14 Amazing Toys You'll Want to Keep For Yourself
Play time is the best time, especially with these innovative toys.
Featured in this article
Modarri Cars
How do you make the venerable toy car even better? First, make it modular. [Modarri](https://modarri.com/)’s chassis and dope rims are interchangeable, letting kids create their own designs. Second, require some assembly with a little screwdriver. And third, add suspension. Driving these little cars around with your finger in the driver's seat is a blast. [$19 and up](https://modarri.com/).
Wilson X Connected Football (Junior Size)
Imagination is a good thing, but [Wilson’s sensor-packed football](https://slim-weight.info/2016/08/wilson-just-made-smartest-football-time/) keeps it in check with a built-in ref. The ball connects to an iOS app via Bluetooth to track throwing speed, distance, and how tight your spiral is. For backyard two-minute drills, it gets even better: Game mode features play-by-play by announcer Gus Johnson, and the sensors are smart enough to gauge completions and dropped passes. [$200](http://www.wilson.com/en-us/explore/football/wx.html).
Osmo Coding
Osmo has spent a few years finding ways of making an iPad more than just another screen. With a clip-on mirror attachment, the company’s games use the iPad camera and computer vision to help real toys and drawings interact with onscreen objects. In [Coding](https://slim-weight.info/2016/05/osmo-turns-blocks-code-teach-kids-programming/), kids snap together blocks to make a digital monster perform actions. It’s a first crack at programming for the Kindergarten set. [$49, plus $79 for the Osmo Starter Kit](https://www.playosmo.com/en/shopping/).
Cubetto
Think of [Cubetto](https://www.primotoys.com/) as Osmo Coding without the iPad. Children as young as 3 can program a little wooden box of a robot using tiles that correspond to simple actions. To make the bot roll forward, turn left, and turn right, kids place the corresponding colored block in the wooden control board, press a button, and watch it scoot along. They’ll be running NASA in no time. [$225](https://www.primotoys.com/shop/).
The coolest toys lie at the crossroads of old-school and new-school. It’s a crowded intersection as Hot Wheels, Barbie, piggy banks, and footballs go high-tech. Kids these days play with blocks that teach them how to code, drones made out of Lego bricks, and Star Wars droids that work like your favorites in the movies. Picking an awesome toy for a lucky kid is easy. What's hard is surrendering one long enough for them to play with it.
Modarri01Modarri Cars
How do you make the venerable toy car even better? First, make it modular. [Modarri](https://modarri.com/)’s chassis and dope rims are interchangeable, letting kids create their own designs. Second, require some assembly with a little screwdriver. And third, add suspension. Driving these little cars around with your finger in the driver's seat is a blast. [$19 and up](https://modarri.com/).
Wilson02Wilson X Connected Football (Junior Size)
Imagination is a good thing, but [Wilson’s sensor-packed football](https://slim-weight.info/2016/08/wilson-just-made-smartest-football-time/) keeps it in check with a built-in ref. The ball connects to an iOS app via Bluetooth to track throwing speed, distance, and how tight your spiral is. For backyard two-minute drills, it gets even better: Game mode features play-by-play by announcer Gus Johnson, and the sensors are smart enough to gauge completions and dropped passes. [$200](http://www.wilson.com/en-us/explore/football/wx.html).
OSMO03Osmo Coding
Osmo has spent a few years finding ways of making an iPad more than just another screen. With a clip-on mirror attachment, the company’s games use the iPad camera and computer vision to help real toys and drawings interact with onscreen objects. In [Coding](https://slim-weight.info/2016/05/osmo-turns-blocks-code-teach-kids-programming/), kids snap together blocks to make a digital monster perform actions. It’s a first crack at programming for the Kindergarten set. [$49, plus $79 for the Osmo Starter Kit](https://www.playosmo.com/en/shopping/).
Primo04Cubetto
Think of [Cubetto](https://www.primotoys.com/) as Osmo Coding without the iPad. Children as young as 3 can program a little wooden box of a robot using tiles that correspond to simple actions. To make the bot roll forward, turn left, and turn right, kids place the corresponding colored block in the wooden control board, press a button, and watch it scoot along. They’ll be running NASA in no time. [$225](https://www.primotoys.com/shop/).
Nintento05Nintendo NES Classic Edition
Finally, your vast knowledge of hidden coin smorgasbords in *Super Mario Bros. 3* can help bridge the generation gap! [Nintendo’s eight-bit emulator](https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic) features 30 classic games, and it looks like a tiny version of the original console. One gripe: The throwback controllers have really short cords. Second gripe: good luck finding one. And don’t spoil *Metroid*’s surprise ending, OK? [$60](https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic).
Lucasfilm06Sphero Battle-Worn BB-8 with Force Band
This was the hot gift *last* year, but [a souped-up edition](https://slim-weight.info/2016/09/spheros-new-wristband-lets-control-bb-8-hand-gestures/) adds new tricks. Kids can now control BB-8 with the Force! The Force Band ($80) motion-sensing wearable drives the droid via twists of the wrist and works with other Sphero bots, too. BB-8’s paint job is scuffed up, showing the little baller has been to the school of hard knocks. And kids can [write or run code for BB-8 with the SPRK+ app](https://slim-weight.info/2016/06/sphero-sprk/). [$200](https://store.sphero.com/products/special-edition-battle-worn-bb-8-with-force-band).
