15 FUN AND UNIQUE PRODUCTS FOR YOU AND THE KIDS

Well, summer has arrived, and that means it’s time to find fun summer activities for the kiddos and family. We looked around and found unique products you may not be aware of. We also tried to focus on all ages of children. We’ve included activities that require movement, problem solving, and concentration. No matter what the age of your kiddos, we have found something for them. Get out there and have some good family time…they grow up fast.

1.  OPEN GOAAAL–THE WORLD’S BEST SOCCER GOAL, REBOUNDER, AND BACKSTOP

This is sure to be a hit! We have found the PERFECT soccer goal to assist in that.

Finally a true practice soccer goal has been created! We all have wasted so much time chasing stray shots (either ours or our kiddos’) or spent time retrieving the ball out of the goal. With Open Goaaal, actual practice time can possibly be doubled.

Whether you are a parent, coach, or a player, you will see the value in Open Goal. The goal is surrounded on three sides with a wall of tensioned netting; therefore, missed goal shots are perfectly rebounded, allowing more practice time. Now you can stand by your player and spend quality time coaching rather than chasing balls. In addition, the tensioned netting protects surrounding landscape and windows. Practicing in tight, limited spaces is now no problem at all. Installation is fast and easy–no digging needed at all.

The Open Goaaal is also for your aspiring goalkeeper. Kiddos love to try to block an adult’s shots. No holding back now; kick with confidence that the shot will be either blocked or rebounded. Skill building is accelerated with the Open Goaaal. Coaches are giving the Open Goaaal high marks because they are seeing players more eager to spend more time practicing. Open Goaaal has received the endorsement and use by Liverpool FC Academy.

Now for the aesthetic value of the Open Goaaal. How many times have we grumbled when it comes to mowing around a soccer goal in the yard. Not only can they sometimes be unsightly, but also rather heavy to move when it comes to mowing. Not a problem with the Open Goaaal. It almost disappears when it’s installed…but it can be “put away” by sliding the net to one side when not in use and can even be easily raised when it’s time to mow! Because there’s no PVC pipe frame, the whole set up blends nicely into its surroundings.

After checking out all the advantages of this goal, it’s hard for us to find any reason not to have one. It is sure to get the kiddos outside and off their electronics. There are three sizes to chose from: Large, Standard, and Junior…a size for your yard or field or for the talent level. These are ready for your “bring-it-on” backyard party. Get an Open Goaaal and save the windows in your house…and your neighbor’s house.

 2.  E-FOILER BOARD BY JETFOILER

“e-foil: a watercraft equipped with hydrofoils that uses electric motor or motors for propulsion.”

Do you think this is for the older children? Don Montague, creator. Marrying the principles behind a motorized surfboard and a hydrofoil board, the Jetfoiler is exactly what you may assume it might be. The Jetfoiler is a motorized hydrofoil board that hovers just above the water’s surface once enough speed is reached. This is the perfect transportation for those who are looking for the thrill of water-based board sports while minimizing the risk of getting wet. All it takes is a a waterway and then you are on your way.

The mechanics of the Jetfoiler are quite simple. An under-water motor is mounted on the hydrofoil. This motor allows riders to cruise at comfortable speeds right above the surface of the water. The faster you go, the higher the board rises. It’s also controlled via a handheld remote. The deck and the foil are made with the same high-end composites used in the construction of racing boats. The board is still under development so actual specs are limited. Check out more videos and photos on the Jetfoiler website.

3.  ASSOLAR SS-12 SLINGSHOT

Oh yeah, baby! If your slingshot has a “warning” on it, then you know you are in for a good time. The Assolar SS-12 Multi-function Super Power Laser Slingshot is crazy awesome. We aren’t talking about that old Y-shaped wooden toy from our kid days. This will be a hit with your older children. (Recommend parental supervision)

Features of the Assolar SS-12 Slingshot

• Equipped with an infrared sight and a laser flashlight, resulting in a full-range of more precise aiming point
• Spring for accelerating to produce a more powerful shooting force
• Material: StainlessSteel
• Size: 30 cm x 15 cm x 15.5 cm
• Can be adapted to shoot arrows (Does not contain the arrow）
• Additional accessories can be purchased separately
• Package includes:
  1 – Assolar SS-12
  1 – Laser sight with flashlight
  1 – Wrench tool
  4 – Rubber Bands
  1 – Pack of Steel Balls
  1 – Installation instructions

The kids will love this fun summer activity. Set up targets and have a marksmanship competition.

