At age 8, many kids can level up to more advanced toys and activities. A lot of 8-year-olds are playing team sports, getting involved in other clubs or hobbies, and tackling increasingly demanding projects on their own.
Kids who end up pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers often start developing their interests by age 8, said Tamara Moore, a professor of engineering education at Purdue University and the director of Inspire, a research institute in the university’s School of Engineering Education that focuses on precollege programs. (The research group reviews numerous engineering toys, kits, and games for its annual gift guide.) Age 8 marks the time of “the first spark,” when kids see and understand that they can become scientists or engineers, Moore said. “So you want to capture their imagination.”
Many engineering toys are recommended for kids age 8 and older specifically because they have the dexterity to manipulate small pieces, the logic and reasoning skills to follow instructions, and the ability to focus on a task for longer periods of time. Art supplies, craft kits, and creative games can also be an important part of the mix at this age (and some educational researchers call for expanding STEM to STEAM, to include art, design and humanities).
We considered Moore’s advice on great engineering toys, and relied on input from other experts and members of our staff, to find all kinds of online gifts delivery in India that are likely to challenge and delight the 8-year-old in your life. If you’re looking for more kids gift ideas, check out our guides to the best birthday gifts online for 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, 9-year-olds, and 10-year-olds, as well as wonderful stocking stuffers for kids. We also have guides to gifts for birthday for tweens and teens. And please share your own best ideas in the comments below.
Under $20
Learn a new trick
Juggling for the Complete Klutz ($15 at the time of publication)
Juggling for the Complete Klutz, a set of three red beanbags and an easy-to-follow instruction booklet (first published in 1977!), appeared under my family’s tree one year when I was a kid. My three younger brothers and I tossed the cube-shaped bags around for months till we all became fairly proficient jugglers. To say it changed our lives is an overstatement, but I’m proud to say all four of us can still juggle with ease. (My dad, ever the sentimentalist, still has our original set.) Klutz still makes the classic kit, and although my 6-year-old isn’t quite ready to take on the challenge—the set is recommended for ages 8 and older—we’re gearing up for it. The cubes are easy to grip, and the clear-cut instructions lay out the steps to successful juggling (the toss, the drop) with expertise and a dash of humor. Juggling is great for hand-eye coordination, but more than that, it’s one of those hard-won skills that helps instill the joy (along with the inevitable frustration) of mastering something new—and it’s not a bad party trick, either. you can order favourite birthday flowers them too !
—Ingrid Skjong
Code like a pirate
ThinkFun Potato Pirates ($16 at the time of publication)
This wacky card game may look like it’s just a battle between cute little potatoes, but it also introduces kids to the fundamentals of computer programming. Each player (between three and six) is the captain of a pirate ship with a crew of potatoes, represented by soft tan balls. Drawing cards, players search for the elusive “Potato King” cards and take turns “programming” their ships to execute a function—for instance, “roasting,” “frying,” or “mashing” (that is, destroying) another ship’s crew. Students who tested it “were laughing and hollering,” said Elizabeth Gajdzik, one of the educators responsible for Purdue’s Inspire Research Institute naming Potato Pirates its overall top-pick engineering toy of 2019.
—Ellen Lee
Ultra-creative clay
Hey Clay Aliens ($17 at the time of publication)
We already recommend Hey Clay in our best birthday gift guide for 6-year-olds. But it’s become such a favorite, we added it here, too. Options include these aliens, monsters, animals, and more. The molding mania begins with 18 cans of delightfully textured clay. Kids can either sculpt on their own or create figures with the help of a fun instructional app. Burgeoning sculptors learn useful techniques (how to introduce texture, for instance), and the clay dries completely in 24 hours, resulting in a figure that can either be displayed or played with. Artistic expansion aside, we’ve also found the kits to be excellent travel companions. One word of warning: Once the individual pots of clay are open, it’s a good idea to use up the contents within a couple of weeks. We’ve found they dry out if left alone for much longer.
—Ingrid Skjong
A sticky challenge
Melissa & Doug Suspend Family Game ($13 at the time of publication)
My kids and their friends love pulling out this easy-to-learn and easy-to-set-up game, which was also recommended by Lisa Regalla, head of on-site and digital experiences at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, California. Players take turns balancing thin, bent metal rods (which come in an assortment of colors and lengths; a roll of a die determines which rod a player must use) on a stand, creating a delicate wire sculpture. If you place too many rods at a precarious angle, the structure (or parts of it) comes crashing down—a satisfying end to the game.
—Ellen Lee
Pom-pom projects
Klutz Mini Pom-Pom Pets ($15 at the time of publication)
My boys can’t get enough of cute little stuffies. So they were pretty excited to unwrap the Klutz Mini Pom-Pom Pets kit, which lets kids create their own diminutive animal friends from yarn pom-poms. My husband and I had to help with the first couple of critters, but the instructions are clear. And once the “body” is created—you wrap the included yarn around a fork to form a sort of ball, then clip the string loops, tie it off, and voilà !—the rest of the job (gluing on eyes and other features) is simple. The kids seemed to find satisfaction in envisioning and creating their own little bunny or chick, and one even gifted soft toys, chcolates online the resulting poofball to a friend who was going through a rough time. We liked the set with a variety of animals, but you can also focus on just pom-pom pups or pom-pom kitties.
No comments:
Post a Comment