Our world is changing fast and many careers are now moving in favor of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical (STEM) skills. STEM are essential core subjects that are useful for future jobs like computer programmers, software developers and lab technicians. It is never too early to help your toddler to build interest in STEM. We believe that some toys are better than others for developing STEM skills in toddlers.

Jobs of the Future

Look at some of the top paying jobs in 2017 that have been identified by Business Insider. You will find that a majority of them include STEM-related jobs.

More importantly, experts have said that the job opportunities of the future will look very different from the job opportunities of today. According to these experts, mundane, repetitive work will be taken over by artificially intelligent machines such as droids. Humans can only dominate through work that requires creativity and “thinking outside the box”.

However, don’t be overly alarmed. This is not a new phenomenon. Back in the late 18th century to the early 19th century when the Industrial Revolution first began, machines were a blessing because they increased the efficiency of production. However, this meant that manual, laborious jobs that used to be mostly done by people were taken over by machines. This is the same phenomenon that is happening now…only that the machines are more sophisticated and “intelligent.”

Encourage STEM

As parents, our job is not to instill fear in our children about the future but instead, to prepare them for it.

As a family, we don’t believe in forcing children into activities that they are not interested in, but there is no harm in encouraging them towards activities that you feel would be useful for the building of future skills that will be sought after by employers.

It is in this spirit that we came up with this list of the best toys to build STEM skills for a toddler. Please note that we define a toddler as a child between the age of 12 months to 36 months. Toddlers may develop at different speeds and in different abilities so if a toy proves too difficult for your toddler, just store it away until your toddler is ready for it.

Best 10 STEM Toys for Toddlers

1. Fat Brain Toys Tobbles Neo

You may have seen this half-egg-shaped, colorful-looking stacking toy in various play centers before. It is popular because it is useful for teaching a whole variety of skills including size and weight evaluation, balancing, stacking and other fine motor skills. They look super cute and perhaps that’s why toddlers seem to love throwing and stacking these.

The great thing about this toy is that it doesn’t have to be stacked perfectly. This is great as toddlers may take a while to hone the relevant skills required to stack these well. The pieces are made of ABS plastic and are particularly sturdy and if dropped, the pieces won’t break- they merely roll and wiggle.

This tool is useful for teaching toddlers Science concepts such as gravity and friction, and Engineering concepts such as color recognition, size differentials and structural stability. You can also use it to teach Math skills by counting the pieces. In addition, this toy is excellent for visual-spatial development and tactile exploration.

  1. Melissa & Doug Switch and Spin Magnetic Gear Board – Educational Toy With 8 Gears and 5 Double-Sided Designs

If your toddler loves mechanical things, he or she will love this magnetic gear board.

The Melissa & Doug Switch and Spin Magnetic Gear Board comes with a multisensory magnetic board with a wooden frame, 5 double-sided templates and 8 magnetic gears that fit onto 8 magnetic pegs. Your toddler will have to use his or her problem-solving skills, creativity, fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination to place the right pegs in the right holes and thereafter, attach the right gears onto the right pegs. When the gears are placed correctly, the gears will spin and create a moving effect that makes it look like the toy is coming to life. There are 10 designs to help you figure out a variety of ways to arrange the gears together.

This toy is great for teaching engineering concepts, colors, shape-matching, gear movement, cause and effect and honing your toddler’s finger dexterity.

  1. Guidecraft Grippies Builders 20 Piece Set

We absolutely love this STEM building toy. Most STEM toys that are designed for building structures are too small (and becomes a choking hazard) or too difficult for tiny toddler fingers to grasp properly.

This set is especially designed for young toddlers as the pieces are bigger in size for holding, are durable and the handles come in multiple sensory textures. You will probably be happy to know that the plastic is BPA-free too.

This set comes with 20 pieces including rods made of soft ABS plastic and metal balls which your toddler can connect together to form a structure. Your toddler will learn geometric design, building skills, visual-spatial skills, imagination and other engineering concepts. Great for future LEGO builders and engineers. It comes with a sturdy storage box.

This set was awarded the 2017 Toy of the Year Finalist award and we think this toy deserves it.

