4 Tech Toys for Kids

When your kids were born, you couldn't possibly have imagined how much money you'd spend on toys. News articles on the cost of raising kids always focus on college, but fathers know that little cobbled together pieces of plastic resembling Pixar characters end up costing much more than an Ivy League education.
Luckily, there are a few tech toys out there that can keep kids entertained for years. What's more important, though, is how much time you'll spend with them. Here are a few kid-centric tech gadgets that dads can secretly buy for themselves.
Minoru 3D Webcam. Don't be fooled by the goofy, cartoonish looks of this webcam. It works pretty well and takes pictures in a false sort of 3D. Your kids will have great times taking pictures and using the included 3D glasses to get a little spaced out, and it's remarkably fun for adults, too. If worse comes to worst, you can always use it as a standard webcam, but most grown men will spend at least an hour or two marveling at the 3D graphics and pretending that they're a slightly less talented James Cameron.
Sony PlayStation 3. Your kids will love the immense game selection of Sony's PlayStation 3, which includes a load of great titles for kids. The new Sony Move controller mimics the functionality of the ever-popular Nintendo Wii, and older kids will enjoy the free Internet gaming service that Sony provides. (The rival Xbox 360 carries a monthly charge for its online service).
Dads will enjoy the awesome multimedia capabilities. You can easily set up a PS3 to stream movies off of your computer or Netflix, play Blu-ray movies and, yeah, maybe squeeze in a round or two of Madden when the kids are in bed. If you don't want to shell out the money for a PS3 because you think that video games are too violent these days, you can always spend significantly less for the Retro Duo NES/SNES, which will play all of your old Nintendo cartridges.
Star Theater Pro Home Planetarium. Kids should learn something about the universe that we live in, right? This home planetarium projects a beautiful array of stars and constellations onto your ceiling. It's ideal for little astronomers living in a city where light pollution blocks out the majesty of the night sky. It's also something that you can really enjoy with your kids; consider picking up a few astronomy books with it. Your child will be the envy of all of the kids with little cheap plastic stars glued to their ceilings, and you might be surprised at how well this inexpensive planetarium recreates the feeling of looking up into the vast evening sky.
"50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do." This brilliant book's the ideal answer to parenting experts everywhere. It explains in simple terms why some dangerous activities like gluing your fingers together, laying a penny on the railroad tracks or Dumpster diving aren't really that bad. It has a good moral to it and teaches a ton of science along the way. As its title implies, it's for both children and parents.