17 Educational Science Gifts for Kids

What could be more fun than magic? The National Geographic Magic Chemistry Set combines science with wonder, giving the kids access to 10 brilliant experiments that will astound and amaze (as well as teach). From floating coins to disappearing snow, this kit provides everything they’ll need for a fun, hands-on experience.

The KABOOM! Explosive Science Kit will make a great science gift for kids who enjoy loud bangs and lots of fizz. With 25 awe-inspiring experiments included, this kit contains everything they’ll need (along with some household products) to make exploding bags, fizzy bombs, color explosions, and even balloon rockets.

Give them their own little garden to tend with a beautiful Light-Up Terrarium Kit. With soil, sand, rocks, seeds, and even tiny figurines included, this kit also comes with a jar and light-up lid to create an illuminated garden that glows and grows in equal measures.

You won’t be able to keep them out of the bath when they create these fun dinosaur soaps. With molds to make a T-rex, Styracosaurus and Stegosaurus, this kit also comes with all the tools they’ll need, as well as enough soap base, fragrances, glitter, and skin-safe colors to make six awesome soaps.

LEGO fans will be thrilled with the Chain Reaction kit, which turns their building blocks into amazing machines. Designed to be used with their existing bricks, this kit comes with the parts and instructions they will need to make 10 machines, such as a pulley and bucket, and a seesaw and ramp.

Help them to learn all about the women who made science history with this pack of 100 postcards. With two of each design, there are 50 remarkable women featured, including Marie Curie and Joan Beauchamp Procter, and each card can act as a springboard to learning more about these amazing scientists.

Playing with food is usually frowned upon; this kit will not only encourage it, but also result in the most remarkable cake they have ever seen. Using water, sugar, and agar so it’s totally vegan, this kit will allow them to create a totally transparent dessert that can then be decorated with frosting.

Suitable for kids aged 8+, this 500 piece Little Scientist Puzzle is a great quiet time activity that will spark an interest in some of the world’s greatest science minds. Portraying the likes of Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, this puzzle will also open the door for conversations and further learning.

Learning is always more interesting when there’s a little sustenance to go with it, and this pack of lollipops will really give them a taste for astronomy. Each of the 10 candies is beautifully created to resemble one of 10 planets, with each one having its own unique flavor.

This is not your grandpa’s paper plane! Make an electric paper plane with them and they’ll think you’re the coolest. It will teach them about aerodynamics as well as how to make a motor for a lightweight plane.

For younger kids you can’t go wrong with the Magic School Bus chemistry lab. The suggested ages on this are 5 years to 12 years, and every kid in this age range should get a kick out of mixing things up and watching what happens.

Spur on their inventive mind with this inventions kit. It shows the creative process by providing an assortment of parts that they can make various inventions out of. They can follow along and build things or go off on their own and make something new.

This is the step by step for how to make their first mockup of the solar system. It’s perhaps best suited for a younger audience, as it isn’t taking into consideration the scale of things. It’s still a fun project that can teach them names and the order.

These foaming stars are a lot of fun to make and even more fun to use. They foam up and release their color so you can make artwork with them, and explain why the stars are foaming based on the ingredients used.

These glowing flowers are fun to make, and incorporate a bit of science in their creation. The flowers soak up the iridescent liquid and then you put a blacklight on them to watch them glow. Kids will be blown away by it!

This one has them growing their own crystals to form a necklace, which makes this part science and part craft. They’ll really like the fact that they made their piece of jewelry from scratch, and might learn something in the process.

Help provide an appreciation of the weather and the tools used to predict it with this weather station kit. It even teaches about the greenhouse effect, and provides tools to observe and record the weather over time.

Show them that milk can make art and art can be fun and even scientific when the milk fat reacts with the dish soap and turns an ordinary painting into a work of art. They’ll get a real kick out of it, and you’ll have a masterpiece when you finish.

Every kid needs their first microscope in order to instill an early love of science, and this beginner compound microscope comes with everything they need to get started. Allow them to explore the unseen microscopic world around us.

This is kind of like the potato experiments they do in school, only you’re putting a fun twist on it by turning them into potato sprout people. Show them how potatoes sprout by placing them in water and watching them go.

Show them the wonder of electricity and magnetism with this kit. It includes an electromagnet, so they’ll be able to see what happens when the two forces combine. They’ll also get a chance to see how a motor works along with magnets.

Younger audiences will have a lot of fun with what they’ve dubbed “Elephant Toothpaste”. It’s a project that produces a lot of foamy material that they can play with, and it will show them how different materials go together and produce surprising results.

Magnetism is something that today’s scientists are still trying to figure out. An invisible force that plays a part in so much of science. Show them how cool magnets are with this magnet science kit with lots of different magnets and pieces.

The classic science experiment! Kids can make a volcano erupt using the properties of science. The kit includes a volcano to use so that they don’t have to make one from paper mache. All other supplies are included as well so it’s easy to do.

Adding slime to the mix just makes science a lot more fun, and this sci-fi slime science kit is something they’re sure to love playing with. You’ll want to watch them with this one to make sure it turns out alright and there are no slime mishaps.

Turn your kitchen into a science lab with this kitchen science kit. It uses everyday household items in its experiments, which should unlock a curiosity on how things work, and how they react with other items.

They can make a big batch of slime using household items, so they can see what happens when different substances combine. Ordinary dish detergent becomes slime, and they can make it any color or mix of colors they want.

This project will show them how flowers suck water up their stems and even all the way into their petals. This is a fun experiment that produces pretty results that you can use to decorate the home.

Here’s a project you can do with them that will show them how sound waves work. They might not be too interested in that part of the experiment, and might just love playing around with a telephone that is super old school.

They can make a mock piece of art with this bronze specimen art tutorial. It uses plastic bugs but if you want to make it more realistic you could use bugs they find around the house. By bronzing it you make it look a little nicer on the wall.