The end-of-year holidays are right around the corner, and with them, school breaks, festive gatherings, and occasions for gift giving!
Whether you’re looking for presents for your own children or for another kid in your life, we’ve rounded up a fun and educational collection of STEMful-approved picks for every child on your list. Support your local indie toy store or bookshop by picking up something that kids are sure to love and will keep their hands and minds occupied in the New Year and beyond.
Design and Build Water Blocks – ages 3-6
Why We Love It: Design and Build Water Blocks turn kiddie pools, bathtubs, and any water play area into an opportunity for kids to build. These brightly colored block sets stick to each other in water, helping kids secure their creations (at least until they dry). They’ll have fun while developing spatial and visual learning skills, and parents will love this level up from rubber duckies.
Polymer Clay – all ages
Why We Love It: Nontoxic, nonsticky, nonstaining polymer clay makes an excellent and colorful gift for kids of all ages to model just about anything. Take this general-purpose material beyond crafting by encouraging kids to create their own components for anything from molecular models to plants and animals. Infinitely reusable, polymer clay won’t dry out until it’s baked (with adult supervision, of course) in an oven. Great for helping kids build fine motor and creative thinking skills for STEAM-based learning.
Makedo – ages 4–6 (with adult assistance) or 7 and up (independent play)
Why We Love It: With Makedo tool kits, kids create upcycled constructions from those ubiquitous cardboard boxes—especially plentiful around the holidays! Younger kids ages 4–6 can collaborate with adults (who will do the cutting for them or guide them along) on building three-dimensional structures from flat planes of cardboard, securing them with durable, reusable plastic fasteners calls Scrus. Older kids ages 7 and up may work independently (some sets include blunt saw-like tools) on their creations. A sustainable toy that helps kids develop their spatial and visual learning skills, appealing to future engineers and mathematicians.
Magna-Tiles – ages 3 and up
Why We Love It: Magna-Tiles sets engage kids’ hands and help them build anything they desire! We like the classic set for tomorrow’s engineers, but recently fell in love with the space-themed set for future astronauts! Magna-Tiles are made of BPA-free plastic and are magnetized to help secure kids structures. The visually appealing colorful, translucent tiles will keep kids’ hands busy.
Makey Makey – ages 8 and up
Why We Love It: Makey Makey teaches kids about coding by enabling them to connect a computer to just about anything. Using Makey Makey and everyday objects from bananas to Play-Doh, children can learn the basics of coding and progress into projects that allow them to map up to 18 keys. For more coding and robotics inspiration for kids, including how we incorporate tech activities at STEMful, check out our July 2024 post.
Turn & Learn Magnetic Gears – ages 3–8
Why We Love It: With a magnetic board (or any suitable magnetic surface), Turn & Learn Magnetic Gears will allow kids to build elaborate, movable designs with interlocking gears that really turn. Kids will enjoy their fun and colorful designs, and parents will love that the gears help build problem-solving and fine motor skills.
Math for Love Tiny Polka Dot – ages 3–8
Why We Love It: Tiny Polka Dot from Math for Love introduces kids to the foundation of all STEM disciplines with colorful, kid-size cards that teach counting, arithmetic, and logic skills. The deck includes 16 easy-to-learn games that will connect even with younger players and grow with them as they progress. A Spanish language parents’ guide is also available, making the game more inclusive for multilingual families.
Mosaic Mysteries Pattern Puzzle – ages 8 and up
Why We Love It: With the Mosaic Mysteries Pattern Puzzle, kids can develop their spatial learning skills, positional concepts, and logical reasoning abilities. Using 100 brightly colored shapes, kids can re-create 50 patterns and solve the puzzle over and over while honing fine motor and visual learning capabilities.
Handheld Microscope – ages 7 and up
Why We Love It: Mobile and durable, a handheld microscope enables kids to explore the world around them with 40x magnification, like a field scientist. As kids examine any surface, they can get a closer look at day-to-day objects while honing hand-eye coordination and a sense of wonder that may lead them to become future biologists, environmental scientists, or geologists. And for now, it turns any trip to the park into an eye-opening experience.
Tacto Chess Game – ages 6–12
Why We Love It: Screen time can be educational and fun with Tacto Chess, an interactive chess tutoring app. The set includes feet and 12 chess pieces that turn phones and tablets into a chess board. As kids move through levels, they learn single moves and more complex strategies. Excellent to help children hone their memory, concentration, and patience, along with developing problem-solving and creative thinking skills.
To get your kids even more involved with STEM and STEAM-based activities that will help them not only gain new concepts but also discover how to overcome challenges, learn from failure, and persevere now and later in life, sign them up for one of our after-school classes, clubs, or school break camps.