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Wow, the holiday season has really snuck up on me this year! Christmas is only one month away, and Thanksgiving is in 3 days! I keep hearing that Thanksgiving is “late” this year, but I’m grateful, because I’m not ready!
I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet, so I will be hitting the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales hard this year. As a busy mom of two young kids, I do most of my shopping online these days.
If you’re the same, then you’re in luck! I’ve compiled lists of my top STEM/STEAM gifts for kids. These are all books, toys, subscription kits, and clothes we have personally used in 2019, and I highly recommend all of them.
So what are we waiting for, let’s get to gifting!
2019 STEM/STEAM Books Gift Guide
You can always go to my STEAM Books page to find all the books we have reviewed. I’m sharing our favorites below.
- High Five by Adam Rubin – This is a hilarious book that teaches your kid how to properly high five with many chances to practice in the book. This is a great gift for kids who love Dragons Love Tacos. Read my full review here.
- Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty – Rosie learns to be brave and build her engineering creations because it’s ok to fail. This is a great gift for any kids who feel shy or afraid to show off what they can do. Read my full review here.
- If I Built a School by Chris Van Dusen – The student in this story describes his dream school, which is so creative and imaginative, and fun to read about. This is a great gift for kids with wild imaginations. Read my full review here.
- Rox’s Secret Code by Mara Lecocq – In this book Rox uses her coding skills to program a robot to do her chores, but the robot takes its cleaning job too far. This is a great gift for kids who love computers and robots. Read my full review here.
- The Thing About Swings by Mona Patel – Friends work together to design a better playground that fits all their bodies and needs. This is a great book for kids who dream of better ways to build things. Read my full review here.
- Just Like You by Keosha Sath – A mother and daughter discuss the many professions she can have when she grows up. This is perfect for kids who don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. Read my full review here.
- What Kind of Car Does a T. Rex Drive by Mark Lee – Two kids help their uncle sell cars to dinosaurs. This is a great gift for kids who love dinosaurs and cars. Read my full review here.
2019 STEM/STEAM Toy Gift Guide
Check out my STEAM Toys page for a complete list of all the toys we have played with and reviewed. Below I’m sharing a few of our favorites.
- Lego Classics – Endless LEGO building possibilities in these easy to build, and fun to take apart and start again sets. This is a great gift for kids who don’t play with their character LEGO sets after they build them once. Read my full review here.
- Lincoln Logs – A classic children’s toy that shouldn’t be overlooked because it teaches building skills. This is a great gift for kids who love to build houses with their blocks. Read my full review here.
- Magnetic Tiles – My kids have been playing with these tiles since they were one year old. At 5, my son is still playing with them. This set is very easy to build with and my kids can’t get enough! This is a great gift for kids of all ages. Read how we use them here.
- Crafty Connects – You can get creative to make all sorts of animals and shapes. This is a great gift for kids who have strong motor skills and are looking for something different from LEGOS. Read my full review here.
- 3Doodler Start – Get the fun and endless possibilities of 3D printing in a kid friendly pen! They can create anything their heart desires in 3D. This is a great gift for elementary school aged kids who love to write or are learning to write. Read my full review here.
- Color My Worlds – If you live somewhere that gets snow around Christmas time this would be a fun gift – it has everything you need to easily color your snow creations! This is a great gift for kids who love snow and colors. Read my full review here.
- Smartivity Fantastic Optics Kaleidoscope – Create your own kaleidoscope in this fun kit that you build with your kids. This is a great gift for kids who love creating and colors. Read my full review here.
2019 STEM/STEAM Subscription Kit Gift Guide
Below are a few STEM/STEAM themed subscription kits we have tried and enjoyed this year.
- KiwiCo Crates – We’ve tried the Koala (ages 2-4) and Kiwi (ages 5-8) crates. Both are engaging, with multiple projects to make it last longer, and age appropriate. I also like how they come with a cute magazine to go with the crate theme each month. They are having great Black Friday specials right now, so don’t miss out! This is a great gift to introduce new STEAM activities to your kids monthly (and a great grandparents gift!). Read my full review here.
- Tinkering Toddler Crates – You can purchase monthly subscriptions or individual kits. We’ve tried two (Rainbow and Fireworks, and I’m ordering the Snow Globe crate for my kids for Christmas). These kits are tons of fun, well planned and educational. Enter “Engineering Emily” in the referral link at checkout to get a coupon code for your next order! This is a great grandparent gift for toddlers and preschoolers, so they have monthly seasonal appropriate educational activities to do at home. You can read my full review here.
2019 Kids STEM/STEAM Clothing Gift Guide
These are some of our favorite mom-run small businesses that sell awesome quality, beautiful, and fun STEM/STEAM themed clothes for girls and boys! Read more on my blog post about STEAM clothes for girls.
- Dance on Mars – Amazing quality, beautiful, cotton dresses in totally unique and spectacular STEAM themed patterns. These are my daughter’s favorite dresses to wear because of the bright patterns and full skirts, and we always get tons of compliments when she wears them!
- Annie the Brave Co – They make dresses with adorably illustrated patterns in fun colors featuring several STEAM themes. We have two dresses and both are well made, and perfect play dresses.
- Princess Awesome – Good quality STEAM themed dresses with pockets for both mom and daughter?! Yes, please!!! We have three of their dresses – my daughter loves the pockets, and loves how the dresses twirl.
- Boy Wonder – Princess Awesome’s little brother – now they make unique STEAM clothes for boys! I bought my son the Rainbow Chemistry shirt and it is SOOOO soft!
- My-Tee Girls – This company makes leggings and T-shirts with an empowering and motivational message for all girls. This is a brand that stands for something, and I’m here for it!
- Smarty Girl – Adorable and amazingly soft leggings for girls. My daughter LOVES her Smarty Girl narwhal leggings.
- Svhava – STEAM themed clothes for the whole family, and yes, their dresses have pockets! I bought awesome matching chemical reaction reversible sequins t-shirts for my kids and they love them.
- STEM and Flowers – A new company that is making girly STEM themed shirts. I love their Doctor, Dancer & a Princess t-shirt. It perfectly describes my daughter. 🙂
- Moonflower – Handmade unique STEAM themed clothing all designed and sewn by an engineering mom in the UK. I featured her in an interview for my Women in Engineering Interview Series!
As you can tell we read/play with/wear lots of STEM/STEAM themed items. Building towers is second nature to my kids. Story time usually includes a STEAM book. They are always asking me if we can “do science.” This usually means one of the experiments I share here on the blog, or a project from one of their subscription kits.
All the STEAM focus at home is paying off. My just-turned 3-year-old daughter can count to 40 and asks me to do science with her. My 5-year-old son loves math and science and says they are his favorite subjects. He told me he asks the older kids on the bus to teach him “hard math,” and he came home telling me he can do multiplication (“10×10=100!”).
I’m not telling you all this to brag, I’m telling you so you can understand the benefits we have gained from a strong focus on STEAM at home. That’s why I am recommending these great gifts to add STEAM into your daily lives too!
Which of the STEM/STEAM gifts I recommended above stood out to you the most? Do you have any of these gifts? What should I look into reviewing/including on this list next year?
