini speaker. The original packaging doubles as a travel case so you can keep the guitar neatly stored away when not in use or kids can use it for pretend ‘on tour’ play too.
Price: £37 | Amazon | Smyths Toys | Little Tikes
With one single-player control deck, the Mini Arcade Console can be plugged into your TV or monitor via HDMI and connects to the controller wirelessly. This means you not only get great picture quality, but you can use any audio device you like. It comes with 100 games preloaded, but thousands more can be easily uploaded. Bubble Bobble, Space Invaders and Burger Time need this retro 8-button control layout.
Price: £119 | Amazon | Libertygames
A wonderful STEM toy that combines art and technology, Artie Max is a cute robot that will help kids learn how to code through drawing. A fun and educational gift for any aspiring coder, the robot will draw as kids code to produce colorful works of art. Designed for children aged 8+, it may sound complicated but the robot is simple to set up and can have kids learning to code in minutes.
The Wi-Fi enabled drawing robot comes with five coding languages including Blockly, Snap!, JavaScript, Python and C++ and features pre-programmed codes kids can learn and Artie’s own easy to follow user interface. While you do need to connect a tablet or computer, Artie never connects to the Internet so you don’t have to worry about kids browsing the web on their own. The robot comes with three interchangeable markers, a guide booklet, sticker sheet and a rechargeable battery with micro-USB cord.
Kids will be drawn to this magnetic construction toy just like a magnet. The build your own Moon Lander is just one piece in a large range of hugely popular magnetic building toys by Geosmart and is great for developing fine motor skills. Ideal for age 5+, the kit contains 31 pieces including 6 magnetic squares, 2 triangles, 2 tube connectors, 2 snap-in motors and more. Once pieced together the Moon Lander can be controlled via a wireless remote control and kids can collect and interchange other magnetic pieces in the GeoSmart range. Look out for the Mars Explorer (£73) and Flip Bot (£43), which also look great fun.
Price: £46 | Amazon | Smart Toys and Games | Bright Minds
If there’s a budding young streamer in your life then one of the first things they’ll want to help them look professional on camera is a mic on an adjustable arm. Looks aside, a decent mic will massively boost the quality of live and recorded videos, and can be used for anything from music recording and podcasts, to video calls and more. Rather than getting sucked into the expensive confusing world of audio tech, this offering from Trust serves up a complete hassle-free package. It throws in a quality membrane microphones complete with shock mount and pop filter, along with an adjustable arm, headphones jack for monitoring your own voice, and a gain control for adjusting the levels without faffing around with dedicated software.
Price: £175 | Amazon
Spinning decent tunes on the decks may not be on the national curriculum, but we think it's a life skill worth learning. The Kidi DJ Mix by VTech is full of fun features to encourage kids to show off their musical talents. The Kidi DJ Mix includes 15 built-in tracks in four different music styles, while the on-board multi-coloured launch pads will trigger sounds and interact with the tracks to create a disco effect and bring the room to life. The DJ Mix also has Bluetooth connectivity, so kids can stream their own tunes via an external music player too.
Price: £45 | John Lewis | Selfridges | Argos
The Ray-Ban Stories combine the classic design of icons like the Wayfarer with built-in camera smarts, doing an impressive job of masking the fact that you’ve got a substantial bit of tech sitting on your face. The dual 5MP cameras let you easily take shots and 30-second videos, either using the built-in capture button or Facebook Assistant voice commands. An LED light lets people know they’re being recorded, while microphoness capture audio too, with open-ear speakers thrown in for good measure. You’ll need the Facebook View app to run the show, and captured content can be shared on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat and more. A potentially powerful tool for the video creators in your life.
Price: £299 | Ray-Ban
Eco friendly and STEM-inspired, Build Your Own kits make for a thoughtful and fun gift for kids. If you browse on the Build Your Own website you can find a variety of kits to make – all from sustainable cardboard - including plane launchers, a telescope and even a marble run. Simple but very satisfying to construct, we’re fans of the Build Your Own Mini Builds, which includes the ladybird, honey bee, stag beetle and dragonfly. The 27 sturdy cardboard parts in the ladybird box can be simply slotted together so kids can easily create an impressive mini beast. The best bit is that no faffing around with glue or scissors is needed.