  1. Melissa & Doug Abacus – Classic Wooden Educational Counting Toy With 100 Beads

Using an abacus is a fun way to introduce Math concepts to your toddler. Modern-day calculators do everything for you but think of this as a manual calculator. This is a traditional wooden abacus with 10 lines of 10 brightly colored beads each.

Our toddler loved looking at and sliding these beads on the abacus. They also make a nice clacking sound when the beads strike each other.

This is not only great for building Math and counting skills but also for improving fine motor skills, learning colors and studying patterns.

  1. Animal Bingo Game for Shape and Color Recognition by LEGO Education DUPLO

LEGO Duplo has always been a popular toy for budding future STEM experts. What is special about this set is that it was created to be a teaching tool as well as a toy. In this set, your toddler picks a building card with a picture of an animal on it and tries to find the matching color blocks and shapes to build the animal. This is, of course, great for problem-solving, counting and shape and color recognition. It also teaches your toddler to notice and follow visual instructions as well as the discipline to stick within the rules of the game. This game comes with 8 double-sided cards so your toddler has 16 animal models to build. There are just under 50 pieces in this set. Best of all, your toddler can use these LEGO DUPLO bricks for independent free play too.

  1. Melissa & Doug Wooden Construction Building Set in a Box

If you love LEGO but you want something that is made of wood instead of plastic, this is the set for you! This is a great 48-piece set that consists of 16 boards, 8 nuts, 12 bolts, 6 blocks, a child-sized screwdriver, predrilled storage box and building guides so that you can create some truly amazing structures. Your toddler might need your help to go through the building guides (which you can use to create a crane, motorcycle, airplane and race car) but also to get the bolts and nuts onto the right holes.

You can use this set to help your toddler learn Mathematical concepts such as counting, logical sorting, creative color-matching, engineering construction, problem-solving, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Fun and creativity in a box!

  1. ETI Toys 101 Piece Educational Construction Engineering Building Blocks Set for 3, 4 and 5+ Year Old Boys & Girls

You can use this set to build some truly epic stuff and it has extended play time value. Great for shaping future engineers, this toy comes with screws and nuts, wheels, plates, connectors and two wrenches. It also provides an idea sheet in case your toddler wants some inspiration. While it may prove challenging for young toddlers, this set can still be engaging for young ones with some assistance. You can, of course, use the pieces to teach about colors, numbers and shapes.

This whole set has 93 pieces all together. You will also be pleased to know that the toy is non-toxic, BPA-free, lead-free and phthalates-free.

  1. Skoolzy JUMBO PRIMARY STRINGING BEAD SET with 36 Lacing Beads for Toddlers and Babies, 4 Strings, Tote, Busy Bag Ideas Guide

This is a stringing bead set for toddlers. It comes in many different colors and shapes (36 beads and 4 strings) which your child can string, sort, stack or lace together. These beads come in 6 different shapes; cubes, spheres, hexagons, ovals, cylinders and triangles. It is relatively chunky and great for young toddler fingers to grasp, about 1 to 1.5 inches.

It builds a variety of fine motor skills including beading, stacking and hand-eye coordination. You could use this set to teach your toddler about color and shape matching as well as logical sequencing. Alternatively, you can use the pieces to create beautiful jewelry such as a bangle or a necklace!

  1. Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden Lacing Beads – Educational Activity With 27 Beads and 2 Laces

This is another great lacing bead set but this set comes with painted numbers, dots and shapes and is fantastic for teaching about Math, Geometry and basic structural concepts. In total, you get 27 beads and 2 laces in this set. These beads are shaped in a way that makes them great as a stacking toy too. The beads come in cubes, cylinders, stars and circles. Each bead is about 1.5 inches so that they are also great for toddler hands.

 

  1. Hape Solid Beech Wood Stacking Blocks

This wooden blocks set is not only colorful and made of beautiful wood but it also comes with brightly printed alphabets and numbers on some of the blocks. The wooden block pieces itself are made up of mostly cubes but also a fair number of cylinder-shaped blocks, some semicircles and some triangles. With these pieces, your toddler can create a whole range of things including bridges, houses and towers. This is a great durable STEM toy that will rival a LEGO Duplo building set.

Happy STEM playtimes with your toddler!