STEM learning toys promote science, technology, engineering, and math. The best STEM toys are engaging educational toys that encourage physical skills and brain development. These educational STEM toys combine fun for children with learning challenges and open-ended play.
According to the National Science Board, STEM-related job opportunities increase annually by 4%. Parents and teachers use STEM education toys and STEM games for kids to introduce and teach critical concepts at an early childhood preparing kids for their future. According to child development experts like developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik, kids learn through play and prefer toys that teach them the most.
We’ve researched the top picks of STEM toys for kids. Our list includes fun toys for budding engineers, little scientists, future mathematicians, and technology fans. The toy list features toys and games for preschoolers to teenagers from beginner to intermediate and advanced levels. We’ve also included STEAM toys that focus on creative arts.
What To Look For In Great STEM Toys For Kids?
The best STEM toys for kids are so much fun that kids learn STEM concepts without evening realizing they are playing with educational toys. STEM toys combine imaginative play with a learning challenge for the appropriate age groups and developmental stages. Top STEM toys have certain features in common that identify them as great STEM toys for kids. Most STEM toys include instruction cards or manuals to guide and give kids ideas.
STEM Subjects
STEM toys are deliberately designed to promote STEM skills according to kids’ ages and skill levels. The STEM learning toys teach children complex concepts of science, technology, engineering, and math skills in easy-to-understand basics. Outstanding STEM toys introduce kids to STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) in a fun, educational way, and STEAM toys add arts and music to the equation.
Motor Skills Development
A STEM toy requires hands-on activity that promotes the development of fine and gross motor skills. Grabbing, stacking, placing, and maneuvering physical pieces strengthen hand-eye coordination, dexterity, finger pinching, and other muscle strengthening and coordination children need for school and work-related tasks like writing or fastening buttons.
Problem Solving Skills
Kids love to solve problems and find the solution, whether your baby is stacking colored blocks, unraveling secret messages, or writing code. A STEM toy is a great introduction to problem-solving skills. A child learns to gather and evaluate data, plan and strategize the next step, and find the solution to the puzzle, toy, or project.
Cognitive Skills
STEM toys promote brain development in growing children in a fun and engaging way. Playing with STEM toys strengthens spatial reasoning skills, logical thinking, critical thinking skills, memory, perception, decision-making ability, and problem-solving skills. Many stem toys feature skill levels from beginner to advanced, while others are for specific developmental stages according to age groups.
Creativity And Open-Ended Play
The best learning toys stimulate a child’s creativity and imagination. STEM toys are open-ended, free play toys that inspire innovative, creative thinking. Science, technology, engineering, and math subjects stimulate creativity one way or another, and STEAM toys appeal to arts and craft ingenuity. Whether to solve puzzles, coding challenges, science experiments, or drawing projects, a STEM toy challenges a child’s creativity beyond their current knowledge and ability.
Best STEM Toys For Kids Compared
Top STEM Toys And Top STEM Gifts Reviewed
Best STEM Toys For Kids: PlayShifu Educational Globe For Kids
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The PlayShifu Educational Globe is the most fun STEAM learning toy for any 4-10 year old. The app-enabled AR (augment reality) World Globe features over 1000 facts and 400 wonders to discover on a globe without names and borders.
Children visualize, interact, and learn about the world by exploring six main categories, animals, monuments, inventions, cultures, cuisines, and maps. Scavenger hunts, visual storytelling, solving mysteries, fun quizzes, and interactive games get kids excited and take a geography lesson to another level of intrigue.
The STEM toy takes curious children on fun adventures. The set includes a passport for these AR travels, the Orboot Earth globe, stamps, stickers, a flags and cities sticker book, and the Orboot Earth app. The smart globe works with the free Orboot app, which is compatible with most iPods, iPhones, and Android devices.
The AR immersive experience is an excellent STEM learning toy for homeschooling or the classroom. This fun screen time makes geography, environmental science, social science, and general knowledge a fun learning adventure.
Best STEM Toys For Coding Robot: Learning Resources Botley The Coding Robot Activity Set
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The Learning Resources Botley The Coding Robot Activity Set is the perfect technology toy introducing coding to a young child five years and up. The coding robot is ready to code out of the box and doesn’t require a smartphone or tablet; it is entirely screen-time-free.
