Review: Hands-on science with Little Tikes STEM Jr

We managed get a toy to light up with the help of a banana. We made our very first volcano and we created slime from scratch. This was the recipe for a pretty brilliant morning for my six-year-old.

This month we were invited to celebrate the launch of the new Little Tikes STEM Jr range at the V&A Museum of Childhood, and we had a chance to try the new toys that set out to turn education into playtime.

Inspired by the event demonstrations by a wacky scientist from Sublime Science, we delved into the experiment cards that come with the new Little Tikes Wonder Lab science experiment station (£99.99) and followed the simple instructions to do hands-on experiments that we’ve never tried at home.

Wonder Lab, designed for children aged 3 and over, looks a bit like a play kitchen at first, but it is all about educational STEM activities instead. With the help of lights, sounds and phrases, Wonder Lab makes science extra fun for young curious minds and it gives little ones a dedicated space for testing a large variety of experiments under adult supervision.

The station features a circuit centre, where children can ‘power up’ and play, and one of the suggestions we tried was to attach a banana to create a closed circuit and produce electricity.

We also did some potion-making, mixing water, dishwasher liquid and baking powder–our first volcano experiment. After having this ‘wizard’s brew’ spilling over a flask, we moved on to a mess-free experiment, which was moving pieces around to create a ball maze on one of the walls on the Wonder Lab.

I think this large toy would be popular with budding scientists, and although it is recommended for children aged from 3, I think it could be entertaining for much older children too. There is a need for adult supervision, and I think it would work best for families that feel they have the space for a toy like this and are used to messy play.

For a more space-saving alternative, the range also includes a Tornado Tower (£29.99), which makes for a fun introductory science toy that also comes with several experiment cards, and Builder Bot (£24.99), which is a bot that can be reconfigured in different ways for fun reactions.

We received the Builder Bot to take home, and by looking at the experiment cards in the pack, the children were inspired to create an obstacle course for the bot, for example.

This is making science fun!

Tags: Educational toys, Event, Little Tikes, Review, Science, STEM, Toys, V&A Museum of Childhood, Wonder Lab