If you want good STEM toys to teach your kids literacy and numeracy and develop fine motor skills, we have found the top five contenders for the best STEM toys for 1-year-old kids. Let’s see what they have to offer.
Comparison Chart
BOTZEES GO! Dinosaur Robots for Kids, Building and Electric Remote Control Toys, STEM Learning Toys for Kids Ages 3+, Boys Toys, with RC Magic Stick, Dinosaur Toys, App Based
Goobi 20 Piece Construction Set Large Building Blocks Developmental Play Sticks STEM Learning Vibrant Colors Creativity Imagination 3D Puzzle Educational Toys for 1 Year Old Toddlers Preschool
Think Gizmos Take Apart Toy Fire Truck – Includes Working Drill, Realistic Sounds and Lights – Easy DIY Assembly – Great Toy for Boys and Girls Ages 3+
BEST LEARNING Stack & Learn – Educational Activity Toy for Infants Babies Toddlers for 6 Month and up – Ideal Baby Toy Gifts
Best STEM Toys for 1-Year-Olds: Reviews
BOTZEES GO! Dinosaur Robots for Kids
This dinosaur assembly toy is an excellent STEM toy for very young children.
Review
This set of 103 brightly colored and soft-textured blocks allows your kids to build various dinosaurs. Kids love dinosaurs, so it’s a fun toy to construct and play with. Moreover, kids usually love assembly, and since this is a building block set, we think your kids will love it.
At the same time, it requires your kids to use their hands to assemble these dinosaurs, so it helps develop their manual dexterity and spatial reasoning skills. In addition, your kids will be introduced to following instructions to build the dinosaurs and develop logical thinking and deduction skills.
What also makes this toy so much fun is that they have batteries to power them, so when the dinosaurs are built, your kids can use the remote control to make them move and make sounds; these dinosaurs roar and make sounds.
All components are designed to be safe; they have rounded edges and are made with high-quality non-toxic materials. In addition, the parts are durably designed, so your young kids can put them through a lot of punishment.
Pros
- Durable
- Great for young kids
- Dinosaurs move and make sounds
- Different dinosaurs to build
- Safe components
Cons
Requires batteries
Goobi 20 Piece Construction Set
If you have a young child and you want to help develop their manual dexterity, spatial reasoning, and other skills, this is a simple construction toy.
Review
This STEM toy is all about construction. It comes with 20 components, with iron balls and small magnetic bars. The iron balls are the connector points to which the magnetic bars can connect, allowing your small child to easily build various objects, including pyramids, balls, spider webs, and more.
The magnets are strong, so they hold quite securely. Moreover, all components are large, so a young child cannot swallow them. At the same time, the pieces are very durable, so kids can throw them around without fear of breaking. In addition, they’re safe and non-toxic.
This toy develops fine motor skills and stimulates creativity, interaction, experimentation, and manual dexterity. It will get your kids working with their hands to construct various objects. The components are different colors, which can help your child differentiate the colors of the rainbow.
Pros
- Durable
- Child safe
- Great for developing fine motor skills
- Teaches colors
- Introduction to the world of construction
Cons
Only 20 pieces included
Think Gizmos Build Your own Fire Truck
If your child needs to develop fine motor skills, assembling something like this little fire truck is a great way to do it. It’s a neat little STEM toy designed for boys, although little girls could also have fun with it.
Review
This DIY assembly fire truck comes with 32 different parts that are easy to put together. It comes with all the parts to assemble the fire truck, two little firefighters, and a small drill.
The functional drill uses two batteries to operate. This will help teach your kids basic power tool skills.
It’s an excellent introduction to the world of construction, carpentry, and tools in general. But, of course, this is a plastic drill designed with safe components, so kids cannot hurt themselves.
It’s an excellent toy for developing manual dexterity and fine motor skills because your kids have to assemble this little fire truck. At the same time, your children must follow instructions to build the fire truck. This, therefore, helps logical thinking and deduction skills.
Finally, once the fire truck has been built, it is operational because the wheels turn, so your kids can play with it. It’s a very simple STEM toy, but it’s an excellent introduction to the world of construction and engineering and developing fine motor skills.
Pros
- Durable components
- Easy-to-build firetruck
- Fun to play with
- Very hands-on
- Helps develop fine motor skills
Cons
Components are easy to lose
BEST LEARNING Stack & Learn – Educational Activity Toy
This building toy is hands-on in nature and teaches kids about animals, colors, musical instruments, and numbers.
Review
This stacking toy has an electronic base and comes with five different colored rings you can stack on top of it. These rings are of various sizes and, if properly stacked, will form a small pyramid. Therefore, it is a good toy for helping to teach your kids about different sizes and spatial awareness, especially in construction.
The electronic component will help your kids learn about animals, musical instruments, numbers, and more. For example, different songs are played when the rings are stacked in different ways. Your kids can also sing along to these songs, which will help them learn about timing, tempo, and pitch.
It’s a fun toy because it is educational yet not overly intense. Singing along with catchy tunes makes learning fun while allowing for learning.
This is an excellent toy for developing hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and manual dexterity; plus, it is educational in that your kids will learn about music, colors, animals, and numbers. It might be a simple toy, but it introduces basic skills and knowledge that your one-year-old child will need to start school.
All components are completely safe and non-toxic, too large to swallow.
Pros
- Child-safe
- Non-toxic
- Durable
- Hands-on
- Teaches physical skills and basic literacy/numeracy
Cons
- Requires batteries
- Can get boring quickly
LeapFrog Learning Friends 100 Words Book
This is an excellent STEM toy if you have a very young child and want to teach them basic literacy skills and vocabulary.
Review
This is a simple yet educational book designed to teach your children about words and facts related to those words. It’s a simple book that uses batteries to operate.
The 100 age-appropriate words were chosen by learning experts and are divided into outside, opposites, colors, activities, animals, meal time, food, pets, and more.
Your kids can tap the words with their fingers, at which point the word will be read out loud by the book, and interesting facts about that word.
It’s not the most advanced toy, but it will help teach your children basic literacy skills, different terms, words, and more. As a result, it’s one of the best toys for the early development of literacy skills. On a side note, the toy is also bilingual, as it can function in English and Spanish.
Pros
- Ideal for young kids
- Teaches basic literally
- Teaches interesting facts
- Durable design
- Portable
Cons
Focuses only on words
Conclusion
We think one of the best STEM toys for a 1-year-old on our list is the Think Gizmos Build Your own Fire Truck. So if you want to help your kids develop their fine motor skills, this is one of the best toys.
