STEM Gift Ideas for Building Kids' Ingenuity and Creativity

For your little engineers, Battat's Take-Apart vehicles are must-haves. This toy crane truck is rated for kids three and up. It includes a toy drill and nuts and bolts for repeated deconstructing and rebuilding.

Build 12 different types of robots from this kit. With 190 pieces, as well as custom decals and a detailed instruction manual, this solar-powered robot is completely customizable — giving your kiddos the chance to stretch their minds and imaginations.

Teach your kids about switches and conductivity in a fun and creative way. Form creations out of dough, and then connect paddles to light them up in a mix of red, green and blue colors.

Perfect for early math learners — five- to nine-year-olds — this 100-piece building set embraces STEM skills and creativity. The activity guide leads your kids through 10 building challenges or allows them to come up with their own original creations.

Classic LEGOs — always a much-beloved STEM gift — get a very cool and creative update. Your kids can build a pop-up book featuring two classic fairy tales: Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk.

Help adorable rabbits hop safely home by avoiding foxes and mushrooms all while learning problem-solving skills, spatial insight and planning. This travel-friendly game comes in a compact case so your kids can take on the 60 challenges during a road trip.

Art meets science in this clever combination. Kids learn how crystals are formed, and then, they get to grow their own. Taking it one step further, they're then able to add their crystals to three mini dioramas to create their own little worlds.

While waiting for his letter to Hogwarts, your wizard can build his very own wand. Wave it in front of a tablet to perform spells and create creatures and sweets in more than 70 creative challenges that help him learning coding and computer skills — as well as a little magic.

Let your little scientist get to work with this kit. Complete with everything she needs to create three different experiments, including a slime kit, gemstone excavation and an erupting volcano.

Whether your child needs help fine-tuning or building confidence in his art skills, this classic book is a wonderful gift. It guides kids through drawing more than 400 things — from trains to airplanes, elephants to dinosaurs and so much more.

Liven up her bedroom with a pillow she can customize to her heart's desire. Featuring four different designs from which to choose, the kit includes everything needed to color the pillow. If she messes up or just wants to color it again, no worries. Throw it in the washing machine, and the pillow goes back to a blank slate.

What kid hasn't watched Star Wars and dreamed of having their own R2 unit? Now, she can build her own droid and use the connected app with easy block-based coding to take it on more than 22 missions.

Send your kids into orbit with this hand-controlled indoor drone. Scoot hovers in the air while you put your hands up to guide him around the room. Not only is flying him kid-friendly, but he's also made with a bendy shell to withstand bumps into the wall or an inevitable crash.

Snap Circuits has multiple sets that help kids expand their knowledge of electricity, engineering and circuitry. We love this arcade version that allows them to build more than 200 projects, including 20 build-and-play games. Move over, Pac-Man.

Expand your child's mind all year long with a subscription box. Each month features a different theme to explore — science, history, animals, geography or fantasy — giving her a fun, hands-on learning experience. The box includes everything needed to complete the project, plus step-by-step photo instructions, as well as a reading book and keepsake.

The next Coco Chanel has to start somewhere. For your fashion lover, grab this 50-piece design kit, complete with sketch paper, a mannequin, fabrics and trims, to get her style ideas flowing. Next stop, the runway.