But, let's be real. Our kids have access to some pretty fantastic opportunities when it comes to toys that teach, and particularly in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Which is a good thing since it's projected that by 2020, there will be over one million unfilled STEM-related jobs in the United States.
Let's talk about job security, shall we?
And no, we're not worried about our five-year-olds job options right now. Nor are we concerned about whether our baby can read or how to get our tween admitted into college early.
But, we do know that this is their world, and we want to make sure we're fostering their unique interests (kids love learning about how things work) and letting their natural talents and gifts be well-cultivated.
So, are you ready to dive in and check out the best electronics kits for kids and beginners? Here are our picks!
Best 3D Printing For Kids
3Doodler Create and Printing Pen
They're all the rage these days but they're not all 3D printing pens are created equally, and certainly not all are created with kids in mind. That's why we love the 3Doodler. You can start with a junior pen that is so safe littles can use, and this 3Doodler is a perfect starter into the world of 3D printing because the company is so committed to inspiring young minds with quality products.
It's a super cool tactile toy that allows your child's imagination to go wherever it wants, creating 3D art that comes straight from their brains. It's a perfect STEM toy in that it inspires them to design, plan and create-strengthening their spatial reasoning and visual perception skills and what we love most about it is that the filament is eco-friendly. With the 3Doodler Create and Printing pen, kids are really just limited to what their imaginations can carry, but the awesome app and extra ideas make it so the possibilities really are limitless.
Key Features:
- Filament is eco-friendly and made in USA
- Great beginner pen for elementary kids to teens
- Interactive app with easy-to-follow directions
- Corporate giving
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Best Challenge Electronics Kit
Tinkering Labs Electric Motors Catalyst Kit
This fun and engaging electronics kit is perfect for kiddos between the ages of 8-12, and we love the opportunities they have to engage in a community of like-minded kids as they create their own individual variations of set projects from Tinkering Labs. It's a great starter motor and introduction to engineering kit for kids 8-18 because the materials are reusable and only limited to what your child can dream about.
Young tinkerers will love this electronics kit as they'll be able to explore endless opportunities with the motors, wires and battery packs included in the kit. We love that the projects are open-ended and include real parts, and they don't need any screens at all to invent away.
Tackling the challenge cards (like making a machine that can scramble eggs) with friends and family makes the Tinkering Labs Electric Motors Catalyst Kit even more fun!
Key Features:
- Reusable electronics kit set for kids
- Robotics challenge cards
- Wood, electric motors and hardware compatible with many other engineering/robotics pieces
- STEM opportunities available in online community
Best Circuitry Electronics Kit For Kids
Snap Circuits Pro
We love Elenco's motto: Learn By Doing®! They're committed to kids (and kids of all ages) using their products to learn and grow, and they provide innovative and educational products that are engaging and affordable. They've been in the education business for decades, providing consumers with educational products that are created by engineers. They were pretty much STEM producers before STEM was even a thing, and they know that toy trends come and go but inspiring young minds will never go out of style. Nor will creating toys that engage both sides of kids' brains and allow them the opportunity to tinker with toys that fascinate them.
The Snap Circuits Pro 500 is a great introduction for elementary kids up that allows them to train and grow in an electronics field of projects. It uses a spring/wire connection for easy and quick modifications and trouble-shooting, and kids (and adults) will be able to learn basic electronics principles, as well as physics and magnetism. The included instructions are easy to follow and kids love all the projects they can create! Kids can learn about circuitry without getting into soldering just yet, but build a great foundation for when they're ready with tons of different projects.
Key Features:
- 76 Parts will allow your child to build over 500 experiments
- Digital voice recorder, AM/FM radio and AC generator included in project ideas
- Snap Wires and slide switches mean no solder tools
- Award-winning
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Most Creative Electronics Kit
LittleBits Electronics Gizmos and Gadgets Kit
It may be called LittleBits, but there's nothing little about the opportunities for electronics adventures with their Gizmos and Gadgets Kit! Founded in 2011 by Ayah Bdeir, she decided she'd make engineering more fun and playful, to everyone-even non-engineers. She loved inspiring kids to design and create and she knew she could do so with LittleBits that were designed not just to be playful but educational as well.
