Amazon STEM Toy Club is a monthly subscription box service that delivers age-appropriate STEM toy that encourages any child to learn through play. The subscription costs $19.99 per month, and the theme of the month can be anything from natural sciences to robotics. There’s always something new to discover in every box of Amazon STEM Toy Club!
There are three age ranges available for this box: 3-4 year old, 5-7 year old, and 8-13 year olds. This is a review of the 3-4 year old box.
The subscription doesn’t include any Amazon-generated introductory materials – the toy arrives in the usual Amazon shipping materials. Our three age range selections all shipped together.
Design & Drill Activity Center ($31.29): This was the selection for 3-4 year olds. Our son is two and a half, and he loves to drag his toy tools around, especially when he sees me working on something. Unlike most toy toolkits, this one lets him actually do things with the tools instead of merely pretending.
Everything in the box.
The kit included several tools, a heap of bolts, a worktable, and a stack of patterned cards.
The kit included a battery-powered drill, a screwdriver handle, and a wrench with open and closed heads.
Three different bits were included – standard flathead, phillips, and socket – and each fit into either the drill or the screwdriver handle. The bolts come in five colors, but they are identical in shape and can be fastened using any of the tools or bits. This is a great approach, as it allows your child to experiment using different tools without the frustration factor of having to match specific bits to different bolts.
A big deck of pattern cards is included. There are pattern cards of varying complexity, as well as picture cards with increasingly complex scenes. Your child doesn’t drill into the cards or use them as a template, just as a visual guide. He or she has to figure out how to replicate the pattern by replicating it on the actual work bench.
Our son had no problem figuring out the drill. It is not over-torqued and turns slowly enough that a little kid can operate it. The only issue I had with the drill was the screw to the battery compartment stripping too easily, requiring a workaround. This toy did not include the three AA batteries needed for the drill. If only there was someplace online that sold batteries…
He was able to change the bits, as well, trying out the various tools.
It will probably be awhile before he gets the concept of copying the image on the cards, but he had a great time screwing and unscrewing the bolts.
This STEM toy selection was pretty amazing and it made me feel like Amazon was starting to get the hang of the subscription concept. There’s still no great presentation like there is in Surprise Sweets, but in this case, it’s not necessary, as the star of the show is the toy, although I would still love a cute custom sticker on the side of the shipping box. The value was fantastic on this toy – and I thought Amazon really delivered on a STEM toy for this age group. Given the superb value proposition, this subscription would also be great for grandparents/aunts or uncles, or anyone having to grab parent-approved gifts for holidays, birthdays, etc, as Amazon takes care of the age-appropriateness and educational value for you.
If you received something different than our family, let us know in the comments!
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