maker toys

Tech gifts are at the top of every one of my kids' wish-lists this year, from my 6-year-old to my 15-year-old. But with so much time spent on their computers for remote schooling this year, I'm leaning toward some of these awesome no-scr…

This summer, July 20, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Lunar Landing. Even though space travel has been a reality my kids' entire lives -- and mine, too -- they're still incredibly curious about the cosmos. And since they're…

Raise your hand if you already have tickets to see The Last Jedi . Yep, we're obsessed too at our house, so I'm (obviously) looking for hot new Star Wars gifts for my kids this holiday season. At the top of my list: Bloxels Star Wars . T…

If you were obsessed with Lite-Brite as a kid like I was, I bet you, er, your kids will love Pixel Kit , a new Lite-Brite-esque coding toy from Kano . It's all the best of the quintessential '80s toy, with the cool tech updates a 21st-ce…

You'll find no shortage of STEM kits for kids these days, many of which, like Bitsbox and Little Passports' new Science Expeditions (just to name a couple), we've featured here on Cool Mom Tech. So, when our editor Kristen discovered the…

If your kids are like mine, they're obsessed with taking pictures, and well, your phone is a better camera option than your DSLR. Except, it's still a pretty expensive piece of tech. So, when I heard about the Kickstarter campaign for th…

You know how much we love to find a cool, innovative STEM toys for kids at Cool Mom Tech. Well, we think the brand new Cubetto robot by Primo Toys definitely belongs on wish lists this holiday season, especially if you're shopping for pr…

Of all the STEM toys out there for kids these days, LEGOs are my hands-down favorite. Except when I step on them, that is. Over the years, we've seen so many companies incorporate them in their learning toys and no surprise, considering …

Coding is certainly one of the new buzzwords in education, along with STEM, STEAM, and now, believe it or not, STREAM. And while a lot of learn-to-code apps toys, and games, like Robot School, Dash Robot, and Code Master , are targeted p…

We love toys for kids that are educational too, which is why we're so happy to share of these some favorite cool STEM toys and gifts for kids as the next installment in our 2015 Holiday Tech Gift Guide series. And we’re extra happy to sh…

One thing we've always loved about littleBits' magnetic electronic building blocks is that kids can snap them together in any way they want, while learning about circuitry and electronics in an open-ended and fun way. More ambitious kids…

We have always been big proponents of the idea that all toys are for all kids, sharing finds like dolls made for boys and tech toys that appeal to all kids, which is something our own kids have naturally shown us through their play. And …

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…

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…

I'm usually hesitant about buying a big, expensive LEGO kit because, after my kids put it together once, then what? Sometimes kids keep playing with it, sometimes it ends up dissembled with random bricks I discover all over the house mon…

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…

At Toy Fair this week, I was totally entranced by the Light Stax Electric Light Blocks , sort of a Lite Brite-LEGO mashup that you just can't stop playing with. They stack on a USB or DC-powered base (or use batteries if you like needles…

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…

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…

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 …

My kids love remote-control vehicles, toys they can build themselves, and playing on my smartphone, so I know they'd go bananas for SmartWood , a new set of smartphone controlled toys which combine all three of their favorite things into…

When a Kickstarter campaign blows past their goals of raising $50,000 in less time than it takes for my son to tie his shoes in the morning, you know they are on to something special. How special? Well, I assumed that the cost of 3D prin…