STEM toys

With four kids in the house ranging in age from five up to 11, it's no small feat to find a tech toy that they can all play with, especially when it's something educational. Darn those age limits. But as I recently learned, that's not th…

It's hard to believe this was my first ever year attending the Maker Faire in NYC, but yep. It's true. And now consider me an annual attendee. Thanks to our sponsor Sprout by HP who hooked me up with tickets (thank you thank you thank yo…

We're as geeked out about Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens as anyone else, but let's all step back for a minute and take a moment of reflection for today's #ForceFriday national day that's really a giant unboxing and marketing event desi…

Recently, I wrote about how totally in love I am with the Dot and Dash Robots from Wonder Workshop . So it makes me extra happy that they have joined us as as our newest Cool Mom Tech sponsor because, well, we all adore them! (Also, so d…

At first glance, the gorgeous handmade Avakai dolls look like heirloom dolls my kids would love to play with all on their own But hidden inside these matryoshka-inspired Waldorf dolls is some very cool tech that will spark creative play …

When it comes to build-it-yourself toys for our kids, Playmobil is a classic. There's just something thrilling about opening up a toy kit with 117 pieces, right? But now that there are new Playmobil toys with electricity just launched th…

If you've ever looked, then you know how hard it is to find examples of female role models in STEM, which is why these parents decided to create this new card game Women in Science for their daughter, and now, for all our kids. Yeah! Not…

My kids got a huge kick out the original Makey Makey invention kit that we featured here on Cool Mom Tech a couple of years ago. And now they've launched a Kickstarter campaign for their new Makey Makey GO , which has killed its goal in …

Walking through the crowded, cacophonic aisles of International CES 2015 earlier this year, we were instantly drawn to one booth featuring adorable little robots gliding around the rug, and beeping and booping at our feet. It turned out …

What do you get for the kid who has everything? Cool STEM toys that might help them learn something new, we say. Because even kids who have everything, don't yet know everything. And now it's easier than ever to shop for awesome educatio…

After spending a fun afternoon at Makerbot 's NYC store last fall, my kids are now completely fascinated with 3D printing. It's a pretty phenomenal way to get kids creating, designing, coding and building. But the big challenges remain t…

As you can see just from browsing our site, Minecraft and STEM toys rank high on our list of the coolest stuff for kids that's both fun and educational. So when we heard about Piper , which brings together coding, engineering, and Minecr…

I'm not alone in wanting my kids to learn the basics of coding and am thankful there are so many ways to get them interested in the subject. We've covered cool clubs and camps, lots of fun games , as well as apps and websites like Scratc…

While we love finding cool gifts for kids under $15 that don't seem like stocking stuffers, there's something to be said for finding actual awesome stocking stuffers that won't break the bank either. It's not easy though when you've got …

Need to add a little oomph to your Christmas decorations? Want your gingerbread house to be the one that makes all the others jealous? Going for the win in this year's Ugly Christmas Sweater contest? You may need a little bit of help wit…

If last week's Hour of Code got your kids fired up to learn more about computer science, then we've got an awesome gift recommendation for you. Bitsbox is a cool free website where kids can learn and practice code, and now they've launch…

Not every toy we buy our kids has to have some sort of "educational component" to it, though I love when I find a great toy that so brilliantly combines play with learning. Such is the case with Tiggly whose Tiggly Shapes was a favorite …

We've shared our favorite cool tech toys and gifts for younger kids, and now our Holiday Tech Gift guide series continues with the coolest tech toys and gifts for older kids. Whether you've got a grade-schooler who's outgrown a learning …

Our Holiday Tech Gift guide series continues with one of our favorite categories: The coolest tech toys and gifts for kids. This year we're breaking our gift recommendations up into big kids and little kids, since that teen of yours proo…

Let's face it: Our kids and these tiny screens are going to be together for the long haul. Might as well teach the ins and outs of all things digital from early on, right? I'm talking about coding for kids: teaching children how to speak…

The concept of intelligent robots taking over the planet used to be something you'd only see in sci-fi movies but I'm starting to wonder whether a robotic takeover may not be so far-off. Okay, maybe not in our immediate future, but highl…

You may already know we are big fans of Tattly, the way cool temporary tattoos we first told you about at their launch three years ago. (See? Ear to the ground over here.) Well, they've grown hugely since then with literally hundreds of …

Back in September, I discovered a cool board game on Kickstarter with a lofty goal: To teach kids as young as four the basics of programming. And now that I have a final copy of Robot Turtles , I can say that you parents of preschoolers …

In the wake of the hugely popular female LEGO scientist minifig , LEGO goes one giant step for humankind further in introducing a LEGO Research Institute set featuring female scientists . And we stand up and applaud for more smart STEM t…