We are living in a post digital era and the days are long gone where our children are totally satisfied with building a spaceship out of Lego – today our kids want interactive toys that can be powered by an app or that connect via the internet.

 

All things cute pervade Japanese poplar culture – Kawaii can be found just about anywhere, and that includes toys.

 

Japanese children want sweet robots that they can interact with and promise to help in every aspect of life,  or animals that can learn and grow each time they are played with, and luckily there are manufacturers that are willing and able to oblige. Now there are a whole host of tech toys to suit the young – and the young of heart!

There are a whole host of of kawaii products for both the young and old, in fact science has proved that the fine motor skills of students improved after viewing images of cute puppies and kittens!

The Artie 3000 is a cool coding robot that enjoys drawing. He can be programmed to draw a range of pre-programmed shapes or even draw your designs. He reminds many of the drawing turtle form the 1980’s. Artie is simple to use and code and children will be able to program the robot using a PC, tablet, or Mac – Artie also comes with numerous engaging games.

 

Onwards and Upwards

But it’s not just  Kawaii taken Japan (and a great deal of the rest of the world by storm) as other manufacturers have embraced new technology, creating toys that work better and that can be controlled using that technology.

For instance, it was some time ago that Scalextric embraced the iPhone and Android generation by making it possible for players to control race conditions or count tracks using their smartphones, but now it’s gone one step further letting players control the cars using their smartphones as a controller thanks to a nifty new device call Spark Plug.

All you need to do is plug the dongle into your Scalextric powerbaye instead of a traditional controller which will send commands to your phone and the dedicated app instead. Supporting both single and versus modes you can also boost your own and restrict your opponents speed to make things fairer.

The Spark Plug also comes with both rumble and sound effects to enhance your gaming experience.

 

Making Games Pay

We enjoy playing games to such an extent that many have put their skills into studying strategies and using them to play betting games like slots and video games making a good living out of a well thought out base provided by parents of foresight.

Successful careers have been made from iGaming and its other offshoot industries. Online casinos are big business in Japan with hundreds and thousands of people enjoying a game or two during their busy days. Sites like Conquer Casino Japan provide a safe and secure environment to play in whenever and wherever you happen to be as long as there is a reliable internet connection.

Gamification allows players to work towards goals and prizes and there is no doubt that learning through gaming is preferred by many who go on to play games of all kinds, choosing those that suit our abilities the best.