Bdeir says that her goal is to inspire questions like how nightlights work or why iPads respond to touch--and LittleBits' goal is to turn every little creator to have access to materials they can create and invent with. Believing electronics is another material, Bdeir is inspired by makers and we're inspired with the Gizmos and Gadgets Kit! Kids can use math and problem-solving skills with fun and colorful Bits pieces and they can use the Bits over and over in new and creative ways, although there are 16 incredible invention plans included so your little electronics fan can enjoy success right out of the box!
Key Features:
- 16 Invention plans
- Problem-solving and math skill focused
- Reusable pieces for different challenges and creations
- App-enabled
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Best Programming Electronics Kit
Arduino Starter Kit
Arduino introduced the first board in 2005 when they were helping design students with no prior electronics experience to create prototypes. Through the years, it's become a popular electronics prototyping tool that is used by kids to corporations, and it's because Arduino's goal was to build a community that would help spread the use of shared goals and tools for groups around the globe.
Their Starter Kit is a bit upper level for some younger children but electronics-minded elementary kids will get a kick out of this kit that lets them build several projects with common electronic components, and it can grow with your child (or even adults) as knowledge bases grow. It's an intro to the basics of electronics, and lets young engineers put their hands on the tools they need to create and invent. It includes a palette of circuits and software that young inventors/builders/hackers will find fascinating and motivating, and we love the video tutorials that make it easy to follow the projects.
Key Features:
- Easy to get started
- Arduino electrical engineering kit introduces coding and electronics together
- 170-page project guide
- Over 100 components
- Free activities online to expand use
- Great for budding electrical engineers
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Best Sensory Electronics Kit For Kids
Squishy Circuits Deluxe Kit
Dough and electronics? You bet! This Squishy Circuits Deluxe Kit uses insulating and conductive playdough and teaches kids about basic electrical circuitry principles. (And we love that it's great for fine-motor skill-building as well!) Who knew that you could use dough and have creations of your imagination light up, make noise and spin motors?
Kids will spend hours modeling and molding, and they'll have so much fun doing it they won't even realize they're picking up electronics concepts about conductivity and more. A great way for little littles to get involved (with adult supervision) because it's dough, and they'll be able to grow into the 'why' of what they're doing. We love that it takes hands-on to an entirely new level and teaches kids that even basic things like dough can make a big difference in our world!
Key Features:
- Great for fine motor skills and sensory activity
- 7 Colors of conductive dough; 1 container of insulating dough
- 40 LEDs of color
- Great electronics kit for younger children
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Photo: Dmytro Zinkevych/Shutterstock
That's why we love that there are so many cool electronics kits for kids and beginners out there. And, they're created by companies that are all about building the next generation-boys and girls-to be the most creative and innovative we've ever seen. Yes, yes...they offer products, but we love finding companies that offer products with purpose. Whether it's through charitable giving, benefactorial missions or just plain wanting to develop little brains with cool stuff, we're psyched to have some fun ways to encourage kids' STEM skills.
What better way to do that than with toys? We know that play is what motivates just about every kid (and adult, let's face it) we know, and that children learn best through play. So, if we want to help tune into what their little brains are thinking (my 8-year-old son is often thinking of hacking and coding!) electronics kits for kids and beginners hit the mark. They appeal to a child's inner sense of curiosity, while allowing ample and safe opportunity for trial and error, scientific method reasoning and good old-fashioned creativity come to life.
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Not to mention electronics kits for kids can empower them like you read about! Think about how thrilling it is when you're able to take something from your brain and make it essentially appear right before your very eyes? Every time I knit a baby hat, I feel a sense of accomplishment and excitement over my creative process and electronics kits for kids and beginners can do the same thing. It's completely empowering to know you have control over research, design and execution in products, and kids who engage in creating with electronics kits for kids will feel that thrill and motivation.
