Favorite toys, STEM kits, manipulatives, etc

[Momof4sweetkids]

We have educational funds through our charter that I have thought about using on different STEM kits and toys but I don't want to just add more junk or clutter. I would use them during read alouds and quiet times mostly or for something for one to do while I work independently with another. So far my kids love magnetic tiles and duplos. Anything your kids have loved?

[happypamama]

Depending on your kids' ages, I'd get SnapCircuits, maybe for 7+?

[HomeAgain]

Mine loved a lot of the recommendations from Timberdoodle.  We ended up with several ThinkFun personal games, a marble run, math blocks....ds really liked the Buddha Board we picked up on a trip.  It's held up well over the years because we only use distilled water with it.  Classic toys like a spirograph, geoboards, light box with transparent shapes to build pictures..these were all a lot of fun for my kid and didn't need any assistance from an adult.

[Clarita]

Another thought is to get those subscription boxes. Yes, it can be a lot of clutter but a lot of them are actually really well thought out to teach kids and get them excited about STEM topics. I've seen parents do limits on how many boxes they store (all the stuff from the boxes you want to keep has to fit in this thing), to throwing out the projects each time a new one arrives, etc. 

I do sometimes appreciate the disposable aspect of these toys because I can let them explore via construction and open ended destruction. After the destruction sometimes DS will take the parts and build something new out of the parts.    

[happypamama]

2 hours ago, Clarita said:

Another thought is to get those subscription boxes. Yes, it can be a lot of clutter but a lot of them are actually really well thought out to teach kids and get them excited about STEM topics. I've seen parents do limits on how many boxes they store (all the stuff from the boxes you want to keep has to fit in this thing), to throwing out the projects each time a new one arrives, etc. 

I do sometimes appreciate the disposable aspect of these toys because I can let them explore via construction and open ended destruction. After the destruction sometimes DS will take the parts and build something new out of the parts.    

Yes to all of this. We did boxes from Kiwi Co for a while, and they were quite good, with very little work on my part. I think we tried out three levels, and all were pretty good. They last long enough that we found them satisfying but not so long that they generally became clutter.

 

[Lori D.]

Don't know what age you are looking for, but esp. when DSs were in the kinder/early elementary grades:

to keep one busy while working 1-on-1 with another:

activity book pages:
- dot-to-dot
- mazes
- find the one image of the identical images that is different
- search & find / hidden picture
- very simple word searches or crossword puzzles
- very simple sudoku or ken-ken puzzles

also:
- solo logic puzzles like Rush Hour Junior and tangrams
(see more logic puzzles for: ages 3-4, ages 5-7, ages 8-10, ages 11-13
- manipulative such as pattern blocks, cuisenaire rods, geoboards, multi-link cubes, etc. + activity pages for using them
- marble run set
- jigsaw puzzles

and a variety of educational computer games (each DS got a 30-minute turn 1x/day, about 3x/week):
- EduMark series: Bailey's Book House, Millie's Math House, Sammy's Science House
- Reader Rabbit series
- Word Munchers and Number Munchers
- EduMark Mighty Math series
- Clue Finders series

for quietly keeping hands busy
- a basket of fidget toys
- clay
- pipe cleaners
- stickers
- magnetic create-a-scene (we had a construction site-based one; here is ocean, farm, and zoo)
- markers + little stained glass coloring book (DSs weren't big on coloring, but tolerated these, esp. the Dino and dragon ones 😉 )


ETA 
I didn't list STEM kits as you requested because we didn't use those as solo "keep a child busy" activities. Most science kits we used through the years had instructions with a guide for going through a series of specific activities and demonstrations to support specific info, so I wanted to be there to help oversee so that they were actually getting something out of it, and making the connections from the hands-on doing to the information we read about.

Kits that were more like the "exploring engineering boxes" like from Kiwi Co. or the building toys and marble runs would be the kind of thing that were good for letting them do solo and just explore.

Edited June 15 by Lori D.

[AnneGG]

Marble runs, snap circuits, keva blocks, and tinker toys are well loved in our home. I never feel bad about adding to the lego and Magna tile collection either. If you have the space, unit blocks are well worth the price. 
 

For read alouds/quiet times we don’t use many hands on things anymore. In the past I have liked kinetic sand, tannagrams, peg board/push button pictures, pot holder loom kit, perler beads, geo board, and soapstone carving. We liked scratch art and foil art type things too. We used to have a really awesome water pen board that was like dry erase board but used water pens. 
 

I will be odd ball mom that doesn’t like subscription box kits. I found them over priced and low quality for the money. I also felt like I had to be really involved in most them because the directions weren’t always specific enough for my kids. I bought some STEM cards from Carson Dellosa and set up little bags with the supplies for grab and go kits. Much cheaper and my kids got the same amount of enjoyment out it. 

[Momof4sweetkids]

I was just looking at the Keva blocks, those look fun!

The main problem with subscription boxes is if we paid for them, dh would like to keep them until the children are grown 😅 I did get a little motor kit on Amazon that had kiwi co-like project but multiple projects in one box.

I've always just read aloud while they're eating but wanted to add more read aloud time this coming year. 

[happypamama]

We do get a lot of use out of our Keva planks; even our 10 and 12 yos play with them some still. 

[PeterPan]

Lakeshore Learning has amazing kits for STEM, math, etc. for instance https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/stem/building-engineering/create-a-chain-reaction-stem-kit-gr-3-5-master-set/p/PP849/

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/stem/N/538022790/page-1/sort-price-asc/num-96/?view=grid&update-filter=538022790

My ds does well with things I can chunk, so the way the kits are set up with task cards and clear work expectations works for him. We've used their math, STEM, LA, etc. materials and almost everything has been excellent. 

 

[Penderwink]

The Lego Education sets are great. We got a huge box of small Legos which is more useful for actual building than their other large sets. https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/creative-lego-brick-set-by-lego-education/45020/

There are some STEM lego duplo sets too like Tech Machines or STEAM Park which look amazing.

Marble Run Set.

Smart Games have nice logic puzzle toys based on fairy tales like Three Little Pigs. 

For listening during read alouds: kinetic sand, set of beads and bracelet making supplies, kids origami sets, jigsaw puzzles.

We also use wordless picture books (e.g. Hike, Journey, A Day for Sandcastles, One Summer Up North) for keeping little ones occupied when you need to do something else. Also the Wimmelbooks Timberdoodle suggests.