Is it just me or did the Christmas season start in early October this year?  I saw Christmas decorations and presents in club stores way before Halloween and our local soft rock radio station was playing Christmas carols two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Black Friday sales are even starting a week before Black Friday!  Shopping center Christmas tree lightings happening before Thanksgiving are now becoming the norm.  Times are a changing.

But one thing that never changes is kids’ love for presents, and gadgets can sure be a highlight of any gift wishlist.

WellConnectedMom has the unique opportunity to see a broad view of a lot of really cool tech toys in the marketplace that don’t always have the marketing dollars to make a large splash.  Many of these we are bringing to your attention in this article.

STEAM toys and products are gaining in popularity.  They teach kids about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics in an entertaining and engaging way.   They are designed to provoke curiosity by providing trial-and-error and problem-solving.  

On the art side of STEAM, things like dancing, singing, and even video games provide outlets for creativity, exploration of developing skills, and possibility.  Enjoy these STEAM gift ideas for kids.

Top STEAM Gift Ideas for Kids

Rox’s Secret Codebook

New in bookstores this month is Rox’s Secret Code, a fun and empowering book that tells the story of Rox, a brilliant young coder, and her runaway robot. Rox loves coding and when asked to clean her room, she invents Chorebot, her room cleaning robot. Unfortunately, Chorebot wreaks havoc when it gets a mind of its own and leaves her home.  Rox sets out to find it and reprogram it.

The illustrations are engaging and colorful and you can’t help but love Rox and how she empowers girls through her creativity and love of technology.

It’s an entertaining and informative adventure that comes with a free AR coding game app so kids can create own robot in AR 3D and bring it to “life” in their own room.  The app is perfect for kids ages 4 to 7, teaching them basic coding commands within a fun game.

We love that this book steps away from the typical princess narrative and works to encourage young girls to pursue their passion. With women underrepresented in STEM-related fields, Rox serves as a trendy, relatable role model. 

Rox’s Secret Codebook is available through Amazon for under $12 plus shipping.

robo wunderkind

Robo wunderkind is a modular robot that makes it easy for kids to build their own robot.  Using color-coded robotic blocks, kids can build robot designs and use the free app to add intuitive visual based programming to their creation.  No reading is necessary.

Designed for kids 6+, the app is easy-to-use with drag-and-drop flexibility.  It offers kids the opportunity to learn how different commands affect their robot directly.  It includes a growing library of tutorials and projects, which encourage kids to explore, invent, and create.  Kids learn cause and effect instantaneously, as soon as they press the “play” button.

Kids can create their own robots or build the robots explained in the app.  They can then program their robot to play music, detect obstacles, drive, move, and more.  Kids can further enhance their robot creations with their own LEGO blocks.

The robo wunderkind Starter Kit is a great way to get started with STEAM and is available on their website for $179 plus shipping.

Let’s Start Coding Kits

We’ve tried out Let’s Start Coding before when we looked at their Let’s Start Coding Base Kit last year.  What we like about Let’s Start Coding is that how they introduce circuit boards to kids without the need for soldering. 

They have recently come out with some new mini-kits where the LED lights, speakers, buttons, and sensors are already soldered on small circuit boards.  Kids learn how to program and manipulate these items.

Using a laptop, kids can use the Let’s Start Coding program to find pre-written example code that works with their kits.  The programming also includes challenges so kids can modify the outcomes of their mini-kit project.  Depending upon the interest of your child, s/he can learn further code make their own tunes, sound effects, or light sequences.

We tried out several of the new mini-kits, specifically the Code Speaker, Code Piano, and Code Rocket.  Each kit includes a mini circuit board, laminated learning code cards, and a USB cable that creatively plugs into the circuit board and also your laptop.  

Kits have over 10 exercises to try online featuring videos, exercises, examples, and even a quiz!  Designed for kids 8+, Let’s Start Coding Kits introduce kits to real coding with cause-and-effect experiments to help kids learn as they program.  Free software is available for Windows, Mac, and Chromebooks.

The new mini-kits are available from Let’s Start Coding ranging from $19.99 to $44.99, plus shipping.

