15 cool and unique tech gifts for kids that are also educational

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Samantha Lee / Business Insider The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you’ll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.This plucky little bot is cute, capable, and lots of fun, and perhaps best of all, it’s pretty easy to figure out how to play with it. Anki Technology-themed toys are a great way for kids to enjoy themselves while also honing skills that will be useful in the job market of their adult lives.STEM toys encourage critical thinking, logic, problem solving, and are often good for hand-eye coordination and fine motor muscle development as well.Here are 15 great toys for techie kids younger than 10 that will have them entertained, engaged, and even educated, all through play. The problem with many of the STEM-themed, techie kids’ toys out there these days is that they require parental assistance. I can’t tell you how many times my son has been working on a robot assembly project, using a science kit, or playing with a coding app and has needed my wife or me to help out with a particularly tricky step. Most of the time I’m more than happy to help out and to hang out even when he doesn’t need a hand, but there are also plenty of occasions where there is adult stuff to be managed and I’d really like for him to just play independently. Granted, my son is five, so I don’t actually expect him to have mastered blockchain coding, LEGO construction, or basic chemistry — not without some assistance, anyway. But whenever we do find a toy, art project, or other activity that he can thoroughly and independently enjoy, we make note of it. So you can trust that all of the techie toys on this list should are not only engaging and educational, but also should be suitable for kids under 10 to use with little or no help from mom or dad. Unless of course you want to join in; free time permitting, playing with tech toys is fun at any age, after all.Still shopping for more gifts? Check out all of Insider Picks’ holiday gift guides for 2018 here.

A remote-controlled, all-terrain buildable vehicle

GeoSmart

GeoSmart Flip Bot, $59.99, from Amazon The GeoSmart Flip Bot is part building toy, part functional little vehicle, and playing with it involves zero screen time. Kids assemble the robotic rover using magnetic components, so there are no tools involved. The building is half the fun (and not too challenging, either), while the remote control driving of the colorful bot is the rest of it. Rated as suitable for kids over the age of 5, the GeoSmart Flip Bot will be fun and not too challenging for kids up to age 10.

An iPad extension with games, drawing, and puzzles

Osmo

Osmo Genius Kit for iPad, $89.99, from Amazon The Osmo Genius Kit converts an iPad (which is required here, FYI) into a multi-game play system using both on-screen graphics and physical objects together. From puzzles kids assemble by hand using prompts from the Osmo app to word and number games to an interactive drawing program that’s fun but also helps a young artist improve her work, this kit goes well beyond the level of engagement you’ll find with most app-integrated toys. It can also be programmed to be suitable for kids as young as 5 and as old as 12.

Anki

Anki Cozmo Toy Robot, $139.99, from Amazon There are a lot of programmable, app-controlled robots out there these days. If you’re only going to get your kid one such toy (and by the way, only get your kid one such toy!), then Anki’s Cozmo is a strong contender for the best choice. This plucky little bot is cute, capable, and lots of fun, and perhaps best of all, it’s pretty easy to figure out how to play with it. As your kid gets more and more comfortable writing programs to control Cozmo, she’ll have it doing everything from playing games to navigating mazes. But the bot is fun right out of the box even when merely being remotely controlled to roam about the room.

A programming kit that encourages imaginative inventing

Makeblock

Makeblock Neuron Explorer Kit, $199.95, from Apple This kit is one of my son’s all-time favorite toys, and keep in mind he is only five. Kids a couple years older will love the building, programming, and playing all the more because they will be able to do it all independently. From a piano that can play all sorts of sounds using a range-finding sensor (keys break the beam it projects), to a working remote control robot (complete with a camera), to a truly unlimited number of original projects your kid devises himself, the opportunities for fun and for learning about engineering, robotics, circuitry, and programming are pretty much endless with a Makeblock Neuron Explorer Kit. Which is good, because it ain’t cheap.

A building and coding set for kids 7 and older

Microduino

Microduino mPie Educational STEM Toy, $99, from Amazon Rated for kids ages 7 and up, I’d say you’re probably safe to give this kit to a 6-year-old or a technologically advanced (so to speak) 5-year-old. The mPie kit is a great educational toy because the challenge level increases gradually, with each project starting off with basic steps leading to more complex tasks, and with subsequent projects adding in ever more challenges to be worked through. Kids will physically build then program and control everything from a working mini catapult to a robotic fly swatter, in the process learning about design, electronics, robotics, and coding.

A kit that teaches kids to build their own computer

Piper

Piper Computer Kit, $199, from Amazon With the components in this kit, your child can build a working computer. Granted, it’s a basic one, but an honest-to-goodness functioning computer, not just some gizmo with lights that flash and sounds that play at the push of a button. Once built, they can use their DIY computer to play a Raspberry Pi edition game of Minecraft, during which they will be given prompts and clues as to how to add additional hardware to the physical computer, thereby enhancing its capabilities. Pretty meta, right? You build a computer that then tells you how to keep building itself.