The coding kit includes a remote programmer, 40 coding cards, six double-sided tiles, 27 obstacle building pieces, a starter guide, coding challenges, and Botley with detachable arms. The STEM toy teaches the basic coding skill level that allows a child to start coding with coding games, a dream project for little kids to engage with their own robots.
Coding robots are excellent STEM toys to promote problem-solving skills, logical thinking skills, critical thinking skills, and creativity. Botley follows loop commands, black-line paths, and obstacle courses and has hidden features for children to unlock. With the object detection feature, a child can program Botley to take specific action steps to bypass an object. With up to 80 coding steps, it’s fun to code and watch Botley follow the programmed instructions.
Best STEM Kits For Kids: Light-Up Terrarium Kit For Kids
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The cute Light-Up Terrarium Kit is the perfect DIY science project for dinosaur fans that facilitates cognitive skills and creativity; a great toy to foster interest in science. The toy creates a mini dinosaur garden that transforms into a cool night light.
The terrarium kit includes five dinosaur figurines, a jar, a spray bottle, and the layers needed for the garden, including soil, blue sand, white river rock, chia seed, and wheatgrass seed. Children add the layers, use the spray bottle to water the garden and watch how the mini garden sprouts, ready for the dinosaur toys.
With the LED light, the DIY dinosaur terrarium kit changes into a miniature glowing garden at night. The information cards feature exciting dinosaur facts, and your child will love the large dinosaur poster in the package. It is the perfect STEM toy gift for kids 4 to 10 years old.
Best STEAM Toys For Music Fans: Sphero Specdrums App-Enabled Musical Rings
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The Sphero Specdrums App-Enabled Musical Rings are fun ways to create music without needing musical instruments. Kids from six can tap into the art of STEAM learning through music composition; it’s the perfect gift for music fans, musicians, DJs, and curios kids.
Sphero Specdrums music rings turn colors into sounds without needing expensive musical instruments. It’s a cost-effective and innovative way to determine if your child is really interested in playing musical instruments and if it’s just a fad. It’s fun, open-ended play for children at any skill level; the opportunity to create masterpieces with instruments of choice, loops, and sounds.
The set includes a light sensor, accelerometer, and Bluetooth Low energy connectivity. Connect the Specdrums Mix or Edu app and tap with the rings on the playing pad or anything else like drawings or clothes to create beats and sounds played through the mobile device.
Best STEM Gifts For Toddlers: 14 Piece Tegu Magnetic Wooden Block Set
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The 14-piece Tegu Magnetic Wooden Blocks is a starter building block set for inventive, unscripted, open-ended play. The building blocks promote imaginative play, storytelling, and pattern recognition and enhance fine motor skills, problem-solving skills, sense of scale, and balance.
The building kit includes two cubes, two columns, two parallelograms, and four short and four long planks. Child-safe, the wooden blocks are non-toxic with a water-based lacquer finish. Smooth finishing and round edges help avoid injuries, and the blocks are perfect for kids from 12 months and up with no small parts that could be a choking hazard.
Chris and Will Haughey, founders of Tegu, added a unique twist to traditional building blocks. Each block features a hidden magnet that clicks together to create beautiful structures. The five unique shapes click together, forming a dog, squirrel, moose, T-Rex, unicorn, and anything a little mind can imagine. The charming simplicity and colorful blocks create magnificent displays for a coffee table, office desk, or playroom.
Best STEM Toys For Budding Scientists: Blippi My First Science Kit With Color Experiments
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The Blippi My First Science Kit With Color Experiments is an all-inclusive science kit to teach kids primary and secondary color recognition. It’s tons of fun to mix and experiment with colors, igniting the love for science in toddlers.
Everything your child needs is included in the science lab, nine fizzy color tablets, a safe test tube rack to stock the three test tubes, a dropper to add color, a funnel, three beakers in various sizes, and a color wheel to help identify the hues.
The STEM toy promotes fine motor skills, strengthens hand-eye coordination, sparks creativity, and teaches color recognition. Using the beakers to measure various quantities of water for the science experiments is fun and also introduced basic math concepts and principles of volume to kids.
The Blippi Rainbow Scientist Lab is a color exploration delight introducing young kids to math, art, science, and chemistry. Start with the basics of adding a fizzy tablet to 50 ml of water to create primary colors. The engaging learning activity inspires innovative experiments to learn about mixing primary colors to create beautiful secondary greens, purples, and oranges. A fun activity is to try and make the hues seen in the child’s room or the rainbow colors on the included chart.