AstroBot Series: Cosmos Kit

For the older elementary child, ages 8+, the UBTECH JIMU AstroBot Series: Cosmos Kit allows kids to build more sophisticated robots while working with code and motors.  In the AstroBot Series, kids are given all the parts needed to build three different robots – the AstroBot, pictured above, the Rover, or an Astron robot.  Or, they can build their own creation and maneuver it with code to perform programs, tricks, and customized actions, such as picking up objects, moving around obstacles, controlling light and sound effects, and more.

The AstroBot Series comes with over 380 snap-together parts, an infrared sensor, a Bluetooth speaker, 2 LED lights, 5 smooth motion robotic servo motors, and power adapter.  Download the free iOS or Android app and kids can follow the step-by-step 3D, 360 degree animated building instructions.

Using block coding, kids can use blocks of codes to create programs and tricks.  Blocks of codes are pre-written code that makes it easier to program their robots, rather than learning actual code sentencing that can be more intensive.  Kids can even create new custom actions with the Pose, Record, Play function.

Looking for a similar type of product that would specifically appeal to girls?  Their new JIMU Robot Mythical Series: UnicornBot Kit brings mystical fun to the coding landscape.

Harry Potter Kano Coding Kit

STEAM products incorporating robots, coding, and circuits are popular these days, both with kids and adults.  Now kids can build and code their own wand, using the Harry Potter Kano Coding Kit.  Kids build their own wand, using step-by-step instructions while they learn about sensors, code, and data.

Using the free Kano app, they can unlock more than 70 Wizard World challenges across six well-known settings including wands spells from Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and The Forbidden Forest.  Kids will learn class spell motions such as Incendio, Stupefy, and Wingardium Leviosa.

Using the iOS, Android, Windows (more limited than iOS/Android apps), or Mac apps (more limited than iOS/Android apps), kids learn the fundamentals of coding through block-based coding with a JavaScript inspector.  More advanced coders can create their own art and music, all directed by the way the wand is moved.

To further stimulate their creative and inquisitive side, Kano created Kano World – a free community where kids share their own wand code creations or try out code other kids have created worldwide.

The Harry Potter Kano Coding Kit is available for $99.99 plus shipping directly from the Kano website.

Play Impossible Gameball

The Play Impossible Gameball is a cool-looking semi-soft ball, a little bigger than a softball, designed to get kids and adults moving.  It connects with the free Gameball Android, iOS, or even Apple TV app to get kids and adults on their feet, laughing, and showing off their skills.

The app connects to your Gameball via Bluetooth and offers a ton of games and challenges for both single and multi-players.   It comes with a blue wand with two metal connectors and two AA Alkaline batteries.  The batteries are put into the wand and when the wand’s two metal connectors touch the matching triangle on the ball, after launching the Gameball app, the ball charges in just 30 seconds.  It’s connectivity to the app will last up to 60 minutes.

The Gameball challenges kids and their friends to games that emphasize hand-eye coordination, agility, and creative thinking!  In one challenge, you are asked to throw the ball exactly 3 feet within in a certain number of seconds.  Gradually, it goes up to 10 feet and then 20 feet.  It helps kids figure out distances.  Kids also can score their personal bests on how high they can throw the Gameball, their RPM’s (spin rate), and speed.

Multiplayer games include challenges to compete against each other, a balloon type toss (without the water),  hot potato, and more.  The games are a lot of fun, especially when you play them with your kids, you’re in for a lot of laughter and bragging rights.

Recommended for Players ages 9 and older, the Play Impossible Gameball is available through their website for $99 plus shipping.

Makyu FormBox

While my son and I were at the Maker Faire in NYC, we came across the Makyu FormBox.  We were fascinated by it.  The FormBox allows you to make molds in literally seconds.  Molds can then be used for homemade soaps, resin, plaster, concrete, chocolate, Jello, etc. for gifts, decor, and chocolates.

The FormBox is a perfect companion for a 3D printer.  It allows you to make copies of an item you 3D printed.  Why use a FormBox instead of 3D printing another item?  Because a FormBox takes seconds to duplicate an item into a mold whereas printing a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th 3D-printed item takes a long time to make.

So let’s break this down so it’s understandable.  Say your child wanted to make a homemade candle or soap bar to give as Christmas presents.  You can find a bar of soap or similar shape, put it on a FormBox plastic tray that is placed on the FormBox, turn it on (and a vacuum you hook up to it), and lower the upper bar to create a seal around the soap bar.  After it has formed and sealed, raise the bar and your mold is made.

