Senior Editor Marissa DiBartolo brought some of this year’s top STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Math) toys to WBAL-TV’s 11 News Sunday Morning to show us all how fun learning can be. You’ll be amazed by these high-tech toys and all they can do!
Design & Drill BrightWorks (Educational Insights)
- Light up creativity with the flip of a switch!
- Budding designers can follow one of 12 included patterns or create their own custom, glow-in-the-dark creations.
- Insert one of the translucent bolts, use the real working, kid-friendly power drill to drill it in, and watch as your dynamic creation glows from the inside!
- Advances kids’ hand-eye coordination, matching, patterning, and problem-solving skills – enhances STEM learning skills.
- Builds construction and fine motor skills.
- Illuminates creativity and imagination.
- Age: 3+
- MSRP: $39.99
- Flex, connect, build and play with Joinks! Colorfully constructed, Joinks engage the fingers and mind in a new building experience.
- Joinks attracts inventors of all ages. From playroom to universities, toddler to teacher, simple to complex, Joinks designs are wide and diverse.
- Wooden dowels join easily with quality, 100 percent silicone connectors. One simple push, and the dowels sit tight for a secure fit.
- To deconstruct, pull and the silicone slides off with a fun “POP” sound.
- Joinks connectors reach out in all directions – five prong connecting pieces conform creativity to your definition.
- Kids can build silly creatures, expressive forms, 3D geometric shapes, chemistry and molecular models and irregular structures.
- Age: 3+
- MSRP: $44.95
Mighty Makers Home Designer Building Set (K’Nex)
- Don’t just play with your dream house — build it from the ground up!
- The Mighty Makers Home Designer Building Set invites builders to follow the included blueprints, and join Brianna and Sophia as they build different houses — a Colonial, a brownstone or a cottage.
- Use the included flowers, flower pots, seats, tables, lamps and more to decorate the houses.
- Set features over 265 K’NEX parts and pieces, 2 figures — Brianna and Sophia, and accessories.
- Also comes with full color instructions for three different architecture themed builds and an exploration card that challenges builders to explore additional concepts.
- All K’NEX rods and connectors are made in the USA.
- Ages: 7+
- MSRP: $39.99
- Dohdles! are riddles made of dough!
- This guessing game is for families and parties of three to six players.
- Create a Dohdle by sculpting the approximate shape of an object or living thing or a part of an object or living thing, with the modeling clay.
- You don’t have to be a skilled sculptor or artist – you should form your Dohdle in a way that your opponents cannot immediately recognize what it is supposed to represent.
- You receive points during the game if you guess the exact word that your opponent’s Dohdle represents. You also receive points if the solution to your Dohdle is neither too easy or too difficult for your opponents to identify.
- During your turn, you can alternately ask two yes or no questions or ask for a letter of the word to be revealed to help identify another player’s Dohdle. At any time, if you think you can identify a Dohdle, throw your guessing cube into the sorting funnel and the player whose cube comes out first can guess first. The player who makes it around the board first wins the game!
- The special clay will not dry out or harden and can be used over and over again.
- Ages: 10+
- MSRP: $39.95
VEX Robotics Robotic Arm (HEXBUG)
- Experience the fun of hands-on building and learning with this completely functional construction kit inspired by real industrial robot arms.
- Hand powered, can pick up and relocate items using four degrees of freedom with an articulated grabber hand.
- The whole crane can rotate 360 degrees, allowing this miniature robot to perform the complex actions of its real life counterpart.
- This STEM-based kit that pays special attention to important scientific principals including gear reductions and power transfer through the robotic arm’s intricate gearing techniques.
- Ages: 8+
- MSRP: $49.99
