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What, no STEM toys!? Have you visited the toy gadget section of your typical store, e.g. Target, BestBuy lately? It's full of crappy stuff marketed under the bu
by Jun8 10y ago
What, no STEM toys!? Have you visited the toy gadget section of your typical store, e.g. Target, BestBuy lately? It's full of crappy stuff marketed under the buzzword "STEM" for unknowing parents. Examples: Construction kits from Vex Robotics, WowWee's CHIP Robotic Dog, etc. etc. Problem with these "STEM revolutionary" toys is that they are not open ended, even with the so-called programmable ones kids get tired after a few hours of play. Another good example of such a toy is the BB-8 robot. You love this when you get it but quickly lose interest after you realize that it's a glorified remote-controlled car.
For truly inspiring toys like this one (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/withpiper/piper-a-minecraft-toolbox-for-budding-engineers https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/withpiper/piper-a-minec...) you still have to hit Kickstarter or search the Web. Why is that?
- throwaway729 10y agoNot surprising. People actually in the market for STEM play things will get their kids telescopes, microscopes, chemistry kits, soldering irons, computers, hobby robotics/electronics parts, ... The market for people who want STEM play things, don't know what to buy, and can't tell crap from gold, has to be incredibly small
- Jun8 10y agoActually the second group you describe is the huge majority: Many parents have heard about STEM and programming and want their children to be exposed. However, being non-techies they don't know where to start. Also, a large number of Christmas toys are bought by grandparents,where the above problem is even more prevalent.
- throwaway729 10y agoSorry, I meant to say "and CAN tell crap from gold". I was saying that there may be a huge market for STEM toys, but the savvy consumers aren't included in that market (already well-served by the normal STEM stuff) and unsavvy customers will just by the stupid crap that says "STEM" on the label.
- VLM 10y agoErector / Meccano is a nice open ended STEM toy that could use some disruption and metrication and modernization and no themed disney licenses please. Unfortunately there is this strange attractor that sucks everyone who trys it into "I wanna make kids version of 80/20 because 80/20 is both cool and insanely expensive" leading to "heres my custom aluminum extrusion of immense expense that works with nothing out there, but now I know why 80/20 is incredibly expensive" leading to "remember those guys?"
- xemdetia 10y agoOne of the things I have found frustrating trying to get Erector/Meccano for a new generation is that I can't seem to find anything that's just a big bucket of parts. The generally available things seem to only be kits, and those which are a bucket of parts are woefully lacking in fun bits.
- vimalbhalodia 10y agoI personally think MakeBlock (http://www.makeblock.com/ http://www.makeblock.com/) does a great job of being a modernized metricized replacement for Erector sets. It's not particularly cheap - probably costs ~$300 to get a decent sized kit or a smaller kit with enough spare parts to experiment. All of the mechanical parts are machined reasonably well and fit together in a large number of useful configurations - I really like them for rapid mechanical prototyping. The electronics are basically arduinos with beginner-friendly connectors - haven't used them myself but have generally heard good things about them.
- bduerst 10y ago>Erector / Meccano I was going to say Capsela is great too, but did some quick searching and found it's been sold and discontinued :(
- arikr 10y agoYour comment inspired this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13057791 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13057791
- j_s 10y agohttp://www.hanselman.com/blog/The2016ChristmasListOfBestSTEMToysForYourLittleNerdsAndNerdettes.aspx http://www.hanselman.com/blog/The2016ChristmasListOfBestSTEM...