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31 Best STEM Toys for Kids (2026): Learning Made Fun
Anyone who has ever watched a toddler methodically take apart a Tupperware drawer knows that many children are natural-born engineers. Your job as a parent is to nurture their creativity … and clean up the mess afterward. I've tested tons of STEM toys with my kids over the years, some with help from other parents on the WIRED Reviews team and some with help from my wife, who is a teacher and can road-test them in the classroom.
Wrap up a few of these STEM toys (also called STEAM toys; we love you too, arts!) for your future scientist to assemble, squish, or dismantle. Hopefully, they'll thank you for the early encouragement when they're older. Be sure to check out our assortment of other buying guides, including the Best Subscription Boxes for Kids, Best Speakers for Kids, and How to Build the Lego Collection of Your Dreams.
Updated September 2026: I've added Gravity Maze, an Engine-Building Kit, and Rush Hour Deluxe.
There’s something super-satisfying about these tactile building blocks. They come in a range of appealing colors and have a slightly squishy form that makes them delightful to build with and pull apart. Because the pieces are all the same, children don’t have to spend ages searching for a specific block as they do with Lego. They can pick by color or just experiment, and it’s as easy to create bracelets and headbands as it is to construct robots and bridges.
These building blocks were very popular in the classroom with 7- and 8-year-olds. Some kids had fun just playing without something specific in mind, while others planned scenes and put their engineering skills to use to realize them. There are also some instruction booklets with suggestions.
We’re in love with this screen-free play stage and speaker for kids. The cute wooden design includes a slot to insert a cartridge and a circular sound stage divided into four sections where you can pop characters on top to change the audio it plays. This basic functionality allows for a clever variety of add-on packs, from stories about quirky characters in the Groblies ($20) to a cooking game called Bernard’s Kitchen ($20) with different ingredients. My favorite is the Little Maestro set ($20) featuring players in an orchestra covering Mozart, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Bach. The stereo speakers are quite good, it has a headphone port, and the Qubitunes can be recharged via USB-C for up to six hours of play. My wife has this in the reward area of her classroom, and it’s the most popular option with 7- and 8-year-olds.
Kids can build this wind-up flashlight themselves and learn all about electronic components and kinetic energy in the process. The thoughtful design includes 10 separate parts, and there are 16 steps to follow to assemble it. No batteries are required, and the kit is designed to be easy to disassemble and use again, making it perfect for a classroom setting. Our testers were delighted that simply winding the completed flashlight brought it to life (three minutes of winding provides 30 minutes of light). For every kit purchased, the maker, Ambessa, donates one to a refugee child out of school.
I have been struggling for a few years to get my now 7- and 9-year-old interested in chess, and the GoChess Mini works wonderfully. This lightweight, portable board is beautiful to use—the pieces have a nice matte finish and are pleasingly weighty. Once you charge the Bluetooth-enabled board and connect it to the app, you can either play against remote players, against yourself, or get AI-enabled assistance to help guide your moves. You can scale the amount of assistance, whether it’s a little or a lot, and different-colored lights show you the advisability of different moves as you pick up each piece. One evening of charging results in weeks of playtime; my kids will play for hours and discuss each move as they go. It’s great.—Adrienne So
Particula also offers a Harry Potter-themed GoChess Mini Board ($350) which appears in my best smart chess boards guide.
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