If you want to give your kids a leg up on the competition, STEM toys can help develop their science, technology, engineering, and math skills. However, there are many options to choose from, so this article could help you narrow down the selection. Let’s look at the top 6 contenders for the best STEM toys for 4-year-olds.
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
Nxone STEM Toys 195 PCS Building Toys Educational Toys for Boys and Girls Ages 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Construction Building Blocks Toy Building Sets Kids Toys Creative Activities Games with Storage Box
PlayShifu Educational Word Game – Plugo Letters (Kit + App with 9 Learning Games) STEM Toy Gifts for Kids Age 4 5 6 7 8 | Phonics, Spellings & Grammar | 48 Alphabet Tiles (Works with tabs / mobiles)
PlayShifu STEM Toys for Kids – Tacto Doctor (Interactive Kit + App) – Pretend Play with Real STEM Learning
Best STEM Toys for 4-Year-Olds: Reviews
BOTZEES GO! Dinosaur Robots for Kids
This STEM toy is highly interactive and will teach your kids about construction, dinosaurs, and electrical circuits. It’s an excellent toy for developing STEM skills.
Review
Your child gets over 103 brightly colored and soft textured blocks in this set used to construct various dinosaurs. Three different dinosaurs can be built.
When the dinosaurs are built, many of the components move. Moreover, there is a main control block, an electrical circuit, allowing the dinosaurs’ heads, arms, legs, and wings to move. At the same time, a voice box produces sounds such as roars and growls.
This is an excellent toy for kids who need to develop spatial awareness and basic assembly skills, learn about construction, and more. It encourages kids to work with their hands, developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and manual dexterity. This will also help your children develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and creative-thinking skills.
It’s highly educational because there are electrical components, so it will introduce your kids to electricity and circuits.
All components are designed with safe and durable materials, so they should last and not be hazardous to your kids. These toy dinosaurs can walk and move, so this toy is interactive and fun for kids to play with.
Pros
- Durable components
- Develops fine motor skills
- Develops cognitive skills
- Fun and interactive
- Introduces kids to electricity and circuits
Cons
- Needs batteries
- Many small parts are easy to lose
STEM Construction Building Blocks
If you have a young engineer on your hands, this set of building blocks is an excellent toy as it is highly educational on various levels. It will introduce your kids to basic concepts, making it one of the best STEM gifts.
Review
This set contains nearly 200 blocks and components used to build various animals, vehicles, and structures. It also comes with a small electric drill that helps fasten the multiple parts to each other using the included plastic bolts. Therefore, this toy will help teach your children basic construction and assembly skills and develop spatial awareness.
At the same time, your kids must use their critical, creative, and logical thinking skills to correctly assemble the various constructions. Moreover, this highly interactive toy allows kids to work together, so it’s also ideal for developing collaboration and teamwork. Because the different structures, such as the vehicles, can move, such as wheels that can turn, it will teach kids about functional competencies.
Furthermore, kids must work with their hands, which is ideal for developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and manual dexterity. It’s perfect for learning about shapes, colors, numbers, and basic science concepts.
This could be one of our list’s most highly educational STEM toys. All components are safe for kids and free of any toxic elements. To help keep everything in one place, it also comes with a portable storage box, so your kids can take it with them.
Pros
- Safe for kids
- Develops spatial awareness
- Develops assembly skills
- Develops critical thinking and problem solving
- Develops fine motor skills
Cons
Many small components are easy to lose
PlayShifu Educational Word Game
If you want to develop your kid’s basic literacy skills, this is one of the best toys for them. This is one of our favorite STEM toys.
Review
This highly interactive STEM game is about developing essential literacy skills. However, to play with this toy, you will need your own tablet, as it is an electronic toy. It has a small base and many lateral blocks, but you need a tablet.
Using the included application, your kids can play up to nine learning games that develop basic literacy and spelling skills. For instance, your child might be shown a picture and then has to spell what add picture is.
Another game provides your child a variety of letters, and they must then make as many words out of the letters as possible. Moreover, there are many different difficulty levels, so kids of all ages can benefit.
Besides learning how to read and spell, this game is ideal for teaching kids how to use electronics because they need to know how to use a tablet. To a certain extent, it can develop other cognitive skills and help with fine motor skills.