4.  HYPERKIN SMARTBOY

What’s with today’s trends? Nostalgia has taken over. Websites are now going back to the early internet look; the first generation games are becoming a hit. Could it be those first generation gamers are now driving the gaming industry? The Hyperkin SmartBoy is the newest throw-back product release. How cool is this?

Do you have those original Game Boy cartridges lying around collecting dust? The Smartboy will enable you to resurrect that gaming experience. The SmartBoy Development Kit attaches to Android (and what about iPhones??) smartphones, turning the phone into a handheld gaming device. Just insert those Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges.

The SmartBoy will be of interest to two groups: The Gamer End User and the Gamer Developer. For gamer end users, just plug in your cartridges and get to playing. For the more technical developers, a developer’s kit means you can help refine the open source software and create an even better SmartBoy. If you can make significant improvements to the SmartBoy’s firmware, you may be rewarded with sweet, sweet royalty cash. So you talented developers, here’s a great secondary income.

Features of the HyperKin SmartBoy

• Open source serial app and firmware
• Compatible with GB,GBC and GBA* cartridges
• Classic handheld-style tactile button set
• Designed for Android smartphones
• Double-sided micro USB port

So get out those cartridges and float back to the 80s! This is a lesson in itself for today’s kiddos.

5.  ACTON ROCKETSKATES R-5 ELECTRIC SKATES

Smart electric skates take skating to the next level. Today, we control just about everything from an app on our phone. Are your older children up for the task? We are a long way from that old key that tightened skates over our shoes With ACTON RocketSkates R5, you can whiz around town at up to 7 mph. RocketSkates R5 is powered by two brush-less DC motors and get a range of up to 5 miles. Use our iOS & Android app tracks your route and reports distance travelled. Invoke searing jealously in everyone, everywhere. Not only will you arrive at your destination, but the R5s are great for core development! Besides this, you can also visit Wowskates to find the best variety of skates. The Shoe Skates by WowSkates is among their best sellers.

Features of the R5 Electric Skates

• Wireless Bluetooth Remote 2.4GHz
  • Dimensions:  3′ * 2′ * 1′
  • Battery: 1x AAA Battery
•  iOS & Android app tracks your route and reports distance travelled
• 3 speed settings top speed: 10mph
• Travels up to 5 miles on full Charge
• 1-year warranty
• Available in Red or Blue
• **Helmet recommended

It will take some practice to master these; but once you do, you will be compelled to show off all around town.

6.  KIWI Crate: STEM, STEAM, ART-Oriented Subscription Boxes

It’s summer and you may already be tired of hearing “I’m bored!” Or maybe you just want to enhance your child’s classroom experiences. KIWI Crate kits are prepared activities and projects which make learning fun in science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

Kiwi Crate is a line of STEAM-oriented kits from Kiwi Crate, a subscription box service that delivers maker projects for kids to your home for a monthly fee. Aimed at ages 0-16, they include sewable circuits, laser-cut trebuchet, and acrylic etching nightlight. The kits include an illustrated magazine with additional science experiments and activities. There are also video tutorials available with tips and tricks.

How Kiwi Crate Kits Work

• Find the perfect age group for your child. Kits are available in:
  • Ages 0-2: Play and Learn Activities
  • Ages 3-4: Science Art & More
  • Ages 5-8: Art & Design Techniques
  • Ages 9-16+: Science & Engineering
• A Kiwi Crate Kit will arrive once a month
• Subscriptions can be monthly up to yearly (cancel at any time)

Each crate includes all the materials needed so there you won’t be burdened with trying to find all the components to complete the projects. In addition, each kit teaches new techniques for your child. The techniques are presented with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. Each kit includes online tutorials with tips and tricks.

Kiwi Crate kits make learning fun and are designed to inspire and shape our future generation of scientists, artists, and inventors. The awards and press coverage of these kits are numerous. This fun summer activity will keep the learning going right up to the next school year.

7.  ATARIBOX: ATARI’S NEW NOSTALGIA FUELED GAMING CONSOLE

Atari recently announced its new console, the Ataribox, at E3, as they attempt to take advantage of the current retro gaming phase. and they’ve just released a few more pictures and details. It appears the new Ataribox is designed after the classic wood paneling of the Atari 2600, evoking a cool retro look that is still modern. In fact, even if the gaming console itself doesn’t seem to be too great, Atari has already nailed the external appearance.

There is an SD card support, a HDMI port, and four USB ports on the Ataribox. Two versions of the Ataribox will be released, one in wood, and one in black / red – both of which are pretty slick.