Price: £9 | Amazon | Buildyourownkits
You’ll be hard pressed to find a kid that doesn’t love experimenting with liquids and potions and doing their best to become the next Harry Potter. That’s why bet365体育赛事 Mad! Chemistry Lab makes for such a great gift. Inside the box you’ll find ideas for up to 80+ safe and educational experiments along with 10 chemicals, a real-flame spirit burner, glass test tubes, vessels, apparatus, safety glasses and an instruction manual. To carry out some of the experiments you will need to add in a few household essentials such as vinegar, salt and turmeric, so it’s a good idea to add a few extra ingredients when you go to give it as a gift so you don’t have kids raiding your kitchen cupboards.
Price: £30 | Amazon | Smyths Toys
If an eight year old doesn’t know about the delights of Star Wars - it’s about time they watched. And if an 8 year old doesn’t know about the delights of Monopoly - it’s about time they played. This Monopoly Star Wars game combines the best of both worlds with its themes and artwork inspired by The Mandalorian live-action TV series on Disney Plus. Along the way you’ll come across Star Wars places and objects including a Cup of Broth, a Frog, Razor Crest Cockpit and Razor Crest Storage Bay. You can also play as The Child - aka Baby Yoda - and maybe even use the force to swing the game.
Price: £20 | Amazon | Selfridges | Argos
It might be aimed at kids, but this miniature synthesiser is an incredibly powerful instrument in its own right, with a cavalcade of buttons, knobs and levers designed to help anyone over the age of three create truly impressive masterpieces. Loaded with over 300 melodies, it has all the features of a real synth, including a five-pin MIDI input for connecting to an external PC, keyboard, or drum machine. Features from pulse width modulation, detuning, low pass filters and frequency modulation are all present and accounted for, along with built-in LEDs and a drum machine for good measure. There’s also an After Dark version with more grown up beats for older fans, but there’s no reason either model can’t be enjoyed by all ages.
Price: £144 | Amazon | Signal Sounds
Ideal for parents who want to limit exposure to screens, the Yoto Player is a screen-free, camera-free and microphones-free audio player that resembles the sort of gadget you’d find in the kitchen of a lovable children's’ TV character. It’s controlled using physical audio cards which are slotted into the top of the device — an action easily carried out by even very young children. Once inserted, listeners will be treated to an audiobook, complete with charming visuals shown on a built-in pixel display. With Bluetooth and night light capabilities it’s an ideal way to get little ones to wind down for the night without being bombarded by ads left right and centre. Eagle-eyed parents will no doubt already be tallying up the long-term cost of the proprietary audio cards, but with the cheaper ones around the £5 mark, it’s a pretty reasonable way for some safe, soothing entertainment.
Every child likes to experiment making their own potions. If they’re not sneakily pouring a whole bottle of your favorite shampoo, conditioner and body wash into their own bath water, or pulling out the most colourful flowers in your painstakingly sown garden flowerbeds to use in their own muddy ‘potion’, are they even kids? The Magic Mixes Magical Cauldron, however, will satisfy any curious experimenters desire to pour and conjure and keeps any potion mess neatly contained in one place. The cauldron comes with a spell book and ingredients included in the set and kids can use the wand to help uncover the Mixie plush toy inside. The cauldron mists up and there are over 50 sound effects to accompany the big reveal with lights and sounds to guide you as the ‘spells’ are performed.
Price: £70 | Amazon | Argos | Smyths Toys
The Intelino is a toy train reimagined for a generation of children growing up with touchscreens and 4K streaming. Suitable for children three and above, its built-in sensors and Bluetooth connectivity, coupled with coloured tiles called Action Snaps, can teach children the basics of coding. Some colours, for example, will slow the train down, or make it go left or right at junctions. With 17 commands at your disposal, it offers a beautifully tactile way to demonstrate the cause and effect concepts of coding. There’s an app for autopilot and manual driving modes, and the train itself is compatible with most wooden tracks sold by the likes of Ikea too, so you can easily expand the play area without extra costs.
