15 educational toys and activities for elementary-age kids who are on break from school

Mathlink Cubes, available at Walmart, $15.97Math can be an abstract concept that many kids need to be able to visualize to understand. These cubes can be linked together to help children understand the value of numbers and visualize what it means to add 7 or subtract 2, for example. The cubes can also be used to work on pattern recognition. Recommended ages: 5 years old and upPeppa Pig phonics box set, available at Barnes and Noble, $12.99Sight Words Swat! game, available at Walmart, $15.97When children are working on early literacy concepts like phonics and sight words, repetition and mastery are essential. The more they can practice, the better. Phonics readers that feature your child's favorite characters encourage them to practice and fun games that feature common sight words help create mastery. Recommended ages: 5 years old and upShifu Orboot (App Based): Augmented Reality Interactive Globe, available at Barnes and Noble, $49.99i-Poster My World Interactive Map, available at Walmart, $49.99The best way to teach kids about the world is to get them out exploring, but when that's not an option, interactive globes and maps will do the trick. With these educational tools, kids can take charge of their learning and explore the parts of the world they are interested in, while parents can help them explore faraway places that they may never see in person. Simply having these products in your home will inspire conversations about the world. Recommended ages: 4 years old and upOsmo Genius Kit, available at Best Buy, $100Osmo kits work with an iPad to teach kids various concepts like math, science, language, and problem-solving. The kit also comes with tangible pieces like tangrams and letter tiles. Osmo uses games and entertainment to teach and reinforce difficult concepts, and it's so fun that kids often don't even realize they're learning. Read our full review of Osmo kits here. Recommended ages: 6 to 10 years oldScientific Explorer Mind Blowing Science Kit, available at Walmart, $25.59Gathering and setting up all the materials needed for a science project is time-consuming. This STEM kit includes most of the materials you'll need for 11 different fun and educational experiments such as a sunset in a test tube and a color-changing volcano. For most experiments, you'll only need to gather things like water, pens, and spoons. Kids will learn about hypotheses, chemicals, reactions, and more.Recommended ages: 6 years old and upWonder Workshop Dash Robot, available at Amazon, $149.95Kids can practice their coding skills with this robot that works with five apps. Using the apps, your child can learn how to make Dash dance, light up, and even play its own music with a xylophone. This robot is actually used in many classrooms because it reinforces the STEM concepts students learn in class. It doesn't just teach coding, either; Dash helps teach concepts of robotics, problem-solving, collaboration, and more.Recommended ages: 6 years old and upBrainbox Math, available Walmart, $15A lot of kids get frustrated with math, and a lot of parents struggle to help their kids with the subject, too. Brainbox Math helps develop a variety of math skills including geometry, fractions, weights and measures, graphing, and percentages. By turning these concepts into a game, kids are encouraged to practice, and all that practice eventually leads to mastery. The game consists of double-sided cards; players study one side for 10 seconds, then see how many questions they can answer on the other side. For example, one card has pictures of three-dimensional shapes on one side and eight questions about the shapes on the other side. Recommended ages: 8 years old and upThames & Kosmos Kids First Botany: Experimental Greenhouse Kit, available at Amazon, $35.01You can tell your kids about how plants grow, or better yet, you can show them with a home garden kit. In addition to growing their own plants and observing the change day by day, they'll also create an automatic watering system. The kit teaches kids everything they need to know about how plants grow and how to take care of them — much more enticing than looking at pictures of plants in a science textbook.Recommended ages: 5 years old and upBotley the Coding Robot, available at Walmart, $59.95Coding is an enriching educational activity for children, but at the same time, most parents want to limit screen time. Kids can learn how to program Botley without a screen by using a remote programmer. Botley encourages open-ended play while teaching kids how to code, and don't worry — you don't need to know how to code yourself to help your kid out with this one. In addition to the engineering and science skills your child will learn with Botley, this toy also develops critical thinking and problem-solving.Read our full review of Botley here. Recommended ages: 5 to 10 years oldBrain Quest Kindergarten, available at Barnes and Noble, $12.95Brain Quest Grade 1, available at Barnes and Noble, $12.95Brain Quest