The inside will house all new, up to date gaming internals (Atari calls  them “modern internal specs”) and Atari will be releasing  a bunch of classic games to work with backwards compatibility, but will also be publishing some new “current content”, as well. Count on some games made just for the Ataribox, as well as some other games ported over.

We don’t encourage a lot of screen time during the summer; however, there will be down times when gaming is acceptable.

8.  NIMUNO LOOPS LEGO COMPATIBLE ADHESIVE TAPE

If you don’t have Legos in your house, it’s time to get some. The Lego tape opens a whole world to creativityl For all the LEGO Maniacs out there, now you can “LEGO” anywhere–using the new Nimuno Loops Lego Tape. Create Lego castles or Star Wars battlegrounds anywhere. The possibilities are endless. Anywhere you can stick tape can become a LEGO building ground. Do you have a child who is into LEGOS? Bag some basic building blocks along with Nimuno Loops Lego Tape and you will be able to keep him/her occupied for hours. Other ideas:

• A LEGO-framed laptop
• Minifigs scaling your refrigerator and climbing through a LEGO maze
• LEGO wearables
• LEGO construction around corners, on curved surfaces, and on the smooth sides of already-built projects. Not to mention LEGO “patches” for designs you want to add to or change without disassembling them.

In addition to LEGO, the bendable, stickable strips are also compatible with Mega Bloks and Kreo.

 9.  CAN CANNON SODA CAN LAUNCHER

Now this is a little out there but surely fun! If you’re looking for something purely fun to add to your days on the range….add this one to the list of Things-You-Never-Asked-For-But-Totally-Want-Anyway. The Can Cannon Soda Can Launcher is exactly what the name implies – a soda can launcher. It fits on your AR-15 like a traditional grenade launcher would. Unlike a grenade launcher, however, it is entirely legal (how many laws can there be regarding soda can launchers, anyway?). It also launches a whole array of other items that fit, like tennis balls or paint cans, or even a special grappling hook made by the Can Cannon manufacturer.

It features a gas ported barrel and pressure tube to prevent high pressures from exploding or destroying items in the launcher, and it can launch a regular 12-ounce can up to 105 yards. Blowing up watermelons and other objects just a got a whole lot more fun . . .

But you might be asking…Why? X Products has the best answer for that we’ve seen: simply, because you can. Sounds like a deal to us.  It should work with any AR-15 standard mil bolt and most piston bolts. A hassle-free, lifetime warranty is also included – making the Can Cannon not only a cool toy, but one you can count on, and totally worth the hefty price tag.

10.  TEC ACCESSORIES TITANIUM ORBITER FIDGET DEVICE

Are the kiddos fidgety? Put a spinner in their hands. Studies show while we fidget with something, our creative juices start flowing in our brains. Introducing the TEC Accessories Titanium Orbiter Fidget Device, the most unique sensory fidget device on the planet. This patent-pending design offers an addictive escape from life’s boring routine, providing countless hours of perpetual motion and entertainment!

Manufactured from grade 5 Titanium and powerful Neodymium magnets, the Orbiter is the newest and greatest fiddle/desktop device that defies belief. With innumerable ways to interact with the Orbiter, including a hand spinner and a no-friction trackball, the Orbiter will undoubtedly bring you hours of excitement with endless possibilities. It’s extremely fun to use, and easy enough to learn with only a few minutes of practice.

All it takes is a small repetitive relaxing movement of the included ball bearing around the Orbiter to begin an indescribably satisfying experience. The fluid inertia in your hand ultimately leads to increased focus and added stress relief. It’s an exclusive experience you can only get from TEC Accessories.

The Orbiter impressively weighs well under 2 ounces and can easily be stored in your pocket or purse, so when that fidget urge (or just plain boredom) arises, you know where to reach. There are a lot more hidden features and fun ideas awaiting to be discovered when you get your very own Orbiter.

The Orbiter: Perpetually Compelling – Fidgeting Fulfilled

11.  HANAYAMA NUTCASE

This is awesome! Has a brain teaser puzzle ever make you feel like a nutcase? The Hanayama NUTCASE Cast Metal Brain Teaser Puzzle may just do that…or at least give you a migraine. The NUTCASE is a Level 6 brain teaser so you may eventually label this a “impossible.”  However, it isn’t. Just have patience and tackle the most challenging puzzle you may ever attempt.

