Barometer: toy animals
Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.
Totem deer
Build this impressive creature from recycled cardboard pieces. £13.50; www.scp.co.uk
Oscar by Architect Made
A classic design, 60 years old, Oscar runs, walks and sniffs as you please. £75, www.skandium.com
Animal masks by Mitik
A set of eight plain cardboard masks ready for painting at home. £16; www.littlescout.co.uk
Karl Zahn bear
This beechwood bear has a hidden box compartment in its belly. £40; www.notanothershop.com
Toyella Nanoblock sheep
A neat Japanese building system; other Nanoblock animals include a giant panda, budgerigar and mallard duck. £7.49; www.toyella.com
——————————————-
The line-up: C is for computer
From September 2014 there will be a forward shift in computer education in schools, with the introduction of a new national curriculum in computer science. Programming will be at the heart of the mission, with pupils taught from five years old how to make a simple program.
The Raspberry Pi minicomputer (from £24) is designed to address this need. Manufactured in the UK and developed a by Cambridge-based charitable foundation, it is a small motherboard that can plug into external devices such as a television monitor, enabling children to get into a Bill Gates frame of mind with their own makeshift PC.
Code Club World, co-founded by computer programmer Clare Sutcliffe, is a network of after-school coding clubs for children aged nine to 11; some 1,289 have been set up so far around the globe. Code Club World provides the projects and materials, while volunteer teachers organise a location and timetable.
The US website http://code.org is another good place to start learning these skills, with links to tutor sites such as Light-bot, Hackety Hack and App Inventor. Designed for children and teachers, it takes users through the basics of coding by showing them how to control a cartoon dog, Karel.
And finally, for the very youngest, there is this chalkboard “I-Wood” laptop from Donkey Products (€39.95, www.connox.com). There’s also a wooden smartphone in the same range.
Comments