Tech Toys that Teach on NBC Chicago

Toy Insider’s Chief Toy Officer Laurie Schacht joined NBC in Chicago to show off the year’s best new educational toys. For more on the items featured in this segment, check out the product notes below. To learn more about the season’s best new toys, be sure to check out Toy Insider’s Spring and Summer Toy Guide.

TACTO ELECTRONICS

Tacto Electronics turns kids' tablets into a hands-on yet shockproof circuit lab! Use real figurines on the screen to learn the basics of electronics and create circuits digitally. Think, experiment, and create circuits using the figurines on screen! Connect wires, batteries, LEDs, and more to solve STEM puzzles in thrilling story-based games. Create more than…

Product Facts

MSRP:
$49.99; $59.99 CAD

Age:
6+

Manufacturer:
PLAYSHIFU

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CANDY CLAW MACHINE

Build a working model of the classic arcade game. Learn how the gears, levers, belt, screws, hydraulics, linkages, cranks, and claws work together to pick up, move, and drop prizes. Includes 10 lollipops and decoys to grab. Build a working model of the classic arcade game. Learn how the gears, levers, belt, screws, hydraulics, linkages,…

Product Facts

MSRP:
$39.95; $56 CAD

Age:
6+

Manufacturer:
THAMES & KOSMOS

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HEXMODS PRO SERIES ELITE RACEWAY

This set comes with a hobby-grade, R/C tuner car chassis with thousands of mod combinations, including hoods, bumpers, an LED underglow, and more. Kids can build a track configuration with more than 20 feet of connectable barrier and race up to 18 mph. This set comes with a hobby-grade, R/C tuner car chassis with thousands…

Product Facts

MSRP:
$89.99; $129.99 CAD

Age:
14+

Manufacturer:
HEXBUG

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Amazon Target HEXBUG

About the author

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.