While schoolchildren look forward to time off during half term breaks, for adults this can be a daunting proposition, since occupying youngsters for days at a time is not always easy. With the right gadgets, you can stave off boredom and ensure that kids can have fun and perhaps learn something while they play. Here are a few interesting options to consider buying before the next half term rolls around.
Parrot Airborne Night MiniDrone
The skies of the UK seem to be buzzing with drones these days and thankfully you can pick up inexpensive models like the Airborne Night MiniDrone from Parrot, one of the frontrunners in this fledgling marketplace. It takes just an hour to fully charge the onboard battery and the drone will fly for around 10 minutes before it needs to be recharged. An integrated camera can capture footage throughout each flight and there is even a built-in memory card to make it easy to transfer video to a PC for playback and editing. For use both indoors and out, this drone is ideal whatever the weather. Since it can fly to heights of up to 10 meters, you can get a great overview of gardens, parks, fields and more, from a perspective that would otherwise be unattainable.
iPod Touch
To give kids access to all the features of a modern iPhone at a fraction of the price, the iPod Touch remains the best option for social media, gaming, music, video streaming and much more. With five different colours on offer, it can be a fashion statement that style-conscious kids will love. With an integrated 8 megapixel camera and an LED flash, it can also help budding photographers to learn the ropes, without putting your standalone DSLR at risk. Just remember to insure it with gadgetbuddy.com, so that you can get it repaired or replaced if it becomes damaged.
Xbox One S
After almost three years on the market, the Xbox One has undergone a hardware revision and re-emerged as the Xbox One S. While it still plays all the same games as its predecessor, this new model is smaller, more efficient and can even upscale games to 4K resolutions, which is a good thing if you have recently invested in a compatible TV. The controller has also been adjusted, making it easier to grip and feeling better in the hand, whether for a child or adult player. A 500GB hard drive is still the standard size, although larger capacity models are available. With hundreds of games to enjoy, as well as Blu-Ray disc and DVD playback on offer, this is a home console that looks more appealing than ever. It is also much cheaper than Sony’s new PS4 Pro, even if it is a little less powerful. There is also much better third party publisher support for the Xbox One S than for the Wii U.
Canon SX710 HS
Competitively priced and inexpensive enough to be suitable for kids to use, so long as you have insurance, the SX710 HS is a great little digital camera that has a 16 megapixel sensor, a three inch viewfinder display and tons of other features to help make it recommendable. It can record 1080p full HD video at 60 frames a second and is small enough to be great for taking photographs when heading on a half term mini break.