The holidays are creeping closer and closer and since we’re a tech site, here are some pretty sweet tech toy suggestions for the holidays. The great thing about this list is that it’s not just for Christmas, but if you’re smart with your money, you can pick these up for some great after holiday price cuts. They’ll also be hot throughout most of 2017, so if you don’t pick it up this week, there’s plenty of time before they’re past their due date.
Air Hogs Star Trek Enterprise Flying Drone – This is probably the ultimate toy drone, Trekkie or not. Custom made drones by fans of the Enterprise as well as the Millennium Falcon are totally cool on YouTube videos but for a company to actually release a licensed Enterprise drone is awesome. Air Hogs gives us the Star Trek Enterprise Flying Drone as a tribute to Star Trek’s recent 50th anniversary. The Enterprise drone is based on the Enterprise 1701-A or Enterprise Refit in the early films starring the original crew. It retails for 130 dollars, but the price could go higher depending on supply and demand because as Star Trek fans go, this ship is already boldly gone. Right now is only about $50 so you can click on the link above to grab that deal.
WowWee LUMI Dancing Drone – Drones are all the rage, and there are tons of them in the market. What makes the WowWee LUMI Dancing Drone any different? It’s a drone from the makers of the popular RoboSapien toy. This is an inexpensive drone that costs only 60 dollars, and it can dance. The LUMI Dancing Drone is full of features such as automatic obstacle avoidance, auto-follow, auto-lift off, autonomous self-correcting flight, auto-landing, game modes and dance moves. It’s a gaming drone that can dance depending on programmed maneuvers to the beat of the music. Users can shoot amazing videos dancing along with their drone or multiple drones.
UDI U818A WiFi FPV RC Quadcopter Drone – This is the third drone on our list and it costs 130 dollars. It differentiates itself by being very easy to use, perfect for drone newbies. This drone uses wifi to connect with your mobile phone to make use of its HD camera or be controlled on the phone itself. It’s small but durable and comes with spare propellers in case of damage plus an extra battery for extended flight time. It has an auto-return feature, and 360 degree flip at the push of a button.
Barbie Starlight Adventure RC Hoverboard – Finally, a drone for girls. Boys are often the target for tech toys such as quadcopters but this time Mattel fixes that. The Barbie Starlight Adventure RC Hoverboard is a tie-in product to Barbie’s upcoming space-film Barbie Star Light Adventure where Barbie goes to space to save the galaxy on a hoverboard. This 60 dollar quadcopter has auto-launch and auto-landing features as well as stunts that can be performed with the push of a button showing that quadcopters aren’t just a boy’s toy.
Selfie Mic from Worlds Apart – this 30 dollar toy can turn any phone into a karaoke machine that records videos of the singer. It’s a very timely innovative toy where selfies and singing are a big thing. The package includes the microphone combined with a selfie stick. The gadget plugs into a mobile phone and with the help of the downloadable iOS and Android Star Maker app starts your kids on their possible way to stardom. This product is meant for kids but can be fun for adults too and features thousands of song tracks.
Zing Stikbot Studio Pro – While the Zing Stikbot Studio Pro doesn’t have any electronic components in the package, it qualifies as a tech toy as it makes use of mobile phones to turn kids and even adults into amateur stop-motion video producers. The package includes two 3-inch tall very articulate Stikbot figures, a green screen stage, and a phone holder tripod plus a downloadable easy-to-use Android or iOS app. The app and green screen enables kids to create stop-motion videos and place them in whatever backgrounds they choose. The package costs only 25 dollars.
WowWee Chip Canine Home Intelligent Pet – This 199 dollar robotic pet also comes from the makers of the hit Robosapien. If they came up with Robosapien way back then, imagine what they can do now. CHIP is a very active and flexible interactive doggie that kids can interact with like a real dog. Using his packaged SMARTball, he can be taught to play fetch, or you can just watch him play with his ball. The packaged SMARTband allows him to recognize the wearer as his owner and respond to commands. He can also learn his owner’s likes and dislikes through a reward system and even harmlessly attack anything the owner commands. He also has a SMARTBed which he can automatically go to when he needs to recharge.
Project Mc2 Circuit Beats – The Project Mc2 Circuit Beats is a powerful interactive learning toy that will teach kids about music and electricity. The word powerful doesn’t apply to the electricity itself; it’s actually very safe. This toy allows kids to make music out of almost anything as long as it conducts electricity like a banana or a potato. The child simply connects the circuit board to something and turn it into a musical instrument. This 30 dollar package teaches kids about music and electricity at the same time and even allows recordings. Meant more for girls, the package contains the electric circuit board, wires with clips, colorful stickers and a kitty speaker headband.
Mattel ThingMaker 3D Printer – It’s a cool 3D printer for kids which even adults will enjoy as this gives ordinary homes the opportunity to enter the new world of 3D printing. It enables kids to design, print and play with their creations at home. Kids can easily create action figures, animals, insects and jewelry through a ball and socket connection system via the printer’s ThingMaker app. This machine will retail for 299 dollars and might be sought after not just by parents who can afford it but by engineers who might be able to hack it for other purposes.
Fisher-Price Think & Learn Code-a-pillar – this is a cool tech toy that teaches kids early about logic and coding. The Code-a-pillar is a modular toy made up of a motorized caterpillar head with light and sound that reacts to whatever program segments are attached to it. Eight additional segments are included marked with various moves like turning in various directions, looping and playing lights and sounds. Kids can then program the code-a-pillar with a specific goal in mind by adding various segments. The package is worth a reasonable 50 dollars and additional segments can be bought for 4.99 dollars.