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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Make the leap
Leapfrog Leapmove camera
Price: £59.99
This tiny, camera-equipped box either clips to the top of your TV or sits underneath it, connects via HDMI and enables a jiggling pre-schooler (or jiggling adult, if you crouch down) to participate in a range of onscreen games. It’s not the most sophisticated motion-tracking system in existence, but it doesn’t need to be: you step, clap, wave and flap your way through various challenges, smashing orbs, hiding behind crystals and, if you’re brave enough, transforming into an armadillo along the way. Educational eleme…
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Make the leap
Leapfrog Leapmove camera
Price: £59.99
This tiny, camera-equipped box either clips to the top of your TV or sits underneath it, connects via HDMI and enables a jiggling pre-schooler (or jiggling adult, if you crouch down) to participate in a range of onscreen games. It’s not the most sophisticated motion-tracking system in existence, but it doesn’t need to be: you step, clap, wave and flap your way through various challenges, smashing orbs, hiding behind crystals and, if you’re brave enough, transforming into an armadillo along the way. Educational elements run through the games (maths, phonics, etc) but its main strength is its ease of set-up and lack of clutter – you can be up and running almost instantly.
A sound investment
JBL Junior 470NC headphones
**Price: **£69.99
These super-comfortable kids’ headphones are available in pink or blue (predictably) or in white with grey accents. Despite being made for little ears, there’s no skimping on sound quality; while they didn’t fit over my big head, I tested them under my chin and was impressed by the sheen and frequency range. Of course, with children it’s all about noise level and duration, and JBL’s app gives parents information about the sound level and how long they’ve been worn that day, along with the opportunity to restrict both. They can be used wired (cable provided) or wirelessly (Bluetooth), while active noise cancellation allows volume levels to be lowered further for even safer listening.
Go play
Karri Messenger – Generation 2
**Price: **£89.99 plus monthly sub (from £1.99 to £7.99)
My son is only three. But by the time he’s six or seven I know that my partner and I will have been devising ways of giving him more independence and freedom while keeping our anxieties in check, and that’ll inevitably involve technology. Previous generations of Marsdens seemed to have coped very well without such assistance, but hey, we are where we are and Karri Messenger feels like a well-forged combination of hands-on and hands-off. Devised by a Berlin-based Brit, Pete Clifford, Karri Messenger is ingenious without being “smart” – indeed, it has just three features: GPS tracking, a torch and asynchronous messaging between the child and approved adults.
Its lack of “smarts” is key. Many parents are wary of smart devices and schools often ban them in any case. Some parents opt to give their kids dumbphones, but as with smartphones and many smartwatches, they have a phone number connected to the global network – a common safeguarding concern. While Karri’s devices have SIMs, there’s no number, no texts, no calls. “Most of the time you just need to exchange very simple pieces of information back and forth, so asynchronous voice messaging is perfect,” says Clifford.
Adults add the device to the Karri app on their smartphone, which has a tab for settings (eg, managing approved contacts), a location tab with a map, and a tab for Karri chat groups. New voice messages push that chat group to the top of the list (as you’d expect) and if you’re unable to listen there and then, it can show the message as transcribed text.
Operating the device itself is intuitive for kids: choose the right chat group with the up and down buttons (its name flashes up on the dot display); slide the middle button up (and hold) to record a message, then slide up again to send, or down to cancel. It does all the things that parents would like such a device to do and none of the things they wouldn’t. Two batches have already sold out; Karri is now taking orders for delivery in March.
Get drawn in
Pad Creator Instant Print tablet
**Price: **£129.99
This is a rugged 8in tablet for drawing (with fingers or accompanying stylus), photo snapping and filming (with front or back cameras) and, perhaps implausibly, printing. Small rolls of thermal paper can be loaded into the tablet and hitting a button causes the screen contents to be printed out in black and white. The tablet itself has just six apps: drawing, camera, gallery, creative projects (making cards, invitations etc), a journal and a search engine with child-appropriate content filtering, although web access can be monitored or turned off if you wish. It’s designed for ages eight and up, but the drawing app – where, to be honest, most of the fun is to be had – was great for my little one and me.
Sing it loud
V-Tech: Karaoke Light Party
**Price: **£59.99
Even as a kids’ Bluetooth speaker, this is impressive – punchy and pretty loud for a device less than 20cm high. But it also comes with a colourful light show, built-in games and two rugged wireless microphones that automatically connect to the unit and transform it into a karaoke machine. There are a handful of built-in tracks, but most enjoyment can be had by connecting your phone and blasting Yes’s “The Gates of Delirium” while wailing along (I did this while the family was out). A “Vocal Remover” button had a decent attempt at removing Jon Anderson entirely, vocal volume and reverb could be tweaked to my liking, and robotic effects added to scare my neighbours.