What You Want In Electronics Kits For Kids And Beginners
The thing we always worry about with kids today is too much screen time, and often with good reason. Too many children are becoming addicted to electronic devices, and so it may seem counterintuitive to advocate for electronics kits for kids and beginners if we want our children not to be addicted to electronics.
But there's a difference in electronics kits and electronic devices, and it's a very important difference. When you're looking for the best electronic kits for kids and beginners, you want to be sure that you're finding kits that have a balance between the structure of the device and the ability to have open-ended play and exploration. A tablet with preset apps? Not a lot of room for exploration and the risk of wiring your little one's brains in a way that will create an addiction in a non-beneficial way.
But an electronics kits that is powered first and foremost by your child's curiosity, and then imagination? Keep talking. Throw in the ability to make predictions about cause and effect behaviors when creating with electronics kits, as well as tweak production as they continue to dream, design and create and you have some really great opportunity to foster critical thinking, scientific reasoning and more in your young innovator. A feature of the best electronics kits for kids and beginners is that your child will be able to ask questions she or he can answer with their own investigation and construction. The goal with electronics kits for kids (besides them having tons of fun) is to allow them to be the leaders of their learning, based on the questions and interests they have.
As such, the best electronics kits for kids and beginners should be ones that are age-appropriate for your child. Yes, you may have a little Einstein on your hands (don't we all?) but buying an OzoBot Evo for your three-year-old because you think he's smart enough to learn to code isn't wise (ahem, speaking hypothetically, of course). The guidelines for ages on electronics kits are not steadfast, no, but you'll not want to frustrate any little engineer because they're just not ready for the kit you've bought.
So, be sure that it's age-appropriate (or you're planning to work with your child) and that the instructions are easy to understand. Remember, though, not everyone reads instructions, particularly kids, so the best electronics kits for kids and beginners are ones that have an intuitive feel to them, something that kids can feel success early on in and have some sort of visible result rather quickly. Remember their ability to wait for gratification from action isn't quite as developed as an adult's, so electronics kits focused on kids and beginners will take that into account.
You also want to look at how open-ended the play your child can have with the electronics kit is. The best electronics kits for kids and beginners are ones that are open-ended in their play possibilities. It's SUPER cool to build that fabulous robot, and that definitely takes some STEM skills. But, in the end...if all you're able to do is build a robot, despite the electronics principals you've employed in doing so, the electronics kit may lose the appeal, and your little innovator may lose interest. Look for kits that have several options and opportunities for children to branch out beyond the picture on the box.
What Additional Benefits Do Electronics Kits For Kids And Beginners Offer?
The neatest thing about electronics kits is that they offer kids and beginners hands-on opportunities to touch, feel and manipulate as they're learning. They'll learn high-tech words but better, the theories and concepts that go behind them in a way that even the youngest electronics kit engineer can understand. And, that can make a difference for them when it comes to learning that higher-level physics and science they'll take when they're older.
Electronics kits have lots of parts, diagrams, instructions and opportunities to learn how to methodically take steps for a greater purpose. Because the electronics kits for kids come in varying levels of challenge and difficulty, there's a way young engineers can employ creating skills while following directions with purpose. And, think about what skills they're developing as they read and comprehend the charts and diagrams they use with these kits (visual-spatial, critical thinking and logic skills off the top of our heads).
Electronics kits also help bring some pretty tough abstract concepts into meaning that kids can understand and build a foundation upon. Imagine how much more applicable computer skills are when you actually BUILT the computer compared to just staring at a screen that you have no working understanding of. Again, talk about empowerment!
Electronics kits are great for parents and siblings to bond and work on projects together too. Heck, electronics kits are great for neighborhood buddies to work on together, and there are even kits that have games you can play with others once you've created that aspect. Just because it's electronic, you don't have to (and we don't encourage) sacrifice the human aspect of play and learning.
Plus, most electronics kits for kids and beginners build pretty sweet character traits in kids. They learn about patience and persistence paying off and that even though things may be difficult, they can also be really good. Electronics kits require kids to start and finish if they want to see results (and what kid doesn't?) so they help build good work ethic too.
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