Tech Made for Play
Technology and childhood can sometimes feel like slightly uncomfortable bedfellows. We want children to understand technology and enjoy everything brilliant it can offer, but equally, most parents would probably prefer that more technology didn't simply mean more time staring at a screen.
Which is precisely why KIDYWOLF caught our attention when we were looking for creative technology and electronic toys for children at Binky. This clever Belgian brand takes a very different approach to kids' tech, creating products that encourage children to sing, draw, communicate, explore and create rather than simply sit and consume.
At Binky, that's a distinction we think really matters.
Technology That Leaves Room for Imagination
When we're choosing anything for Binky, one of the questions we tend to ask is what happens once you put it into a child's hands. Does the product dictate the experience, or does it leave enough space for the child to decide what happens next?
The best toys have always done the latter. A box of building blocks doesn't tell you what to build, a dressing-up box doesn't decide who you're going to become and a blank piece of paper doesn't tell you what to draw. KIDYWOLF approaches technology in much the same way.
A microphone might become karaoke one minute and a radio studio the next. Walkie-talkies can turn the garden into an expedition, while a drawing tablet simply provides another canvas for whatever happens to be in a child's head that day.
The technology provides the tool. The child still provides the imagination.
Finding Their Voice
Some children need very little encouragement to perform, while others are considerably happier doing it when they think nobody is watching. Either way, there's something rather lovely about giving a child a microphone and seeing what happens.
The KIDYMIC combines a microphone and speaker in one child-friendly design, with Bluetooth connectivity, lights and wonderfully silly voice effects. Put on their favourite song and the kitchen can become a stage, but we've always thought the possibilities beyond karaoke are just as much fun.
It can be used for made-up songs, interviewing the dog, hosting an imaginary radio programme, putting on a show with friends or delivering an extremely important family news bulletin from behind the sofa. For children who really love performing, KIDYKARAOKE takes things a step further, with two microphones so siblings, friends — and occasionally parents — can get involved too.
It's playful technology that gives children permission to experiment with their own voice and personality, without there needing to be a right way to use it.
Adventures Start Here
Then there are the KIDYTALK walkie-talkies, which tap into a completely different kind of play.
Give children a pair of walkie-talkies and it's remarkable how quickly an ordinary environment changes. The garden can become a jungle, upstairs becomes Mission Control and a walk in the woods suddenly requires teams, secret codes and regular updates to base camp.
Designed especially for children, KIDYTALK walkie-talkies are rechargeable and include a built-in torch, with a communication range of up to 6km in ideal unobstructed conditions. They're brilliant for camping, holidays, woodland walks, playing with friends or simply disappearing to opposite ends of the garden.
What appeals to us most, though, isn't really the technical specification. It's that the technology encourages children to go somewhere and do something. They're communicating with one another, making decisions, inventing scenarios and gaining a little independence while they play.
That's the sort of children's tech we can get behind.
A New Kind of Drawing Board
For children who are happiest with a pencil in their hand, the KIDYDRAW range takes technology in another direction.
Drawing is still drawing. The child is still making the marks, choosing the colours, deciding what something should look like and working out how to get the idea in their head onto the surface in front of them. KIDYDRAW simply gives them a different tool with which to do it.
That's particularly useful on journeys, in restaurants, on holiday or during quieter afternoons at home, when something compact and reusable can provide a welcome creative pause without automatically reaching for a tablet or television.
We particularly like products that can occupy children without entertaining them for them, and KIDYDRAW sits very comfortably in that space.
Encouraging Curious Minds
There's another side to the KIDYWOLF range that we particularly enjoy: products designed to encourage children to look outwards rather than inwards at a screen.
Children are naturally curious. They want to know what's underneath something, why it moves, what that tiny creature is doing and what happens if they look at it more closely. Giving them simple technology that helps them investigate can turn an ordinary walk, holiday or afternoon in the garden into something much more interesting.
This is where we think children's technology can be genuinely exciting. Rather than competing with the real world for their attention, it can encourage them to engage with it more closely — to go outside, investigate, ask questions and make their own discoveries.
Not All Screen Time Is the Same
As parents, we hear an enormous amount about screen time, but perhaps it's also worth thinking about what children are actually doing with the technology in front of them.
There's a considerable difference between sitting and passively consuming something and using technology as a tool to make something yourself. Drawing a picture, photographing something you've discovered, making a film, talking to a friend on a walkie-talkie or singing into a microphone all ask something of the child.
They're participating rather than simply watching.
For us, that makes the conversation around children's technology much more interesting. Instead of only asking whether something has a screen or an electronic component, we can also ask whether it encourages children to create, communicate, explore or imagine.
Why We Chose KIDYWOLF for Binky
At Binky, we've never believed that a toy needs to do everything for a child to make it exciting. Quite the opposite. Some of the things children return to again and again are the ones that leave enough room for them to bring their own ideas, personality and imagination to the experience.
That's what drew us to KIDYWOLF.
Yes, it's technology, but it feels playful first and tech second. The products are beautifully considered and intuitive for children to use, while the experience remains firmly in their hands. One child might use a microphone to sing their heart out while another creates an elaborate radio show. Walkie-talkies might accompany a family camping trip or spend an afternoon facilitating a top-secret mission between two bedrooms. A drawing tablet could be filled with careful illustrations or complete nonsense.
And all of those are equally valid ways to play.
We don't think technology needs to take children away from creativity, imagination or the world around them. Chosen well, it can give them another way to express themselves, another reason to explore and another tool with which to turn their own ideas into play.
From kids' karaoke machines and walkie-talkies to drawing tablets and creative electronic toys, the KIDYWOLF collection offers an alternative for parents looking for children's technology that still leaves plenty of room for imagination, independence and real-world play.
And that's exactly why KIDYWOLF has found a home at Binky.
DISCOVER THE KIDYWOLF COLLECTION →
