Toy Insider Senior Editor Madeleine Buckley joined NECN in Boston to show off the best new STEM toys to keep kids brains sharp ahead of the new school year. For more on the items featured in this segment, check out the product notes below, and for the complete rundown of the best gifts of the season, be sure to check out The Toy Insider’s Spring and Summer Gift Guide.


REEL BIG CATCH GAME

Players use a fishing pole to catch nine telescoping fish. Then, they use the measuring tape on their catch to explore the correlation between size and measurement and the concept of small, medium, and large.

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $24.99
  • Age:
  • 3+

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BIG ADVENTURES BY LITTLE TIKES

These toy vehicles are designed to encourage outdoor, STEM-based play. The line includes a space rover, a safari SUV, and a submarine. Each vehicle comes with three tools, some of which detach, such as the binoculars, flashlight, and compass on the SUV.

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $14.99-26.99
  • Age:
  • 3+

MELISSA & DOUG LITTLE DOCTOR GIFT BUNDLE

This gift bundle is perfect for kids who want to play doctor. The bundle comes with a 25-piece Doctor's Kit Play Set, an 8-piece Doctor Role Play Costume Set, and a Water Wow! Occupations Activity Pad. The Doctor's Kit Play Set includes activity cards, medical tools, and patient care items. The Doctor Role Play Costume…

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $74.99
  • Age:
  • 3+
  • Battery Requirements:
  • 2 AAA Batteries

SPY LABS: FORENSIC INVESTIGATION KIT

Kids can perform experiments on evidence using chemical and physical techniques. They can analyze solids and liquids, make a fluorescent solution, and more using chromatography to solve make-believe mysteries.

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $34.95
  • Age:
  • 8+

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VR DINOSAURS, OCEANS, & ANIMALS GIFT SETS

Kids can learn about oceans, animals, or dinosaurs with three separate gift sets. Each set comes with an interactive book from DK publishing, virtual reality goggles for educational experiences, and scratch art or fossil activities.

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $59.99
  • Age:
  • 8+

SMITHSONIAN PLANETARIUM PROJECTOR

When kids aim the projector at a light-colored wall or ceiling, it will project a rotating star pattern of the northern sky. The set includes three disks with 24 space images that kids can project alongside the stars.

Product Facts

  • MSRP:
  • $39.99
  • Age:
  • 8+

Buy Now

The Toy Insider participates in affiliate programs that may generate revenue for the site when a purchase is made through the links below.

About the author

Bill Reese

Bill Reese

Bill Reese is Director of Operations 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.

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