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Chain Reactions
If your kids love LEGO they will love this kit. It comes with pieces to build ramps and devices to propel objects to create the chain reactions. Perfect for a gift for a little engineer!
I also found this one which my own children LOVED when they were much smaller!
My two would set this up in our foyer where we had a wooden floor. (Carpet didn’t work well!) They would build and test with this set for a long time!
Build a Playground
The Kit pictured has the pieces to complete a playground and here’s the best part- the directions to it follow the Engineering Design Process! How neat is that! The kit comes with challenge cards that direct the children in building parts of the playground. Of course, they can also design on their own!
Newton’s Laws of Motion
The kit contains pieces to build eight models that exhibit a Law of Motion. This includes catapults, a Balloon Powered Plane, and a Dragster. It does have turning and cranking parts which remind me a lot of LEGO. The instructions are in a picture format. If you are interested the kit also includes reading passages and a Quiz! (This kit is for older students, third grade and above.)
Circuits
This Snap Circuit set has all you will need and it only uses two batteries, so you will likely not explode any bulbs! There are parts and instructions for 100 projects including a siren- if you can just think about how amazing that would be!
Building with Straws
So, of course when I found this kit that features straws I knew it would be a perfect kit. Kids love building with straws. This set by Skoolzy includes straws and connectors and ideas. It is designed for your younger engineers- kindergarten, first grade, and younger. Personally, I think older kids would love it, too. I know my third and fourth graders would really get quite competitive with this. Just look at the height of that structure in the photo!
Holiday shopping time has arrived and I hope you have gathered some ideas for gifts this winter. And, BONUS, you may have some STEM ideas for your classroom, too! (Click on photos- they are linked to sources!)
Wow, I love this! Especially the lego kit! I feel that it also important to educate children on what's going on in the world of STEM (feel free to grab cool ideas from my blog systematicdestination.blogspot.ca/