Price: £89 | Amazon
With all the polarising opinions on screen time, any regular parent will likely admit the usefulness of distracting a hyperactive child for 20 minutes here and there, allowing one to have a cup of coffee in peace, if they’re lucky. Amazon’s Fire HD 8 Kids Pro tablet is very reasonably specced given its target audience, sharing the same 8-inch 1,024 x 600 display, expandable memory and 2GB RAM as the regular Fire HD 8. The key differences here are a bulky (but very durable) rubber case, along with parental controls baked into the software. It comes bundled with a one year subscription to Amazon Kids+ (apps, videos, songs and audiobooks aimed at kids), along with a worry-free two year return if it breaks for any reason.
Price: £140 | Amazon | John Lewis
This Night Sky projector showcases crystal clear images of the night sky up to 3.65m wide and the images can rotate on the wall or ceiling. There are four projection discs included in the box that feature images of the planets in the solar system, constellations, the moon and 20,000 stars - try wishing on those! The projector has an adjustable angle and 30 minute auto shut-off, which is perfect when you want to try and entice younger kids to go to sleep gently. A 740 x 210mm poster of the Solar System is also included in the box.
Price: £42 | Amazon | John Lewis
Lego and Mario always makes for a winning combination, and this latest offering will make for a treasured piece for all fans, old and new. An accurate representation of the classic question mark block when closed, it unfolds to reveal instantly recognisable levels from the Super Mario 64 game. Peach’s Castle, Bob-omb Battlefield, Cool, Cool Mountain, and Lethal Lava Trouble are all present and accounted for, along with 10 microfigures of iconic characters to lay out as you see fit. With 2,064 pieces and an official rating of 18+, we imagine most adults will try and snap it up as soon as they can, but there’s no reason parents can’t share the joy of the build with any little ones that have a passion to build.
Price: £160 | LEGO
Valve’s first ever portable gaming machine brings the fight straight to the Nintendo Switch with a more grown up design and supercharged capabilities. Powered by a custom AMD Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 GPU (comfortably more powerful than that of Nintendo’s handheld), it has physical and touch controls for flexibility. The real trick though, is its compatibility with the entire Steam library, essentially turning it into a pocketable (well, almost) gaming PC. Sure, its 1280 x 800 screen isn't exactly rammed with pixels, but it's plenty for its 7-inch size, and it means that games can run more smoothly too. Releasing in December, it could change the face of portable gaming for good.
Price: From £349 | Steam
Santa’s stocking could always do with more gifts sub £20 and we’ve got couple of excellent suggestions to consider: Spin Master’s Perplexus Rebel 3D Maze game, for example, comes with 70 challenging obstacles to make it through the igloo, ‘terrible tube’ and ‘scary stairs’ without falling off the track.
Meanwhile, the build-your-own Kaleidoscope kit will have you harking for your own childhood. Just add daisy chains and run barefoot through a sunny field to make you feel even more nostalgic.
For any teenagers who love a quiz, try Confident? where you guess with a range - as big or small as you like - of answers. Questions inside include: How many episodes of Friends are there? How long does it take for food to digest? Answers on a postcard please.
Spin Master Perplexus Rebel 3D Maze: £15 | Amazon | Smyths Toys
Smartivity Kaleidoscope: £18 | Smart Toys and Games
Confident?: £20 | Amazon
The Logi Dock might not be the most immediate choice for kids and teens. After all, it’s a rather grown-up-looking all-in-one dock designed to help reduce desk clutter. When you think about how children are learning and interacting with each other so much more via online video calls though, you can start to see the value. For starters its 100W power capabilities means it’s more than capable of charging laptops, tablets and smartphoness, with two USB ports and USB-C ports for extra connectivity. An HDMI port and DisplayPort take care of screen connectivity, while a six-mic setup ensures clear communication during calls, with easy mute buttons and reminders synced to your calendar. Utility aside, it’s a powerful little speaker in its own right too, banishing tinny laptop speakers once and for all.