The goal is to separate the nuts from the bolts to reveal the interior stash container and remove the rattling nuts held inside. Normally, there’s nothing complicated about unscrewing a simple nut and bolt, but this isn’t your average nut and bolt. The NUTCASE takes the form of an apparently unsolvable problem: two freely twistable nuts trapped on a bolt with a head on either side. The trick to disassembling the puzzle relies on not one but two hidden bits of unusual design, one on the bolt and one on the nuts. Spoilers ahead in the video on this page, so beware!

12.  CAKE HANAYAMA CAST METAL BRAIN TEASER PUZZLE

What a way to stay sharp–brain teaser puzzles are great for all ages. Hanayama Puzzles says its tiny new CAKE Cast Metal Puzzle is recommended for ages 12 to 105 years, but “A few bright children between 8 to 11 years” might also be able to solve it. In other words, parents out there who think your kids are the smartest and best.

Hanayama Puzzles of Japan has been making these nifty cast metal puzzles for 25 or so years now. CAKE was released for 2017 and, at 1.6″ in diameter and 0.75″ thick, I think it fits right in amidst the current fidget toy and spinner fad. CAKE, for those of you who don’t have a sweet tooth, is so named because it looks like a round cake, with a big quarter-slice cut out. Within gap from the removed slice are 3 internal discs with interlocking channels, the overall aesthetic of which looks like CAKE has had its cut slices shoved back inside it.

To have your CAKE and conquer it too, you have to remove the 3 internal discs.

And then finagle them back inside.

Called a “disentanglement brain teaser,” CAKE has a Level 4 difficulty rating (out of 6). Hanayama Puzzles notes, repeatedly, that their puzzles require “NO FORCE” to solve.

13.  LEGO IDEAS NASA APOLLO SATURN V

One of our favorite summer activities…building advanced Lego kits. The LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V is the proud creation of LEGO Ideas members Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche. They decided to push the limited of the bricks. This isn’t an ordinary Lego kit–the Saturn V is a whopping 39 inches tall and 6 inches in diameter–yes, you read that right!  That is a 1:110 scale.

Are you up to over 1,969 pieces (by the way, 1969 is the year the Saturn V landed on the moon)? That’s what it takes to create authentic details. The Saturn V features 3 removable rocket stages, including the S-IVB third stage with the lunar lander and lunar orbiter. The set also includes 3 stands to display the model horizontally, 3 new-for-June-2017 astronaut microfigures for role-play recreations of the Moon landings, plus a booklet about the manned Apollo missions and the fan designers of this educational and inspirational LEGO Ideas set.

• Features a removable S-IC first rocket stage with main rocket engine details, removable S-II second rocket stage with rocket engine details, removable S-IVB third rocket stage with the Apollo spacecraft, and rescue rocket at top of the whole spacecraft, plus 3 stands to display the model horizontally.
• The Apollo spacecraft features the lunar lander and the lunar orbiter.
• Also includes 3 new-for-June-2017 astronaut microfigures.
• Great for display and role-playing the manned Apollo Moon missions.
• Includes a booklet about the manned Apollo Moon missions and the fan designers of this set.

14.  ORU Folding Kayak

Get them outside! If you like kayaking but don’t like the logistical challenges the sport presents, there’s about a million and one reasons to try the Oru Origami Kayak. It’s strong and sturdy enough for real kayaking but could be folded up and carried around anytime and anywhere you need. Slide it between the car and the wall for storage and drive it around in the trunk – it would fit without a hitch. Now Oru is taking that design another step further with their new Inlet.

The Inlet was created with the idea of “pushing Oru’s key attributes- portability, weight, foldability- to the absolute max.” That means that, instead of folding down to the size of a suitcase, the Inlet folds down to the size of a handbag…and weighs no more than 20 pounds compared to the original Oru’s minimum of 26. (The largest model, the Coast XT, comes in a full 36 pounds).

This was accomplished through the creation of a brand-new origami fold pattern, which emphasized not only sleek kayak looks but also the elimination of ALL excess material or weight. This is combined with their custom-extruded, UV-treated plastic material, called OruPlast, which strikes the perfect balance of weight and durability and is rated to last more than 20,000 folds. New built-in plastic fairings, bow and stern bulkheads for rigidity and added strength, and an integrated, no-assembly-required floorboard round out the super-simple but durable construction.

The result is a kayak that is light, compact, nimble on the water and fully-assembled in less than 5 minutes. Still seems almost crazy to us that you can actually fold it up so small, but hey, we’re not complaining.

15.  LEGO BUILDING BLOCKS