Creative Gift Idea: smART Pixelator

I love gifts that are also activities, because they keep kids occupied, help them focus and give them a goal to work toward. The folks at Flycatcher sent me and the girl a smART Pixelator to try out, and I think it would be a great gift for creative kids, crafty kids and those who love technology.

At a glance this is a peg board with melty beads, but the Pixelator is an electronic device you plug in. Insert the included memory card pre-loaded with designs, add the pegboard to the top and fill in beads using the enclosed tool.

You can also use the device’s app to take pictures of anything and have them be turned into pixelated designs you can re-create in pegs.

My daughter tried out a couple of the simple designs included on the device, then we tried taking a picture of an anime-style character she drew. We had to simplify it a bit in the app and then she changed some of the colors so as not to run out of beads (it actually ended up bigger than we intended, but that was probably my fault).

It was fun and easy to use and the resulting designs were cute. The girl said it was easier to add the beads in by hand rather than with the little tool that’s included; try both ways to see what you like.

When working on a long project the device can time out and turn itself off. Sometimes this made the device reset and we had to download our pattern again or scroll through all the different patterns on the memory card to find the one we were working on again.

This would be great for a creative kid who likes to make their own magnets, charms, decorations for cards or whatever else you might use melty bead projects for (it should be noted these are different from Perler beads and are not interchangeable; they sell their own brand of beads available in many colors). It might also encourage kids who aren’t that crafty because the screen showing the pattern makes it easier to complete than using a printed out pattern.

If you’re looking for a creative, fun gift for a kiddo in your life (package rates it ages 7 and up), check out the smART Pixelator.

When my daughter was younger she had a ton of LEGO bricks, and I’m honestly a little sad we got rid of most of them because there are so many fun things to do with LEGOs outside of the kits you bought them in.

I love seeing all the ideas people have for LEGO building challenges, and I have shared some ideas for LEGO games before, but I saw one on Pinterest the other day that I felt was worth a mention.

This one is for those ’80s and ’90s kids who spent sick days home from school watching “The Price is Right”: LEGO Plinko!

For those who don’t know about Plinko, the original was a giant peg board set up at an angle and the contestant would drop a flat disc at the top of the board. As it moved down the board it would hit the pegs and change the way it moved, and there would be different prizes in the slots at the bottom where the piece would land.

This version from Play Party Game works on the same principle, using LEGO bricks to make the game board and marbles in place of the Plinko disc since your game board isn’t flat.

You can really use whatever bricks you have for this build, and while it shows all the pegs the same size and evenly spaced, you can play with different configurations and see what happens. It’s engineering and a game!

And while you’re playing with your LEGOs, make sure to check out this post from Kids Craft Room that includes minute to win it style games you can do with LEGO. From speed sorting to tower building as fast as you can, these ideas are sure to get you thinking about different ways to play with LEGO.

And if you need even more ideas, check out my post with LEGO building challenges you can print out for kids (and adults!) to try.

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