Feature
Science & Nature
Developing
expertise
The Science and Nature category is booming as the thirst for knowledge about the world we live in continues. Sam Giltrow investigates how learning can be made fun.
T
he demand for toys that mix fun with educational benefits has shot up in recent times and nowhere was this more evident than at the recent London Toy Fair, where there was a huge focus on the STEM category, including science and nature related toys. And rightly so, as you only have to look at the viewing figures that Sir David Attenborough amasses as he delves into our oceans and rainforests for his fascinating TV programmes, to realise that people love to know why things are and what make things work. It is this quest for knowledge, combined with a sense of fun, that has sparked something of a surge in the STEM category. Predicted to have increased by more than $914.37m from 2019 to 2023, according to global research company Technavio, much of this growth has happened in the last two years, particularly among girls. And it was great to see such a wide offering at Toy Fair, with STEM toys featuring in the Fair’s list of 23 Hero Toys for 2022, as selected by industry experts.
Many parents and relatives buying toys, it seems, want more than just something that will keep children amused for a while. They want an educational aspect too, as Katharine Spence, owner of Wigwam Toy Shop in West Dulwich, London tells Toy World. “There has been noticeably more demand for STEM toys since the start of the pandemic,” she says. “They are becoming especially popular for gifts; parents and grandparents like to buy something that is educational but fun at the same time. There’s such a variety on offer now that we can stock a really good selection across a wide range of price points.” The pandemic has certainly acted as a catalyst for innovation in educational toys, not only due to the long periods of time away from school, but also with the slow start in re-implementing practical science lessons due to Covid restrictions. “Children learn best by doing and during lockdowns and school closures, they missed out on the experiential learning and play they would normally have engaged in at school,” says Simon Tomlinson, head of marketing EMEA at educational
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toy company Learning Resources. “Many STEM concepts are abstract and tricky for young children to grasp. Our hands-on STEM toys encourage traditional play and discovery, helping families bring the concepts children were learning through on screen lessons to life in practical ways at home.” Learning Resources offers a huge range of science-related toys, and one of the areas which has seen the biggest demand is coding. Despite the UK making significant progress in establishing coding as part of the curriculum, the teaching of coding in primary schools was significantly reduced during the pandemic. “Our STEM product category has been boosted by the introduction of the current computing curriculum in primary schools, which now sees children as young as five learning the basics of computer science and coding. The resulting growth has raised the profile of Learning Resources as a brand and our STEM toy sales increase year on year,” says Simon. In particular, Learning Resources has experienced demand for its range of interactive coding robots,