Matell07Barbie Hello Dreamhouse
Is this [voice-controlled Barbie Dreamhouse](https://slim-weight.info/2016/09/barbies-new-smart-home-crushing-hard/) a toy, or a blueprint for the future of smart homes? Maybe it's both: By speaking commands to the Wi-Fi-connected abode, kids can open and close the door, turn the oven on, make the elevator move, and turn the stairs into a slide (We totally want that in our smart home). “Hello Dreamhouse” brings it to life, and kids customize sounds and actions in an app. [$300](http://barbie.mattel.com/en-us/about/hello-dreamhouse.html).
Anki08Anki Cozmo
With its expressive (and blinking) OLED eyes, animated arm movements, and droid-like sound effects, [Cozmo](https://slim-weight.info/2016/07/cozmo-artificially-intelligent-toy-truck-thats-also-future-robotics/) seems more human than other robot toys. It’s smarter, too. Cozmo recognizes your face with its built-in camera and forms its own opinion of you. It learns your name, challenges you to games, and throws a tiny fit when it loses. [$180](https://anki.com/en-us/cozmo).
Lego09Flybrix
You've mastered the art of not stepping on Legos with bare feet, and now you must duck and dodge them as they fly through the sky. [Flybrix kits](https://slim-weight.info/2016/09/flybrix-turns-lego-bricks-diy-minidrone-masterpieces/) use everyone’s favorite interlocking bricks to create flying machines. Along with motors, props, and batteries, the included flight boards are loaded with sensors. Fly your creations with an app or an R/C remote; post-crash reassembly is a snap. [$190 and up](https://flybrix.com/).
Hotwheels10Hot Wheels AI
[Hot Wheels’ first autonomous cars](https://slim-weight.info/2016/09/hot-wheels-now-ai-powered-making-us-feel-even-older/) are bigger (and plastickier) than slot cars, but they’re also smarter. The starter pack features two cars, two controllers, and 20 track mats. Sensors under each chassis read a pattern printed on each mat to stay on the road, where you can compete against an A.I.-driven car. But you can also drive these whips around like normal R/C cars, increasing your ROI. [$100](http://play.hotwheels.com/en-us/ai.html).
Littlebits11Littlebits Gizmos and Gadgets 2nd Edition
If your kids are too old to code with blocks, maybe they’re ready to build gear of their own. [Littlebits’ DIY gadgets kit](http://littlebits.cc/kits/gizmos-and-gadgets-kit-2nd-edition) sports a slew of sensors, servo motors, screws, and other modular components that snap together magnetically. The open-ended Frankenstein lab lets kids build Bluetooth-controlled vehicles, desk fans, and crawling robots. [$200](http://littlebits.cc/kits/gizmos-and-gadgets-kit-2nd-edition).
Hasbro12Nerf N-Strike Elite Terrascout Remote Control Drone Blaster
This [tank-like Nerf drone](https://slim-weight.info/2016/11/review-nerf-n-strike-elite-terrascout-remote-control-drone-blaster/) redefines the sneak attack. First, you load the generous 18-dart clip. Second, use the remote control to maneuver it from the safety of your pillow fort. And third, use the live video feed---it streams from the drone to the controller---to see your enemies' faces as you ambush them. Er, as your kid ambushes them. Because of course you're buying this for your kid. [$200](http://www.toysrus.com/buy/see-all-blasters/nerf-n-strike-elite-terrascout-remote-control-drone-blaster-b8072-111477796).
WiggyApp13Wiggy Piggy Bank
What small child doesn’t love chores and financial responsibility? OK, that’s a tough sell, but [this Bluetooth bank](http://wiggyapp.com/) makes such things fun. It doesn't actually have a coin slot: Kids set savings targets in an app, see a feed of chores (and report-card goals) that’ll help them reach those targets, and get a Venmo-like IOU feed from their parents. Every time there’s an incoming money-making task, the pig lights up and hollers. [$60 plus shipping](http://wiggyapp.com/).
Hasbro14Star Wars Rogue One Rapid Fire Imperial AT-ACT Playset
Back in the early '80s, if you didn't own an AT-AT playset, childhood was a political cagematch to be pals with someone who did. The stakes are higher for kids today. [This similar quadruped walker](http://www.hasbro.com/en-us/brands/starwars/videos?bctid=5148066947001) from *Rogue One* has a removable cargo hopper. Big whoop, who cares about that, because it also *walks on its own*, comes with an evil R2-D2, and *shoots Nerf missiles out of its face*. <3 <3 ILU AT-ACT PLAYSET <3 <3 [$300](https://www.disneystore.com/play-sets-more-toys-rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-remote-control-rapid-fire-imperial-atact-play-set/mp/1417702/1000265/).
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Tim Moynihan covers hardware for Gadget Lab, with a concentration on cameras, TVs, Ultra HD video, virtual reality, and the weirdest things he can find. He has 17 years of tech journalism experience, serving as senior editor at PCWorld, homepage editor at CNET, and an online producer at TechTV prior ... Read More
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