17x STEM toys for every age: learn science & technology

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Always something to do for the holidays or rainy day?

Play Choice now has the ultimate activity book collection, with over 60 pages of fun coloring pages and educational puzzles.

In this age, kids learn about life sciences, how the Earth was formed, how problems are defined, and more.

The science curriculum for 7-8 year olds differs a lot, but these are just a few of the concepts you can expect.

That is why in this article I have included some of the nicest ones STEM collected challenges for your kids, such as puzzles, robots but also a rocket!

4 types of STEM toys for 7 and 8 year olds

In math, students learn to use standard units of measure, develop their addition and subtraction to 100, and analyze shapes.

What better way is there to reinforce what your kids are learning at school than with great educational toys?

If the weather is nice and you feel like experimenting together, I would this Wonder Workshop Dash recommend. Super fun to play with your own robot friend with good interaction that shows that they are great fun educational STEM toys can invent.

But there are of course many more options.

I have my favorite toys for science, technology, engineering and mathematics for 7 and 8 year olds.

Let's take a quick look at all the options, then I'll go into each of these choices in more detail:

From toddler to toddler activity book collection

Educational games and coloring pages for 3 to 6 years

Your toddler and preschooler will love this e-book, along with the accompanying printables. He or she can play with it at every stage of development, together with mom and dad.

Buy at Bol.com

Top 17 Best STEM Toys Reviewed

Best science toy for smart 5 year olds

Learning Resources Tumble Trax

Product image
8.9
Edu score
Play value
4.1
Price/quality
4.6
Replayability
3.8
Best for
  • great educational and learning about gravity
  • Multiple assignments make it challenging
Less good
  • You must have a plate or refrigerator to hang them on
  • From: 4 years
  • Best: 5 – 7 years
  • Up to: 8 years
  • Material: Foam
  • Theme: Building and construction, Marble track
  • Play Mode: Solo
  • Price at time of writing: €38,95 – $24,99
  • Durability: None
  • Learning objective: VOICE/ STEAM, Science
  • Storage: Normal
  • Safety Components: Non-toxic material
  • Playing Time: Longer (10 – 30 min)
  • Gender inclusivity: Gender neutral

Play value: ease of use, degree of open-endedness, imagination, social interaction, interactivity, versatility, aesthetics, ability to combine, portability, longevity, durability, safety, materials. Educational: +awards and educational value

In terms of play value and replayability, this Tumble Trax set scores above average, but not great. The ease of use is ok, but it is difficult to get started. And the fact that you can almost only stick it on the refrigerator where the balls can easily roll under the refrigerator or other equipment is also not ideal. It is not particularly versatile or easy to combine and does not encourage social interaction very much.

Where the set does excel is in educational value. Many children enjoy learning about physics and how the world works. With these Learning Resources kits they can pick this up in a playful way.

It is of course also fun to build a good marble track, but hanging it up with the help of magnets and the challenging assignment booklet also means learning about gravity. And the assignment booklet is very good. It is not without reason that it has won several awards, including the Toy Industry Association 2016 Specialty Toy of the Year Award.

Best interactive coding robot for 6 year olds
Wonder workshop Dash
Product image
9.7
Edu score
Play value
4.7
Price/quality
4.6
Replayability
4.6
Best for
  • Solidly built
  • Very educational in the field of programming
  • Winner of the “Best Toy Award”
Less good
  • Programming with an app can be a disadvantage for target groups from 6 years old (screen time, supervision)
  • From: 5 years
  • Best: 6 – 8 years
  • Up to: 9 years
  • Material: Plastic
  • Theme: Games and puzzles, Robot
  • Play Mode: Solo
  • Price at time of writing: €189 – $149,95
  • Durability: None
  • Learning objective: VOICE/ STEAM, Coding
  • Storage: Normal
  • Safety parts: None
  • Playtime: Extended (30+ min)
  • Gender inclusivity: Gender neutral

Dash is a colorful robot designed to make coding fun. It comes with 4 educational apps, each focused on a different type of game, that take your child through lessons to create increasingly elaborate functions. Taking this by hand makes the educational value extremely high.

The play value is good because it is extremely easy to use. At the push of a button he can explore all his surroundings right out of the box. It will automatically see where the edges of a table or room are, although sometimes the table can pose challenges and it can fall off. The interactivity is also very high with, for example, speech recognition and the multiple apps.

The robot encourages social interaction, another important part of the play value. They are toys that interact with each other, so your children and their friends can even complete missions together.

The replayability is also very good, especially due to the versatility of the game options, but they have also thought about the possibilities of combining it. For example, there are LEGO connectors with which you can use LEGO to personalize Dash. Dash can be programmed to follow a race track, dance, light up, make sounds, joust or play a variety of other games.

Dash is extremely sturdy and can take a beating and is the winner of the Parent's Choice and the Oppenheim Award.

Conclusion

What is your favorite STEMtoys for a 7 or 8 year old? I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does.

Always something to do for the holidays or rainy day?

Play Choice now has the ultimate activity book collection, with over 60 pages of fun coloring pages and educational puzzles.

Joost Nusselder, the founder of Speelkeuze.nl is a content marketer, father and loves trying out new toys. As a child he came into contact with everything related to games when his mother started the Tinnen Soldaat in Ede. Now he and his team create helpful blog articles to help loyal readers with fun play ideas.