Price: £399 | Logitech
One of the great challenges of childhood is being able to keep your diary safe and secure and away from any sneaky siblings. The secret Safe Diary Light Show for kids will keep their daily musings free from prying eyes and add an extra layer of fun to the whole diary writing process. On board you’ll find a 2.4 colour screen and the diary can even be unlocked using face recognition. The light-effect cover synchronises with music and a password can be added to the diary for an extra layer of security. Kids can have fun creating a photo journal, writing their daily diary and recording messages. It comes with games built in too, including a virtual pet to check in on, and a maths, logic and spelling game too.
Price: £52 | Amazon | Argos | Selfridges
This moon lamp is the perfect night light/desk toy for budding astronomers and space lovers. Made from safe PLA plastic, the 3D-printed full spherical moon has a textured surface, glowing with an otherworldly light when lit. Cleverly positioned magnets in a natural wood base also allow it to float and rotate in the air, entrancing even older children who know how it works. More decoration than toy, perhaps, but even bedrooms rammed with toys need a little ambience. We’re not entirely sure how cat owners will fare, mind, but we have a pretty good guess.
Price: £129 | Fy!
Osmo is an educational gaming kit designed to transform your ipads into the ultimate learning/playing experience. Using the camera and specially designed software, the Osmo app can recognise the bundled shapes, number and letter tiles, as well as scribbles on a drawing pad. From rearranging shapes to match on-screen counterparts, to taking a picture of an object and drawing its outline, all Osmo games aim to provide a tactical hands-on learning experience. AR modes like Newton even let youngsters manipulate on-screen objects with their on-paper drawings, making for an immersive, engaging experience that’ll more than likely encourage adults to join in too.
Price: £199 | Osmo
At a slither under £500 the MateView GT is a considerable investment, but one that’s worth it if the recipient will spend hours in front of it for work and play. Its 34-inch ultra-wide 3,4440 x 1,440 display is an ideal choice for running multiple apps at the same time (Chrome, Spotify and Word are a classic combo), but it really enters its own when the homework is done and it’s time to game. A 165Hz refresh rate and superb contrast provide for an exceptionally immersive PC gaming experience, bolstered by the curved nature of the display. It’s not the absolute fastest screen for response time, but 4ms will be more than enough for all but the pickiest of gamers. With a sleek build and built-in RGB soundbar, it’s the ultimate hassle-free display that’ll serve gamers young and old for years to come.
It was only a matter of time before Santa took on drone form and this Flying Santa Drone does flying high particularly well. While a transmission range of approximately 30 meters in optimal conditions probably won’t make it to the North Pole, it can fly for around 4 minutes after a 40-minute charge. With four cardboard reindeers and a plastic Santa on his sleigh, the rechargeable drone comes with a battery-powered remote control. Sadly Rudolf’s magic won’t work here and you need to attach the 3 sets of mini propellers to the drone to keep Santa in the air.
Price: £30 | Studio
With Bluetooth technology, Fisher Price has given its classic Chatter Telephones some fun new functionality. You’ll be pleased to hear that the wobbly eyes go untouched, but the phones has been redesigned to connect to your smartphones wirelessly via Bluetooth. This means you can make and receive actual phones calls through your existing phones plan. So when your child calls, you can answer and make imaginary play that bit more fun. With a talk time of nine hours, you’ll be pleased to hear you won’t need to go hunting for the charger every five minutes either.
Price: $60 | Fisher Price
The X5 Play is WIRED’s top pick for the best kids smartwatch. It’s earned the right to the top of the pile thanks to its rugged, proper smartwatch-like looks, along with proper touchscreen controls and a built-in camera. Suitable for children aged four and up (though we reckon you should probably double that), it can make and receive calls, send and receive voice and text messages, and has built-in GPS for peace of mind too. The latter can also be set up to alert you when a child enters and leaves a safe zone, and children are rewarded for moving with Xplora coins and badges for every 1,000 steps, which is a nice touch. Just bear in mind that you’ll need a Pay As You Go SIM card for all of the features.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
