When we were asked if we wanted to try out the latest SPACETALK Adventurer watch, it was a big HECK YES. Our daughter has been asking for a smartwatch for awhile now (ya know, cause ALLLLL of her friends have one!) but we had been nervous to make the leap. Partly because we try to keep the kids screentime and tech use to a minimum (with varying results, we’re not perfect!) and partly because of the security and privacy horror stories we had heard.

Thankfully we don’t need to worry about ANY of that with the SPACETALK Adventurer. Without social media or open internet, we were sold. Our daughter was thrilled to receive her new watch, it was easy to setup and best of all, we have full control of when and how she uses it. I downloaded the SPACETALK app to my phone, paired it with the watch and off she went!

Thank goodness that via the SPACETALK app, we have full control of who she can message and call… because our daughter has become a messaging fiend! They can only message or call people that you setup via the app on your own phone – at this stage she only has her Dad and myself which is a relief because she has taken to sending us a message from the backyard to dob on her little brother for snatching. We also received poo emojis from her while sitting on the toilet… face palm! I’m sure this wasn’t what the creators of the SPACETALK Adventurer had in mind when they designed the watch but we’ve all had a good giggle over it.

Poo emojis aside, it is super handy to foster some independence. We only live a few hundred metres from her school and knowing she has her watch on her has given me the confidence to let her walk to school on her own. Via the app on my own phone I can track her location to make sure she hasn’t gone astray (or god forbid something worse) then I can send her a quick message to wish her a good day before School Mode kicks in.

Yep, SCHOOL MODE. The SPACETALK Adventurer has settings you control via your own phone so that your child can’t play with or use their watch during school hours or other periods you set. We currently have School Mode set to come on between 8:30am – 3:10pm on weekdays and Sleep Time set for 6:00pm – 7:00am every night. During these times, the smartwatch turns into a regular ‘ol watch that they can only see the time on. However the features continue to work in the background so parents can still track their location if need be and it continues to count their steps and heart rate (if this is something important to you and your child).

The latest SPACETALK UPDATE is a bit of fun, but also super important – the new wellness features, allows your child to “send a feeling” – they can let you know how they are feeling in real time if you aren’t with them. This is a great idea if they are perhaps at a friends house or off on a school holiday day program and want to let you know if they are feeling out of sorts (or perhaps that they are having a GREAT time!).

We can see how our daughter having her SPACETALK Adventurer watch over the next few years will be a huge help as she gets more & more independent, wants to walk to friends houses, be able to check the weather to decide what to wear and begins to get more ‘digital literate’ as the world around us moves at a breakneck speed. It’s a huge comfort to know that while she is doing all of this, we can still monitor and keep an eye on her to keep her safe.

Grab your SPACETALK Adventurer or find out more by clicking here.

*Kids In Adelaide were gifted a SPACETALK Adventurer Watch in exchange for an honest review.
The above review is 100% our own words and opinions*

PREVIOUS KIDS IN ADELAIDE SPACETALK REVIEW:

A while ago my almost 9 year old was riding to her sports training at the oval that’s 3 streets from our house. She’s a very confident bike rider and recently we’ve felt that she’s capable and confident enough to ride herself to and from training. Her coach would text when she arrived, and when she left. It was all going great.

UNTIL

A few weeks ago a group of teenagers heckled her while she was riding. She got scared and rode a different way and then got a bit lost. She didn’t want to go back the way she’d normally come home because she’d have to go past the boys again but she didn’t know how to get home a different way.

She panicked and started crying. She wasn’t sure what to do and she doesn’t have a phone so she couldn’t call home. In the end an older lady was out walking her dogs and saw Winnie crying. The lady tried to call me but I was in the shower and didn’t hear my phone ring so the lady asked if she’d like a lift home, and my daughter SAID YES?!?! She actually GOT INTO THE CAR WITH A STRANGER!!!! OMG! Doesn’t that just make you feel SICK!

Long story short, I get out of the shower and listened to a voicemail from the lady saying she had her. I almost vomit and call her back to be answered by my daughter, still sniffling, and telling me that she was in the car with a lady who was bringing her home. I almost vomit again and run out onto the street to see the car just pulling up, thank the lady, and then hug my daughter almost hard enough to pop her head off her shoulders.

After getting the whole story, and trying very very VERY hard to not express my major shock/disbelief/disappointment that she had got into the car with a stranger I realised that if we were going to continue to let her have this little bit of independence, she was going to need a way to contact us in case of emergency. Being only 9 I really didn’t like the idea of her having a phone yet for a number of reasons so we started looking into smart watches. Something she could wear and not lose, something easy to use and something I could trust to do the job in case we ever have this kind of situation again.

After reading up on a few of the different brands I kept coming back to the SPACETALK and asked if they would be interested in sending us a couple of their Adventurer watches for the KiA kids to try.

9 year olds Harvey and Winnie have had them for a few weeks now and they are definitely doing the job I was hoping for. The SPACETALK Adventurer is aimed at 5 – 12 year olds as a way of progressing to a mobile phone, a wearable alternative that allows kids to stay connected and contactable by their parents. It’s a nice looking little all in one with a great list of features, but not TOO many that it becomes a distraction.

