Looking for some great toys that are both fun and educational? Toy Insider Editor-in-Chief Ali Mierzejewski stopped by NBC in Cleveland to show off some great S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) toys that kids will enjoy so much, they won’t even realize they’re also learning. For more on the items featured in this segment, check out the product notes below, and for the complete rundown of the best toys of the holiday season, be sure to check our complete Toy Insider Holiday Gift Guide.
GEOSAFARI JR. TALKING GLOBE (EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS)
- Junior jet setters can explore the world with Wildlife Warrior Bindi Irwin! This updated version of the bestselling Talking Globe provides a high-tech, hands-on, interactive introduction to geography.
- This high-tech globe with dual swivel and smart stylus features the voice of Wildlife Warrior Bindi Irwin, who has been traveling to faraway places since she was a little girl.
- Includes Explore, Find It, and Measure It Modes for more than 10 hours of interactive audio.
- Features continents, U.S. states, animals, and nature.
- Kids can touch the pen to two locations to find out how far apart they are.
- Ages: 4-7
- MSRP: $129.99
- Available: Amazon.com
3DOODLER START POWERPUFF YOURSELF LICENSED 3D PRINTING PEN SET (WOBBLEWORKS)
- Now you can POWERPUFF yourself & your friends and use your superpowers to fight crime and protect from the forces of evil!
- The only child-safe 3D pen: designed with no hot parts, and uses low heat BPA-free, non-toxic plastic.
- Perfect for STEM learning: as a tactile learning toy, the 3Doodler Start inspires creativity, design, planning, building and spatial understanding.
- 3D art made easy for kids: plastic hardens rapidly allowing kids to literally draw in the air with only one speed and one temperature.
- Ages: 8+
- MSRP: $ 49.99
- Available: Amazon and Walmart
CRAYOLA COLOR CHEMISTRY LAB SET (CRAYOLA)
- With 50 different colorful experiments designed by real Crayola scientists, this lab set teaches kids the magic of science, math, and art through color at S.T.E.A.M. principles.
- From an erupting volcano to glow worms and slime, kids can embark on experiments using core Crayola products and household items, stretching their imaginations while also reinforcing their subject matter skills.
- For continued creativity, kids can use the included illustrative guide to conduct experiments again and again using everyday items.
- Ages: 7+
- MSRP: $24.99
- Available: Amazon, Walmart, crayola.com
SCIENTIFIC EXPLORER VETERINARY SCIENCE (ALEX)
- What makes your pet tick? Find out what it takes to become a veterinary physician and the work that they perform for animals.
- Simulate veterinary X-ray and sonograms with red and blue Lenses that reveal the insides of animals on four different posters.
- Close up wounds and cuts with the soft plastic suture training skin, plastic surgical tweezers, needle, and thread.
- Create a cat anatomy poster with paper parts, mold a plaster pup, and learn how to make casts for broken bones.
- Mix and make gelly ticks and learn about the four common types of ticks and which ones can cause illness.
- The kit includes four animal posters, a red x-ray lens, a blue sonogram lens, suture skin, a plastic curved needle, plastic tweezer scissors, a black nylon thread, a cat anatomy poster with fold out sheets, a dog blister mold, plaster powder, muslin fabric, a gelly tick blister mold, gelatin, a beaker, a stir stick, and instructions.
- Ages: 6+
- MSRP: $19.99
- Available: Target, Amazon
SENSORS ALIVE (THAMES & KOSMOS)
- Demystify abstract physics phenomena such as light, sound, and heat like never before with this highly innovative, gamified sensor physics lab that brings physics to life!
- The core of this science kit is an app-based video game in which you use real-world sensor data that you collect from your environment to generate a diverse array of creatures.
- Create, collect, play with, and care for your creatures in the app.
- You will gain experience in measuring light levels, volumes, and temperatures with the three sensor pods, and learn about the physics behind light, sound, and heat.
- Sensors Alive works with a tablet or smartphone operating on recent versions of iOS and Android.
- Ages: 8+
- MSRP: $149.95
- Available: Amazon
- Kids can explore and play out their dreams with a collection of career-themed Barbie dolls.
- Each doll wears a career-themed outfit and has their own accessories to play out real-world and imaginary stories.
- Pick one profession or try them all because with Barbie, kids can be anything. Each sold separately, and subject to availability.
- Ages: 3+
- MSRP: $13.99-$29.99
- Available: shop.mattel.com, Target, Walmart, Amazon