A fun way to learn about electricity and magnetism

Snap Circuits

Snap Circuits Snaptricity Electronics Exploration Kit, $30.99, from Amazon Snap Circuits are some of the best screen-free tech toys I’ve ever used, and while many of the projects included in the kit’s booklet are challenging, most are more than manageable for kids playing without the help of adults. But the coolest thing about a Snap Circuits play session is when your kid puts the instructions aside and makes an original project that actually works. Whether lighting up an LED bulb, playing a tone, or launching a propeller, kids will enjoy the process of assembling each project and will be filled with pride when their work pays off in a working mechanism.

A kit that lets kids build custom robots endlessly

Tinkering Labs

Tinkering Labs Electric Motors Catalyst STEM Kit, $59, from Amazon The budding electrical engineer in your family will love playing with this kit from Tinkering Labs. Its components can be used to create a working vehicle, a robot with moving arms, a spinning drawing machine, and any number of other mechanical creations. Best of all, the kit was designed for open-ended alteration and upgrades; kids should be encouraged to use the motors, gears, and other components from this kit along with their LEGOs, toy cars, and all sorts of other hardware.

A transformable LEGO “robot”

LEGO

LEGO Creator Robo Explorer, $15.39, from Amazon Let me be very clear here: The LEGO Creator Robo Explorer is NOT a robot. It has eyes that light up using battery power, but that’s the extent of its functioning. The beauty of this LEGO toy is that after the hands-on task of assembling it is complete, it needs a bit of good old imagination to play with. LEGOs have always been great toys for challenging kids’ building skills, so I say it’s a good idea to go with the classics from time to time and leave the apps and screens and all out of it.

A book with step-by-step instructions for creating robots, vehicles, creatures, and more using LEGOs your kids almost surely already have

Sarah Dees

“Genius LEGO Inventions with Bricks You Already Have,” $13.38, from Amazon Does your kid have a bin of LEGOs that just aren’t a draw anymore? Well good news, Sarah Dees wrote the book on breathing new life into old LEGOs. In fact, she has written several such books that feature step-by-step instructions for creating robots, vehicles, creatures, and more using LEGOs your kids almost surely already have. Her book “Genius LEGO Inventions with Bricks You Already Have” features more than 40 fun projects younger builders will love, no new purchases required. Other than the book, I mean.

A play dough set with a shocking twist

Tech Will Save Us

Tech Will Save Us Electro Dough Kit, $16.99, from Amazon Did you know that play dough can conduct electricity? Well it can, if made properly. And it’s pretty easy to make electrically conductive dough when you follow the recipe included in this kit. That should be the only part of the process where a parent is needed, as once the dough is made, kids can use the lights, switches, and buzzers included in the Electro Dough kit from Tech Will Save Us to make all sorts of wacky, colorful, bright, and noisy projects.

Force1

Force1 Scoot Hand Operated Drone, $44.99, from Amazon Flying toys are great fun, but most are hard to steer without a lot of practice and without pretty advanced hand-eye coordination to boot. Also, when flown inside they’re also basically guaranteed to cause damage. The Force1 Scoot Hand Operated Drone takes care of both of those issues. A kid can control Scoot simply by moving his hands closer to the flying machine, gesturing for it to move away, fly higher or lower, or hover. And arguably better than the ease of control, Scoot’s propellers are all housed in a cage that prevents inured fingers and minimizes the chance for property destruction.

An interactive smart engine train set

Brio

BRIO World Smart Tech Engine Set, $89.99, from Amazon There are two things I love the most about the BRIO Smart Tech toys. First, they are fully compatible with all other BRIO train sets, from the tracks to the trains to all the accessories. Second, they’re not all that smart, really. Using a series of gates with built-in chips, your little engineer (get it?) can design a track that the semi-smart locomotive can be programmed to navigate in various patterns while flashing its lights and sounding the horn at established points. Kids will easily master the use of the kit and will then enjoy hours of open-ended play, especially if they have a toy box filled with train tracks already.

A 3D pen that will bring their drawings to life

Nulaxy Direct

Nulaxy 3D Pen, $39.99, from Amazon Quite an age we live in, really, when there’s a 3D pen for kids. Quite an awesome age. The Nulaxy 3D pen is rated safe for kids as young as 5 years old, but kids a bit older than that will be able to truly get the hang of this charming little extrusion device. Its “face” uses a color-coded eyes to tell the user when it’s heating and when it’s ready to start printing colorful streams of quick-drying PLA or ABS filament, which your child can use to write three dimensional words, to create patterns and shapes, or, with practice, to create recognizable 3D objects.

A customizable toy house that teaches engineering skills

SmartLab Toys

SmartLab Toys Archi-Tech Electronic Smart House, $42.88, from Amazon Playing house just got smart. Like STEAM-level smart. The Archi-Tech Electronic Smart House from SmartLab involves everything from physical building and wiring to active play using lights, gears, motion sensors, speakers, and more. Kids will learn the basics of architecture and electrical circuitry, and of course, they will also simply enjoy playing with a model house just like they have for generations.

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