Are you wondering what to get your little girl for Christmas? Do you want to add a few science toys to balance out your daughter’s Frozen toy collection? I know I do.
This list of toys should spark her science curiosity! It also includes a few of my childhood favorites! Just think, when all the other toys are unwrapped, you can grab one of these toys and perform an amazing experiment together. Her eyes may even light up with wonder as you explain how it works. Let science give Santa a run for his money this year!
1. Science-Fashion
First things first, why not get her started with a little bit of science-fashion? Who says you can’t like fashion and be a scientist or engineer?! So here are a few of my choices to get your little girl’s science “game face” on.
I love this Landsend shirt for girls found here.
And what about this “smart girls” shirt found here on Etsy. I love periodic elements!
And let’s not forget that you need a little science-fashion in your life! Santa, will you get me this shirt here?
2. Energy Stick
This toy would be an amazing stocking stuffer! It lights up, makes noise, and leaves kids and adults speechless. I used this toy in a show-and-tell for Allie’s preschool class. It was a hit! It made learning about how to complete a circuit fun. (Don’t worry it won’t shock you). You can find it here.
3. Glow in the Dark Night Sky Book
I can remember countless hours outside as a kid with this book in my own backyard. Try and find my favorite, the Big Dipper, on Christmas night! Find the book here.
4. Tinker Toys
We love Tinker Toys, especially the next generation of tinker toys that snap together and stay together! Believe it or not, in my college organic chemistry course, we used ‘grown-up’ tinker toys to model molecules. Get her started early building her spatial skills and more importantly her imagination. Allie’s first Tinker Toy contraption was a perfume machine that “sprayed” perfume! This one can make some pretty neat animals too!
5. Snap Circuits
We gave these snap circuits to our niece one year for Christmas. We enjoyed helping her snap together these pieces to light a lightbulb, make a sound machine, and set off a helicopter propeller. I used a ‘grown-up’ circuit boards in my introduction to electrical engineering class. I wish I would have had these as a kid to practice early!
6 Microscope
Who wouldn’t like a microscope that doesn’t require preparing slides? Remember all those labs in high school biology finding onion cells? I’ll have to ask Santa for a high powered microscope to look at our hair strands later!
7. Globe
Remember closing your eyes, spinning a globe around, and pointing to a random place that would be your next travel adventure? I usually landed in the middle of the Pacific ocean! Imagine all the conversations about our planet using a globe. Find a flashlight and you’ve got how the sun rises and how an eclipse happens! Simple, fun, classic earth science!
8. Puzzled Tyrannosaurus Woodcraft Construction Kit
Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? I had this same construction kit ages ago and remember feeling like palentologist putting the bones together. You can find your very own model here
9. Easy Bake Oven
This is not your 1990’s easy bake oven, it looks more like something out of the Jetsons! I remember how much fun it was to have my very own oven. If you think about it, chemistry lab experiments are really just following a recipe and adding some heat. Get you future chemist an easy bake oven to start creating her own concoctions!
10. Crayola Melt in Mold Factory
Doesn’t this look amazing? It makes me excited to be able to do something with all the crayons we’ve collected from restaurants over the years. As a “science-mom” it makes me excited to show Allie how the properties of crayons can change with heat and mold into different things. This is a safe way to melt Crayons without making a ginormous mess in your kitchen. Great job Crayola! Find it here.
11. Rock Tumbler
I had a rock tumbler as a kid but I don’t remember being able to make cool jewelry or keychains like this one! What an amazing way to introduce erosion to all your future geologists! Find it here.
12. The Cloud book
Matt had this book as a kid and Allie loves it when we read it to her. Learn all the clouds names, how they are formed, and a few rhymes to tell you about the weather. Meteorology here we come!
13. Candy Chemistry
I was walking around a toy store and ran across this one. It had me at “candy”. I love that it says “see how cooking is actual chemistry”. I’m so glad to know that someone else thinks they feel a bit like a scientist in the kitchen! I imagine this will be a series of future posts and the best part is, we can eat the experiment results!
I am a firm believer in educational toys. But these ones blowed my mind away. So cool. I remember when I was little than my friends and I made large red nails with melted crayola. But it was difficult. We rubbed them with our hands until they were soft enouph to ply them into nails. And love the dinosaurs puzzle. Well all of them really. Wish U was a little girl all over again. Hagaha. Thanks for sharing. For me your website is a HIT