Pros
- Simple yet effective
- Affordable
- Super portable
- Ideal for developing literacy skills
- Highly interactive
Cons
- Not the best for developing hand-eye coordination
- You need a tablet to play
PlayShifu Interactive STEM Toys – Tacto Laser
This is another excellent STEM toy if you have a young physicist on your hands or want your child to develop problem-solving skills.
Review
As like with the previous game, you will need a tablet to play this game. This game is about lasers and light; it’s designed to teach your kids how light functions, how it is reflected, how colors work, and more.
Therefore, it is an excellent introduction to physics and general science. You get various components that combine with the tablet, with over 200 puzzles to solve. Your child can use this toy no matter their skill level. Your kids must use the included components, including the lasers, prisms, and reflectors, to direct the light as required.
It’s excellent for developing critical-thinking skills, creativity, and problem-solving skills. It’s also great for developing fine motor skills, spatial awareness, directional awareness, hand-eye coordination, and more. In addition, this toy can teach your kids about the different colors in the rainbow.
When it comes down to it, this is one of the most educational games on the list, especially on the science front. Moreover, this game is highly interactive and will absorb your kids for hours.
Pros
- Simple yet highly educational
- Ideal for kids of many ages
- A great introduction to light and related science concepts
- Ideal for cognitive development
- Develops fine motor skills
Cons
Requires you to have a compatible tablet
PlayShifu Interactive STEM Toys – Tacto Doctor
This is another game that will require you to have your own tablet. However, it will teach your kids about medicine, biology, and the human body.
Review
If you have a young medical practitioner on your hands and want to teach your kids about biology, medicine, and the human body and desensitize them for doctor visits, this is a fantastic game. You get a variety of components, including a small X-ray machine, stethoscope, thermometer, and nine other doctor’s tools.
Your children will then have to use these doctor’s tools or utensils to examine the patients on the tablet screen to determine what is wrong with them. Many different games can be played here. For instance, your children might have to fix a particular disorder, clean teeth, diagnose what is wrong with the patient, and more.
It’s a great way to help your children develop critical-thinking, problem-solving, and independent-thinking skills. Moreover, it is excellent for developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and manual dexterity.
It’s also a good way to introduce your child to doctors so they don’t fear them when they have to visit. Although the tablet is not included, we appreciate how all components are durable and designed to be safe for kids.
Pros
- Introduces kids to the world of medicine
- Ideal for developing a variety of cognitive skills
- Develops motor functions
- Affordable
- Durable and safe components
Cons
Requires a tablet
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Glowing Marble Run
If you have a young engineer, this is an excellent STEM toy that involves building.
Review
This is a simple STEM toy with various pieces to create a marble run. Your kids must assemble the various components to get the marble from the starting point to the endpoint.
There are bridges, tubes, connectors, and even pinwheels that the marbles must pass through or over to reach the final destination. This will teach your kids basic assembly and construction skills and more.
At the same time, it will encourage creative and logical thinking, increasing their problem-solving skills. It’s also ideal for developing fine motor skills such as manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
There are many bright colors, so your kids will learn about colors, plus it’s very eye-catching and interactive. All components, besides the marbles, are too large to swallow; they’re constructed of totally safe materials. This makes a perfect gift for young kids as it is one of the brightest and most interactive building sets.
Pros
- Affordable kit
- Great for young engineers
- Easy to use
- Suitable for both cognitive and manual development
- Durable components
Cons
Marbles can pose a choking hazard
FAQ
How To Choose the Right STEM Toys for 4-Year-Olds?
The most important thing to look for is the indicated age range. Then, focus on the child’s development needs or topics they are interested in learning about.
Is LEGO Good for STEM?
LEGO is considered a fantastic STEM toy as it is all about spatial awareness, assembly, problem-solving, manual dexterity, critical thinking and imagination, colors, shapes, and more.
Do STEM Toys Teach Kids Science and Math?
These toys are designed to teach kids math, science, and other related topics. They do this by making learning fun through interactive means and putting the basic STEM principles into practice.
Final Verdict
The best STEM toy for 4-year-olds on our list is the BOTZEES Dinosaur Robot. It’s great for developing cognitive and manual skills and is fun.