Now make the homemade soap and pour it into the mold and let it sit until it is formed.  Pop it out of the mold and you’re ready to make another new soap.  To make the candle you can make a mold around some big shells with a deep middle, for example.  Pour melted resin or concrete in the mold to make a kid-made shell.  After it is set, pour in your homemade candle wax to let cool.  Don’t forget the wick!  See the Mayku website for more examples.

My son, the budding chef, wants to create unique chocolates with shapes he creates from around the house.  He will freeze the chocolate in the molds and then pop them out and fill them with the truffle filling he learned how to do at the Maker Faire NYC.

The Mayku FormBox retails for $699 from the Mayku website with free shipping.  It’s an investment in your family’s creativity and encourages “making” and possibility in new ways.

Carnival Games

Who doesn’t like carnival games?  Now you can play Carnival Games with your Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4 gaming consoles.  It can be played with 1-4 players alone or simultaneously and includes 20 exciting and challenging games.

Carnival Games is comprised of various mini-games such as Alley Bowling, Lucky Cups, Nerves of Steel, Hoops, and Day at the Races, and Buckets Of Fun.  Contestants win virtual prizes dependent upon their score which can be traded in for apparel and accessories for your avatar.

For an extra element of fun, there are a number of hidden easter eggs to find throughout the game as well.

ESRB Rated 10+ (due to carnival violence), Carnival Game is available on the Y2K gaming website Amazon with free shipping.

Just Dance 2019

Kids love to dance and what better way to get moving then to groove to the moves of the newly released Just Dance 2019.  With 40 tracks of foot tapping, blood pumping chart hits like “Finesse (Remix)” by Bruno Mars and featuring Cardi B., “Sugar” by Maroon 5, “No Tears Left to Cry” by Ariana Grande and more.  Wikipedia actually lists all songs and artists featured in Just Dance 2019.

If you haven’t played Just Dance before, players mimic the dance moves of the dancers on the screen, which show choreography movements to make it easier to follow along.  Players get points based on how closely their dance moves match the dancer’s movements on the screen.

Just Dance 2019 even features 8 exclusive choreographies designed to encourage healthy movement just for kids.

And just like previous Just Dance versions, you can download the Just Dance app on your phone to have movements scored, allowing more family members and friends to play along and dance their best moves.

Much of the music of Just Dance 2019 is geared towards teens and older, but with the 8 songs and choreographies for just for kids, it makes it a fun game to play for the whole family.

Just Dance 2019 is ESRB rated E for Everyone and available for all gaming platforms (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, and Wii).  It can be purchased on Amazon for $26 with free shipping for a limited time.

SingSation Karaoke Machine

The SingSation Karaoke Machine has no age limit – anyone who plays with it will love it.  It’s a classic Karaoke machine, complete with one microphone, a Bluetooth wireless speaker, and flashing lights.

It pairs with your phone or tablet to sync the 9 multi-color light modes to your music.  It also comes with 3 voice effects to add fun variation to your voice.

The SingStation Karaoke Machine works with all video sharing site and Karaoke apps.  The best part is you don’t need to spend money on songs.  My daughter and I played a bunch of songs from YouTube on our TV that had the lyrics we needed.  We found someone who posted over 50 80’s songs with all the lyrics in one video.  We had a good time singing through many of them.

It was almost impossible for your voice to sound bad with the pro sound effects.  Voice effects allow you to transform your voice to a high pitch, low pitch, or chipmunk.  The SingSation Karaoke Machine has plenty of options to choose from voice level to lighting and color, to voice FX Music EQ, and more.  

If you prefer to use your phone or tablet, the SingSation has a stand on the top of it to securely hold your device while singing lyrics from it.

There’s even an extra microphone port so if you have a 2nd microphone, two of you could sing a duet together.  The speaker sounds great with plenty of bass.

The SingSation Karaoke Machine sells for $72 with free shipping from Amazon.

Some great STEAM gift ideas for your budding engineers, programmers, physicians, dancers, artists, and more!  We love the variety and attention given to kids these days in toys, games, and books designed to stimulate their curiosity and get hands-on experience while having fun.

Have fun shopping!

*We were given most of these items for evaluation for our Christmas guide.  All opinions are our own.