Modarri toy cars are bright and colourful, and with "real" suspension and steering they're a blast to play with. But the coolest thing about Modarri cars is the ability to strip them down to parts and rebuild them in countless combinations.

The New York Toy Fair is a showcase for the latest and greatest playthings hitting store shelves in the coming year, but it's also a good indicator of where the toy market is heading. In 2017, that's directly to the inexpensive collectables aisle.

My children used to love playing with colourful plastic blocks. Then they discovered iPad entertainment, and there was no going back. Or is there? Bloxels from Pixel Press is a clever learning toy that lets children build their own video games and characters, one block at a time.

I've not come across a finer means of illustrating the origins of our Western work ethic than this video featuring a recycled Japanese game. Why did't we have 8-Bit Philosophy back when I was in college?

Editor's Note: Ben Bertoli is a long-time Kotaku reader and commenter, a lifetime, dedicated video gamer and a sixth-grade teacher in Indiana. He reached out to Kotaku this past week to share the story of how he turned his class into a role-playing game. The enthusiasm and motivation of the children in Bertoli's class evoke the success stories seen in gamified experiences such as Fitocracy. Here, Bertoli explains his creation, ClassRealm, how it works and what motivated him to develop it.

Last night on the way back to my apartment in New York's Lower East Side, I saw a crowd of men standing around two motorcycles. I'm a fledgling rider myself, as well as newly returned to the city. I'd spoken to these guys a few times before and did what I typically do when I see a guy on a hot bike: walk up and ask him how he likes it.

Last year US President Barack Obama challenged America's youth and game developers to create games that teach the fundamentals of science, technology, engineering and maths. Today we have a game in which aliens teach the scientific method while hunting hamburgers.

Teacher Robert Drewnowski had only $US300 in grant money to help him develop a more effective way of teaching math to fourth graders. He used it to buy a Wii.

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In this Finding Your Science video from the National Science Foundation Arizona State University linguist James Paul Gee discusses how schools kill the joy of learning and how video games can bring it back to life.

For thousands of years, societies taught and trained their children through immersive gameplay and storytelling. Prospect Magazine's Julian Gough wonders why we ever stopped and ponders a fantasy world where the games of today form the children of tomorrow.