There’s no shortage of inventive gift-giving options this holiday for the budding engineer or future scientist in your life. Smithsonian Magazine’s 2021 Gift Guide features the 10 best STEM toys for kids of all ages as selected by students and faculty at Purdue University's INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering, who put dozens of engineering gifts and gadgets to the test.
For the littlest explorers, there’s Future Engineer, a colorful board book; Four By Four Wooden Building Blocks; and the Build It! robot factory that encourages kids to build their own robot factory. Older children might enjoy classic Snap Circuits or marble runs, while Coding Charms teaches coding to crafty kids. Smithsonian hails the Sphero Indi At-Home Learning Kit, which is designed to teach children the basics of programming using a car-like robot that senses color, as the best overall STEM toy.
Read the entire list here.