Grade 2, available at Barnes and Noble, $12Brain Quest Grade 3, available at Barnes and Noble, $9Brain Quest Grade 4, available at Barnes and Noble, $12Brain Quest Grade 5, available at Barnes and Noble, $12Brain Quest cards are filled with questions and answers that are targeted to your child's age and are based on national curriculum standards. Each card in the pack is set up with questions on one card and answers on the next. Questions are short and sweet and labeled with learning categories like language arts, math, or science. There is a good mix of easy and challenging questions, which keeps kids engaged. This is a great tool to supplement learning in all subject areas. Recommended grades: K-5Klutz kits, available at Fat Brain Toys, starting at $10Klutz kits were a hot commodity when I was young, and they still appeal to kids today, offering everything you need for hands-on activities. Projects vary from science kits like making an arcade claw game to art kits like making your own string art. The instructions often include pictures, making them easy for children to follow on their own. These kits are especially great for crafty kids who don't have crafty parents. Recommended ages: variesMagna-Tiles Clear Colors, 100 piece set, available at Walmart, $120Magna-Tiles are magnetic building tiles that kids can use to make 3D creations. They come in a variety of shapes and colors, and the magnets easily link together for kids to build. Kids love to play with them, so they don't realize they're learning skills like symmetry, spatial recognition, problem-solving, design, and architecture. If you have a younger child in the home as well, these are perfect for working on shapes, colors, and motor skills (just be careful with kids under 3).Recommended ages: 3 years old and upSnap Circuits Electronics Exploration Kit, available at Walmart, $62.99Kids can create over 300 different experiments with this STEM circuit kit that teaches them to make things like a lie detector and an AM radio. There are no tools required; they simply snap the pieces together to engineer their creations. If your child is into engineering or science experiments, this kit will engage them for hours, and older kids will be able to use it independently. Advanced science skills can be difficult for parents to teach, so kits like this challenge and engage your kids with minimal effort on your part. Recommended ages: 8 years old and upScholastic Kindergarten Skills Workbook: Handwriting, available at Scholastic, $4 Big First Grade Workbook, available at Barnes and Noble, $11.99Big Second Grade Workbook, available at Walmart, $10.88Scholastic Reading and Math Jumbo Workbook Grade 3, available at Barnes and Noble, $14.99Scholastic Reading and Math Jumbo Workbook Grade 4, available at Barnes and Noble, $13.67Brain Quest Grade 5 Workbook, available at Michaels, $9.59Children learn best through hands-on experiences, but if you're homeschooling or doing your best to support your child's education with no background in education yourself, often a worksheet or workbook is necessary. Workbooks help explain concepts in ways that kids understand, and they are also great tools to help you assess areas where your child needs extra practice. These workbooks cover all subjects and include simple instructions, engaging illustrations, and organized pages that won't overwhelm kids. Recommended grades: 1-5Kiwi Crate (ages 5-8), available KiwiCo, from $17/monthAtlas crate (ages 6-11), available KiwiCo, from $17/monthDoodle crate (ages 9-16+), available at KiwiCo, from $17/monthTinker crate (ages 9-16+), available at KiwiCo, from $17/monthKiwiCo Crates are subscription boxes that arrive for your kids monthly, and they're full of fun activities that focus on either science, technology, engineering, art, or math (STEAM), depending on the crate. Each crate is full of hands-on projects made with quality materials that kids can complete mostly independently. Examples of projects include building a wooden clock; learning how to make quinoa con leche, a local Peruvian treat; or creating a glowworm that actually glows.Read our full review of the KiwiCo Panda crate for babies and toddlers. Recommended ages: 5 years old and up

15 educational toys and activities for elementary-age kids who are on break from school

Mathlink Cubes

Games and books that reinforce sight words and phonics

An interactive globe or map to help them learn about life all over the world

Osmo play kits to help teach difficult concepts (STEAM, language)

A science kit that walks them through 11 experiments

A voice-activated robot that teaches coding

A game that makes math fun

A garden kit to conduct hands-on science experiments

A coding robot to practice coding without a screen

Brain Quest cards for when you need them to do a quiet activity

Hands-on activity books that appeal to every interest

A building toy that makes shapes come to life

Snap circuits for your budding scientist or engineer

Workbooks to help them practice

A subscription box that gives them a project to look forward to