A Fun Way to Learn
It's important to start early when providing children with development support, and using toys makes it fun for everyone. Let's take a look at some of the best STEM toys for kids.
What are STEM Toys?
Today it is so important to get your children interested in the realms of science. Fostering a genuine interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) topics with your child from an early age can help set them up for massive success in the future. Future careers will mostly be based in the realms of STEM, which is why it is important to start your child off early learning about these topics. That’s where STEM toys come in handy.
Getting your child interested in these topics isn’t very hard. If you watch them play, they are naturally interested in building and taking things apart. All you must do is find the right toys for your child to help develop their brain and develop their STEM knowledge.
The Best STEM Toys
Melissa & Doug 100 Piece Block Set
The best STEM toys for children are still widely accepted to be block sets. All kids’ brains are developing and while toddlers are little walking sponges, they are still developing their motor skills. There are milestones with stacking blocks that can help you know your child’s brain is developing on track.
An affordable and fun block set is the Melissa & Doug 100 Piece Block set. It comes in four colors and nine different shapes. Its biggest benefit is that it introduces early concepts of math to your kid. They can learn their numbers and shapes with this set and as a bonus, it is free from screen time.
Dado Cubes
Fat Brain Toys is a company that is dedicated to the creation and sale of STEM toys for kids. The company was founded by a family in Elkhorn, Nebraska who was having trouble finding add-ons for the Geomag toy their son got for his 10th birthday. They created the company to sell this hard-to-find toy and now they develop their own educational toys.
Dado Cubes were the first toy that the company developed. They are for kids aged 3 and older and help to develop fine motor skills as well as help with developing visual-spatial awareness and problem-solving. The cubes can be put together to create different buildings that look like an architectural genius.
Magna-Tiles Classic 100-Piece Set
Keeping with the theme of block-like toys, the company Magna-Tiles has a great 100-piece set for children aged 3 and up. These magnetic tiles can be clicked together to create a variety of different structures and objects.
Magna-Tiles are beneficial because they help your child to develop their creative thinking and problem-solving abilities along with “developing language, cognitive, motor, social and emotional skills."
Gravity Maze
Gravity Maze is a toy for kids aged 8 and older. Children can build a maze out of different cube pieces that allow a marble to roll through. As Thinkfun describes “it’s a gravity-powered logic maze game that builds reasoning skills and visual perception." It has 60 different challenges for children that go from beginner to expert level. It also won silver at The Dadsnet Toy Awards in 2021.
Stillbird Solar Robot
What better way to get your kids excited about science, technology and engineering than with a STEM kit that allows them to build their very own robot? Stillbird offers this with their 12-in-1 Solar Robot kit.
This kit is for kids aged 8-12. It comes with 190 different solar and cell-powered pieces that they can build robots out of. This is a great project for your child to work on and it will help them better understand engineering while having fun doing it.
Disgusting Science Kit
The Disgusting Science Kit is exactly what you would think it is. Another fantastic creation by Fat Brain Toys, it’s a science kit that offers some very fun, gross and scientific projects for kids. This kit has a few different science experiments for kids aged 6 and older including making soap or burping slime. It is great because it’s fun and teaches kids about chemistry and physics.
Our Amazing Human Body Science Kit
This is a great STEM kit that helps your kid to learn all about the human body physiologically. It is perfect for getting your child aged 8 and older interested in biology and health. The interactive kit provides anatomy pieces for your child to build the human body with while learning what all those different parts are. It also comes with three double-sided posters that give explanations of what these different systems of the human body do.
National Geographic Earth Science Kit
There is nothing more fun than an earth science kit from National Geographic. This STEM kit comes with five different Earth Science projects for kids which include building a volcano and digging fool’s gold from a plaster brick. The kit is meant for kids aged 8 and older. Again, it fosters interest in STEM, specifically earth sciences like geology. It also encourages curiosity and logic.
Retro Radio Kit
This build-your-own radio kit is meant for teens but can be used by someone younger if they are showing interest and are supervised. Children can build a functioning 70’s style FM radio with this project. It is very beneficial because this activity “encourages fine motor dexterity, concentration, logic and engineering skills."
There are hundreds of other STEM toys and science kits out there for kids, and these nine are a great place to get started and figure out what areas your child is excited about. Then you can get even more specific with the STEM toys that you buy for them.
For other ways to develop your child's brain, look into reading games.