Toy Insider Senior Editor/Toy Book Deputy Editor James Zahn joined News 12 in New Jersey to show off the smartest STEM toys of the holiday season. 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.


ROBO-MAX T-REX

Kids can build a 3-foot T. rex using more than 80 screws, hinges, and premium laminated cardboard construction pieces. The finished T. rex has light-up eyes, sounds, and 10 points of articulation for poseability. Kids can build a 3-foot T. rex using more than 100 screws, hinges, and premium laminated cardboard construction pieces. The finished…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $59.99
  • Age:
  • 7+

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INCREDIBLE INFLATABLE AERO DANCER

This motorized device uses a blower motor and fabric tube to move around in the air. Kids can assemble the model and learn about its inner mechanisms, including its fan, electric circuit, batteries, motors, and switches. Conduct four additional experiments that demonstrate principles in aerodynamics, such as making a ball float on a stream of…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $19.95
  • Age:
  • 8+

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VEX ROBOTICS EXCAVATOR BY HEXBUG

Kids can use more than 370 snap-together pieces to build this vehicle, complete with a working boom arm, a bucket, a rotating turret, and rotating treads. With no glue or adhesive, it's easy to tear down and rebuild. Kids can use more than 370 snap-together pieces to build this vehicle, complete with a working boom…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $29.99
  • Age:
  • 8+

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The Toy Insider participates in affiliate programs that may generate revenue for the site when a purchase is made through the links below.

3DOODLER START+ ESSENTIALS PEN SET

This easy-to-use 3D printing pen gives kids a unique, hands-on way to make art, design objects, and build things. The pen extrudes a special eco-plastic that quickly hardens and is completely safe to the touch. This easy-to-use 3D printing pen gives kids a unique, hands-on way to make art, design objects, and build things. The…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $49.99
  • Age:
  • 6+

Buy Now

The Toy Insider participates in affiliate programs that may generate revenue for the site when a purchase is made through the links below.

About the author

Bill Reese

Bill Reese

Bill Reese is Business Operations Manager at Adventure Media & Events, where he's worked since 2014. A former editor at Playbill and graduate of SUNY–Purchase, he spends most weekends rooting for the New York Red Bulls pro soccer team and making subway systems out of Brio trains with his little boy Jonah.

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