What we love about the SPACETALK Adventurer

  • No access to the open internet and no social media
  • It can make and receive calls and text messages but ONLY to contacts set up by you. You’ll receive an alert if/when unauthorised messages or phone calls are blocked.
  • SOS Alert. Easy to activate and will notify all contacts on your “safe list” that an SOS has been sent out.
  • The sound quality for phone calls is surprisingly good.
  • Parental control is set up via the app connected to your phone. It’s very easy to set up and configure.
  • School Mode – allows you to turn the call functions off during school hours if you want to or if your school requires it.
  • Easy and fun to customise the home screen
  • Calendar, Stopwatch, ability to set awards (eg clean your room, do your homework) and check the weather.
  • Location tracking is excellent. We’re super impressed with this function. We can even tell if he’s at our neighbours house and not ours, so it’s accurate within just meters. At any time you can find out where your child is and you can also turn on auto location updates to send you an update at a designated time (from 5 minutes to hourly)
  • Fitness Tracker
  • Camera. Because who doesn’t love seventy billion selfies from your kid
  • Available in 4 colours.
  • 12 month warranty

Things to consider

  • Dust & Water Resistant. NOT water PROOF but is protected up to a depth of 1 metre for up to 30 mins. Treat it like a phone, you wouldn’t shower or swim with your phone, so we’d suggest using the same rules for the SPACETALK.
  • You’ll need a Nano SIM card with calls, SMS and data, and a SPACETALK in-app subscription for up to 2 watches $5.99/month or up to 5 watches for $8.99/month.
  • You’ll need to charge it every night. The first couple of weeks we had it the battery went pretty fast BUT we were using it A LOT. We also reduced the auto location updates to every hour instead of every 5 minutes which helped and you can also turn this function off and only use the on demand location.
  • It’s on the bigger side so if your kids have tiny wrists they might not like the size.

All in all both Winnie and Harvey are very happy with their SPACETALK Adventurers. I’m definitely more comfortable about sending her off on her bike now. It’s given her independence and safety and me peace of mind.

The SPACETALK Adventurer is $346 and available online at

www.spacetalkwatch.com/products/spacetalk-adventurer

The toys mentioned above we received free of charge for the purpose of this review however as for all reviews from Kids in Adelaide the above is honest and in our own words.

You might also be interested in

  • Helping Kids manage big feelings.....and with the delay and a bit of uncertaintly around back to school for 2022 there's definitely some BIG feelings happening in our house at the moment. #relate? We thought this would be a great time to introduce you to Brave and Able ®. Not only are these two very cute and cuddly, they're also a great tool to help kids take charge of their brains and encourage slow, strong breathing that will help them calm down and take control of an anxious or stressful situation. The built in light in the tummies of Brave and Able ® slowly turns on and off to encourage those nice, slow, deep calming breaths that help kids get out of that fight, flight or freeze response and instead tell our body that it is safe and to rest and digest. Isn't that a great phrase "rest and digest" - I love that. You can read more about the science behind Brave and Able here I've got a 9 year old and a 3 year old and it's been fascinating (and a big relief) to watch how these work. My 9 year old occasionally suffers from anxiety which flares up…

  • Nope, they're not cheap........and you know why.....because they're made STRONG, made to LAST and made to GROW with your kids. We need to stop buying cheap crap that lasts a few months, and start investing in great quality toys that encourage our kids to get outside, take risks and be active! This is what our Funky Monkey Bars looked like in 2017 This is what our Funky Monkey Bars look like now Funky Monkey Bars® popped up in my Facebook news feed back in 2017 and having a child who loves to play outside and swing and climb, I HAD to find out more. Funky Monkey Bars® are an Australian company started by Perth Dad Shane Roberts, who made a set of monkey bars for his own kids back in 2009. Of course they were a massive hit, not only with his own kids, but also with their friends and local kids, and it was there that Funky Monkey Bars® was born.We were SO lucky to be given "The Chimp" to set up at home and try out and IT. IS. AWESOME! It's like having a playground in your own backyard! We've had our kid now for over 4 years…

  • It’s no secret that toddlers LOVE toys and it’s very easy to sudden find yourself living in a house with quite literally THOUSANDS of toys that never or rarely get played with. We all talk about fast fashion, but can we take a minute to think about fast toys. The amount of plastic junk toys that end up in landfill each year is mind boggling so we’re making a concerted effort to promote quality, long lasting toys that grow with your kids and can then be handed down when they’re finished with them. Oskar’s Wooden Ark are an Adelaide based toy store that is quite literally bursting from the seams with toys that fit this exact description. We’ve chosen a few of our favourite toys for toddlers from their huge range and put them to the test.  MOOV Rock Climbing Ramp Slide Attention parents of climbing kids! Firstly, we are sorry. We understand the constant fear of ‘why is it quiet? What are they climbing on now?’ and how terrifying it can be. But you also want to encourage their development and see them flourish right! Well a while back we grabbed the Moov folding Pikler triangle and little baby Jack…