Feature - Stem & Educational

Fun facts!

Kids are naturally inquisitive about the world around them and are explorers from the day they’re born, but the biggest task for toy companies in the STEM and Education sectors is to find ways to fulfil this curiosity while still keeping them engaged and having fun.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths; many STEM toy companies take guidelines from school curricula to provide kids with practical activities which enhance what they will be learning in the classroom. This allows them to apply their knowledge in a way that doesn’t feel like they’re at school. Over the past few years, the term STEAM has also been introduced to include arts subjects, which are just as important for a child’s development and learning.

Children are engaged by activities in which they can share with family members. Lindsay Hardy, marketing director at Trends UK, explains that the company often receives feedback from parents and grandparents confirming that its products are enjoyed by more than one generation. She adds: “That’s very motivating, children really enjoy participating in a joint activity with a relative, especially when it produces some end results to be proud of such as a crystal they have grown, an electronic circuit or an engine model.”

In coming up with the next STEM toy, the Trends team discusses fresh ideas each month and searches for items which offer something new to the market. The company’s bestsellers are its child-friendly scientific equipment collection, which includes telescopes, metal detectors and walkie talkies. Meanwhile, Trends activity kits help kids learn about engineering and physics. For example, when a child constructs one of the Machine Works engine kits, they learn several principles of how an engine turns energy into movement. These concepts are explained and demonstrated in the finished model. 

New lines coming soon at Trends include the Science Mad Early Skills Science Lab which has 10 simple experiments that a younger child can do with adult help and the Machine Works Robotic Arm; from a kit of 175 parts the consumer can build a motorised arm with wireless controls. The finished model has extensive movement through all the pivot points and can grab small objects. To support retail partners, the company provides professional assets and video content to explain how products work.

LeapFrog has learning at the heart of its collections. For its Education brands, the in-house Learning and Education team developed the Curriculum Scope & Sequence over the past 25+ years, which continues to be refined and updated based on the latest educational research and best practices in teaching. STEM is an important component; once the team identify learning areas to target, they explore different play patterns that are age-appropriate and relevant to kids. This includes both current trends and classic play patterns - or more often a combination of both. LeapFrog’s on-site “KidLab” means experts can observe how kids play with different toys designed by the company at different stages of the design process; sometimes even paper prototypes or mock-ups are tried out. In the lab, kids are asked questions about their thinking, and their interaction with different materials is observed.

Kids are particularly interested in explorative and problem-solving play which challenges them to use mathematical and logical thinking to experiment and think outside the box. Sophie Taylor, LeapFrog’s assistant brand manager, says: “Play like building structures, making contraptions, or creating logical sequences of actions are particularly relevant to STEM, as are devices that let kids explore and investigate the world immediately around them. The Learning Experts marry these playful designs with technologies and electronics that encourage interactions and provide feedback to engage kids’ minds.”

Across LeapFrog’s portfolio of toys and products, playful learning experiences are on offer in many different areas including phonics and reading, maths and science, world geography, culture, music and social emotional learning. Features like electronic voice dialogue are used to introduce new concepts, and buttons or graphics that light up to prompt interactions. In some of the company’s more sophisticated products, screens are included which can play animations for lesson demonstration or videos to show kids interesting footage from around the world and beyond. The electronic features in the toys help make the play experience interactive and keep kids focused on the learning objectives.

The STEM and educational sector has a wide range of kits designed to provide inquisitive young minds with exploration and discovery, problem solving, cause and effect and abstract thinking. Such kits provide a simple route to discovery and learning. Keeping scientific exploration front of mind, Creative Kids’ STEM-inspired collection includes the Interactive Human Body, part of the Science to the Max range. With removable organs and stretchy muscles, knowledge of anatomy will be absorbed as children actively explore the product, with learning reinforced by the included activity cards. Meanwhile, the Purple Cow collection from Lagoon, part of University Games, offers Crazy Scientist Lab science tins focusing on different scientific principles, letting kids become real researchers in their own ‘private laboratory’ at home. Science Activity Card Tins from the same range contain the instructions for 20 science experiments that can be completed with objects everyone can find at home - and also provide a neat pocket money option.

Products to inspire budding engineers include lines such as the Meccano Maker’s Toolbox, which Spin Master says is designed for open-ended play and endless creativity. The 400+ interchangeable building pieces spark imaginations while promoting skill development and problem-solving abilities.  Bachmann’s PepPlay offers a selection of children’s arts and crafts products to help support STEM education whilst having fun; transforming a flat piece of paper into a three-dimensional house or a car offers a unique exercise in visual-spatial reasoning and helps teach how basic geometric shapes such as squares, rectangles and triangles can be transformed into cubes, cuboids and pyramids.

Licensed STEM ranges at Vivid Goliath include the upcoming Paw Patrol Build A Bots, which have been designed to be simple to assemble to create each character. Exploring principles of construction, lights and sounds, the resulting robotic characters can be customised by the builder. When users clap their hands, they will bring the Paw Patrol pup to life and hear them chat.

At Wow! Stuff, the Marvel Universe STEAM collection means kids can create, learn and develop as they celebrate their fandom with Marvel Science Putties. Each putty has a Marvel hero-inspired quality: Iron Man Science Putty is heat reactive, with transformative colour-changing thermal pigments; the Black Panther putty is UV reactive and changes colour; Hulk putty has a ‘gamma glow’-in-the-dark effect and Captain America Putty is super-bouncy due to its ‘vibranium elasticity’.

Curious Universe offers a variety of kits which allow users to experiment with the sciences and archaeology, with fun tasks such as creating an electric circuit using lemons to make a clock work. “We focus on devising products that combine a child’s love of exploring and creating with the reassurance for parents that their child is both playing and learning whilst being away from screens,” says John Styring, CEO of Curious Universe. “Understanding the latest trends, what keeps children engaged and having a knowledge of how a child’s play patterns can be enhanced and developed via creative design and themes is key when looking at bringing products to market in this category.”

John adds that elements of fun such as glow in the dark features are perfect for meeting consumer expectations, being on trend and linking back to the national curriculum. “Kids really engage with sensory, discovery and exploration,” he explains. Indeed, fun and engagement is key, children must enjoy playing with the STEM or educational toys as remaining engaged and interested  for extended periods of time supports the learning that is involved. Wanting to return to a toy and repeat actions is also one of the fundamental foundations for absorbing information and skills.

This is an area that, by design, keeps things up to date and fresh. With plenty more on offer from the category, over the next few pages readers can find out about all the latest STEM and Educational ranges, as Toy World takes a look at the latest additions to the sector.