With the summer holidays in full swing you might need a bit of a hand keeping the kids entertained. From tablets and cameras to robot toys and updated old-school favourites, here is a collection of kid-aimed tech to keep the little ones occupied.

Robot toys

Sphero Mini - £50

There are a lot of robot toys available, but a long-time favourite, Sphero, is my pick. Deceptively simple - a ball that you can remote control using a smartphone or tablet - it has hidden depths with games and educational elements available on further inspection.

Here in its latest “mini” form, the Sphero ball is just a lot of fun to drive around and small enough that over-exuberant indoor excursions won’t result in marked up paintwork or broken furniture. The Sphero Play app has games too, but if you want to foster a bit of creative learning the Sphero Edu app is great.

Your kids or big kids can learn to program with an easy interface, follow examples and activities, getting the robot to do all sorts of things, or get deeper and write some code for it in JavaScript.

Higher-end versions such as the £100 SPRK+ or £150 BOLT can take the educational elements to the next level too.

If you’re after something a bit simpler, perennial favourite HotWheels has some new mixed-reality experiences in various “id” cars (£7) and tracks (£160) that record lap records and challenges.

Tablets

Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition - £99

While lending them your iPad works well enough, if you want something the little urchins can’t break then the Kids Edition of Amazon’s cheap Fire 7 tablet is worth a look.

It comes with a brightly coloured case, which now has a pop-out stand. If your kids manage to break it, Amazon will replace it for free under its two year worry-free guarantee.

It does all the standard Android tablet things such as movies, games, a web browser if you want it and parental controls to lock it down, set time limits and age filters. There’s even an option for enabling a web browser that can only access curated kid-safe sites and videos, but it doesn’t have access to the Google Play store, only Amazon’s own app store.

The Kids Edition also comes with a one-year subscription to Amazon Fire for Kids Unlimited (£2 to £4 a month afterwards), which is a curated collection of kid-friendly text and audio books, movies, TV shows and educational apps.

There’s the larger £130 Fire HD 8 and £200 Fire HD 10 versions available too if you want something bigger.

Alternatives include LeapFrog’s various educational tablets (£90), which are fine for younger children, Kurio’s Android tablets with Google Play (£40), or hand-me-down or refurbished iPad Minis (£300) in robust cases, which can be locked down with some parental controls.

Cameras

Vtech Kidizoom Duo 5.0 - £40

One of the best things about a smartphone is the camera, but if you don’t want your kids to have one just yet, a camera might be the next best thing.

The Vtech Kidizoom Duo 5.0 fits the bill as “my first digital camera” made of rugged plastic and simple operation, which Vtech reckons is suitable for 3-9 year olds. It shoots 5MP photos of reasonable quality, can shoot out the front or the back for selfies, and has a 2.4in screen.

It has some fun filters and effects, can shoot video too, and even has an optical viewfinder. Older kids will likely reject the kid-centric nature, but if you want your child to grow up to be an award-winning photographer, this could be a good start.

It eats batteries and takes four AAs at a time, so best to buy some rechargeables to go in it, and you’ll need an SD card too.

For older kids, traditional camera manufacturers make a variety of more rugged compact models. Highlights include Nikon’s Coolpix W150 (£150), Panasonic’s Lumix FT30 (£109) and Fujifilm’s FinePix XP130 (£99), or perhaps an entry-level action camera such as GoPro’s Hero7 White (£170).

Fitness trackers

Garmin Vivofit Jr. 2 - £60

Your kid may not need a fitness tracker, but with childhood obesity a serious societal issue, anything that promotes exercise and general activity is a good idea.

My pick is the Garmin Vivofit Jr 2, which strikes the right balance between being fun, easy to manage and spanning enough of an age range that they will hopefully want to wear it for more than a week.

It’s water resistant to five atmospheres (50m), so swimming is no problem. It has a user replaceable battery that lasts a year, so you don’t have to charge it. There’s a choice of stretchy band or traditional buckle (which appears better) and it’s not too bulky as these things go. A link up with Disney means it comes in a variety of character designs including the ever-popular Spider-man.

It tracks steps, activity, sleep, is motivational rather than critical, has mini games to play once your kid has hit their goals and can all be managed from a parent’s phone or tablet so you can keep an eye on their data. Parents can even set goals, competitions with their own activity levels, core reminders and tasks that can earn virtual coins for them to trade for rewards with you.

If you’re a Fitbit user yourself, then the firm’s Ace 2 (£70) means you can compete on activity, but it needs charging every four or so days. Other cheaper adult-focused fitness trackers such as the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 (£21) or newer Mi Smart Band 4 (£34) may be better for older children.

Walkie tTalkies

Binatone Latitude 100 - £22

If you don’t want your kid to have a phone yet, but still want to keep in touch then a two-way radio can be great fun for kids and big kids alike. Stranger Things eat your heart out.

There are lots of kid-specific walkie talkies available, but a basic set such as Binatone’s Latitude 100 normally work better. While it quotes a two-mile range, that’s only line of sight in the middle of nowhere, but they should be good for 500m or so in an urban environment.

Simple enough to set up, and robust enough to take a tumble, the only downside is you’ll need a small mountain of batteries as they take four AAA each – so best get some rechargeables. Push to talk with volume control and a belt clip, ready for adventures.

Nestling’s camouflage walkie talkies (£24) are also a popular choice, while there are lots of alternatives under £30 available on the high street.