Young at heart? These Christmas gifts are perfect for big kids
Playing Santa this Yuletide? Here are five lovely tech playthings that'll entertain old and young alike
This Christmastime, why should children have all the fun? These toys are perfectly acceptable to play with when you’re old enough to vote. Have fun unwrapping these prezzies…
£80, firebox.com
We’ve all dreamed of being a crime-fighting superperson able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and the like – and thanks to the miracle of 3D printing, you can give your friend that gift. In poseable action figure form, no less. Send in two photos of their face (by 6th December), pick a body and you’re good to go.
Personalised Superhero Action Figure
£70, firebox.com
Attacknids could well prove the Furbys of Christmas 2012. These spider-like remote control robots spit out rubbery death (well, discs) and feature armour that, when hit, “explodes” off in Transformers-eque fashion. Fun on their own, but you can bring up to 40 of them together for a full-on robot war on the living room rug.
£15, iwantoneofthose.com
We wouldn’t normally advocate putting cats in the microwave, but this cuddly recreation of the well-loved 70s TV character Bagpuss is designed to be nuked every so often. Whack the lavender-scented (yes, really) fellow into the microwave for a couple of minutes and he’ll be huggably toasty. Fortunately the accuracy of the reproduction doesn’t stretch to this Bagpuss being old, saggy, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams.
Attacknid
£45, iwantoneofthose.com
Fill this metre-tall bird with lovely, lovely helium and it’ll float around the room, steering in any direction you desire – and its little tail even moves from side to side. The remote control range goes up to 40 feet.
£105, gosphero.com
Shortlisted for the Stuff Gadget Awards 2012 Tech Accessory of the Year award, Sphero looks like a ball but is actually a robot. It’s controllable via your iOS or Android device and customisable thanks to the LEDs inside its translucent polycarbonate shell. A series of apps allow you to play games and generally muck about with it in a fun way. Oh, and it floats and swims through water too.
Check out our 2012 Christmas Gift Guides
The best retro gadgets for Christmas 2012
Heatable Bagpuss
Angry Birds Air Swimmer
Sphero
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
