It’s school holiday time once again, so we thought it the right time to showcase some gadgets and website that might of interest for the kids in the upcoming weeks.
First up was webiste planet cazmo, which is aimed at tweens/teens. Very similar to Club Penguin, but is aimed at a higher age group where kids can chat, play games, customise their cybercharacter and create their own virtual world. Unsurprisingly, Hannah Montana: The Movie Game is bound to be a huge hit with girls. Designed for the Nintendo Wii and DSi, it allows players to step into the secret dual life of Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana. Gamers can join Hannah and live the rock star life while you get to know Miley Stewart as an ordinary farm girl and explore the world she left back in Tennessee. Gamers can also customise Hannah and Miley’s wardrobes with outfits seen in the movie. It also allows girls to journey beyond the movie to complete tasks around Crowley Corners and unlock music, accessories and concert venues. Two games at the young boy market are NRL Mascot Mania and AFL Mascot Manor for the DSi. A player becomes one of the mascots whereby they battle other mascots for dominance. They can also find and collect footie cards, and there are a range of mini games including an NRL or AFL match. See my review of the games here. Something to drive parents up the wall, but will be popular nonetheless are these Rock Beat Rhythm Sticks. The latest craze in the UK, these electronic drumsticks work with each tap producing a synthesised sound from the built-in speakers at the base of the sticks. The tip of the sticks even light up with each beat, with uttons on each stick changing the sound from a snare drum to a tom-tom and a crash cymbal. The Echo Bot Voice Messenger is one of those fun gadgets for everybody. You record a message, and when somebody walks within a metre of the unit is yells out the message. It can use it to play prank and used as a way to remind you to do things. For more information, click here. Kota the Triceratops can be ridden by children aged 3 and over. Although it does not walk, it has 10 sensors which will detect touch, sound or weight. To play with Kota you can touch any of the sensors to hear dino sounds; scratch his chin to ‘relax’ him; scratch his chin 4 times to put him to “sleep”; roar at him, or talk to him to hear your dino roar back. The Sleepy Monkey’s tummy and ears are made of a special new safety formulated glow in the dark fabric that when drawn on with a special UV pen starts to glow. There is no ink in the pen, it’s got a special light that works on the fabric to make it glow. Kids spend ages drawing and doodling in the dark until they fall asleep, while they can draw or write whatever they like and after a few minutes the writing slowly fades so they can start over again.