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tech gift guide

There’s never been a better time to be a kid. The gear and gadgets being designed and developed for children rival anything that early astronauts used to get to the moon. And many of the selections below are not simply playthings, but also teach complex concepts that are at the core of science and engineering. That doesn’t mean that your kids can’t have fun at the same time. You might even want to join them.

BB-8

$190

The new Star Wars movie opens soon, and already fans are gushing about the cute droid that is a character in The Force Awakens. BB-8 is a sphere with a half sphere “head” that sits on top, and when you first see it move you wonder if such a thing is possible. Well, robot toy maker Sphero managed to create a real-life BB-8 that will be at the top of many wish lists this year. What it lacks in stature – Sphero’s BB-8 is about the size of an orange – it makes up for in personality. It chirps just like the character in the film, and can learn to respond to voice commands. The droid is controlled by a smartphone, but can also be programmed to “patrol” along a predetermined route. Just don’t step on it.

R2-D2

$200

If the original Star Wars trilogy is more your thing, then R2-D2 may be your kind of droid. Thinkway Toys has you covered with this robot, available only at Toys “R” Us. The 16-inch R2 unit can walk and move forward on wheels, and its upper portion spins around just like in the movies. The droid features authentic sound effects, and will “speak” when spoken to. This personal R2 comes with a remote control that can be used to program instructions which the droid will then carry out. Also available from Thinkaway are interactive C-3PO ($160) and AT-AT Imperial walker ($140), and Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and Stormtrooper animatronic figures ($160 each).

Blockitecture Garden City, above

$75 (U.S.)

There are basic building blocks, and there are Blockitecture building blocks. These perfect pine blocks are cut not in rectangles and squares, but hexagons. This enables the pieces to be arranged and nested into unique arrangements, and even cantilevered to create unique, towering cityscapes. The Garden City set comes with the components of a modern, healthy urban environment including green spaces and trees. Available directly from New York-based design studio Areaware.

GoldieBlox

Designed with girls in mind, Goldieblox products feature smart, able female protagonists. More than that, they put building and problem solving in the context of narratives. While kids read stories, they use the pieces in the kits to construct the same items from those stories, often simple machines like wheels and axles, hinges and levers, and belt drives. The Builder’s Survival Kit ($60), for example, teaches mechanical engineering principles, while the Movie Machine ($30) introduces concepts of animation. There’s a Goldie action figure, too, who comes equipped with a zipline; her friend, Ruby Rails, has a parachute ($27 each).

Ozobot Bit 2.0, above

$80, $150 for a two-pack

These marble-sized robots are the cutest little things, and their potential belies their stature. The Ozobot is designed to follow lines on surfaces, and can differentiate between red, blue, green and black. So by drawing lines on paper, kids can create routes for the Ozobot to follow. Or they can use Ozoblockly, a simple drag-and-drop coding language that even preschoolers can use, to program the robot.

Vtech Kidizoom Action Cam, above

$70

It doesn’t have HD capability, but what the Action Cam lacks in resolution, it more than makes up for with possibility. Essentially a GoPro for kids, this camera can shoot photos, video and even time-lapse. It’s the perfect thing for your wannabe extreme sports athlete or documentary filmmaker. The Action Cam comes with a waterproof case and two different mounts that can be attached to bikes, helmets, skateboards, you name it. You will need to pick up a microSD card to record onto, but you don’t need batteries. The Action Cam runs on a rechargeable so you just need to plug in to power up.

Anki Overdrive racing

Starter kit $200

Available at Apple retail stores and online, Overdrive is slot car racing for the modern era. Like other car racing kits, this is easy to set up. Simply arrange the pieces into a track you want to race; the cars stay on the track by following markings that are invisible to human eyes but detectable to the infrared cameras on the tiny vehicles. Cars have their own unique characteristics, including speed, defence and firepower. They are controlled with Android and iOS devices. The starter kit comes with six curved pieces, four straight pieces and two cars. You can purchase additional cars for $70 and expansion track kits for $30.

Lego, above

We all know that Lego is much more than a toy. It’s more than just a “highly sophisticated, interlocking brick system,” too. The latest model in the Lego Architecture line, for example, is a recreation of the Louvre ($75), which has nearly 700 pieces and captures the Pavillon de l’Horloge and the iconic glass pyramid. For budding architects there are also kits exploring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and New York’s Flatiron Building. If your kids are into robots and electronics, the Mindstorm EV3 kit ($400) has 601 pieces that can be configured into various robots, controlled by remote or with a smartphone. There are building instructions to create five robotic creatures, but as with everything Lego, anything is possible.