Best STEM Gifts For Kids Games: Think Fun Robot Turtles Coding Board Game
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With over 50 million sold, the Think Fun Robot Turtles Coding Board Game is a must-have for any child interested in coding, puzzles, and brain games. It’s the perfect gift for family time during the holiday season with 2-5 players from four years old.
The innovative STEM toy teaches toddlers coding skills and programming fundamentals with silly turtle noises. Set up the game board with the Jewel tile and Turtle tile; dictate the Robot Turtle’s movements with tokens on the board using code cards that program the turtle and unlock new levels. A Bug card can undo a move if the child made a mistake, and you win when the Robot Turtle reaches the jewel.
The hands-on tactile board game inspires kids to learn to code and develop critical skills. The game kit includes a game board, instructions on how to play, 40 tiles, four Robot Turtle tiles, 4 Jewel tiles, and four code card decks with 45 cards in each deck.
Best STEM Toys For Little Engineers: Snap Circuits Light Electronics Exploration Kit
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With the Snap Circuits Light Electronics Exploration Kit, your little engineer can build over 175 STEM projects. The full-color instruction manual shows kids how to create electrical circuits used in everyday devices.
The engineering kit features 55 color-coded parts that snap together on the plastic grid; kids complete the projects without needing any tools. The set includes all the necessary components to create working circuit boards found in televisions, radios, and other electronic devices. Projects like the strobe lights with spinning patterns and the blinking step motor require AA batteries for optimized effect; batteries are purchased separately.
Children can collaborate and work together on a project strengthening their teamwork and social skills, or challenge themselves to more advanced projects requiring logical thinking and problem-solving skills. The helpful instruction manual helps kids build real circuits, from easy to intricate ones.
Top STEM Toys For Spatial Reasoning: Fat Brain Toys Mini Squigz
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Kids love the Fat Brain Toys Mini Squigz construction set with pieces that stick to almost any surface. Smaller than the original Squigz, the set features new vivid colors and five different shapes for more creative fun.
The set of 75 Mini Squigz has enough pieces for friends to join in the fun. Kids can stick them to a window, floor, table, or any flat surface. When stuck together, they make a unique noise that will cause any child to smile.
The STEM toy encourages the development of fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and hand-eye coordination and inspires creative construction. Made from high-grade silicone, the pieces are durable and child-safe even. The silicone is washable and won’t harm a child if stepped on.
Kids and adults enjoy the challenge of building, stacking, and sticking the Mini Squigz against mirrors, windows, and tables in the office, bedroom, or playroom. It’s the perfect STEM building toy for Kindergarten to high school kids.
Top STEM Gifts For Older Kids: National Geographic Glowing Marble Run
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The National Geographic Glow-In-The-Dark Marble Run is the best construction set for boys and girls to create the most exciting marble runs. Children learn about the physics of motion and gravity as they experiment with countless marble-run designs.
Imaginal creations have no limits with 80 pieces and a learning guide with instructions. With fifteen glow-in-the-dark marbles in five different colors, the fun doesn’t stop when daylight fades. Build the marble run maze structure and watch the glow-in-the-dark marbles run through the maze.
The pieces fit tightly together, so the construction doesn’t fall apart during play. The construction set includes five sturdy bases ensuring a stable structure. The collection has 45 clear tube pieces, so a child can watch every twist and turn the marble takes throughout the maze. The storage bag keeps the components safe until next time.
The National Geographic Marble Run set is the perfect gift for older kids to enjoy innovative, engineering STEM fun.
Top STEM Toys For Preschoolers: Kidzlane Microscope Science Toy
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The Kidzlane Microscope Science Toy is the perfect preschool STEM toy to introduce younger kids to science wonders. Your budding scientist will love analyzing the fake lizard and spider included in the science kit and everything else the kid-friendly microscope magnifies.
With the extra-large eyepieces, kids can independently research, observe, and explore specimens magnified eight times for a detailed view of everyday objects. The science set includes a petri dish, tweezers, and scalpel to mimic science discoveries with pretend play.
The cute monkey-face toddler microscope is sturdy and made from non-toxic materials that can withstand continuous usage. Perfect for kids three years and older, the STEM toy is ideal for hands-on fun, and the activity book will spark hours of engaging science activities. The Kidzlane Microscope Science Toy needs three AAA batteries purchased separately.
