This colorful board book stars Baby, a toddler who is discovering the skills it takes to be an engineer. 0-4 Years Future Engineer, by Lori Alexander Specially for Smithsonian readers, they selected their ten favorite engineering gifts of 2021, which span three different age groups. This year, Moore and her team of students reviewed nearly 80 gifts 46 ended up on the gift guide. In the guide, each gift comes with a description and an outline of the specific skills it fosters. Plus, well-designed toys also teach attributes such as creativity, optimism and learning from failure, which stretch well-beyond the field of engineering. The best gifts engage children in engineering thinking and design by incorporating hallmark skills, such as spatial reasoning, coding, problem solving and design thinking, in an accessible way. Though many gifts market themselves as engineering-themed, not all of them are created equal, Moore says. "When we decided to start the guide, it was a really cool way to test toys and put out some kind of outreach to the community that would actually answer this question that we were getting all the time." "For years, the INSPIRE faculty continued to get emails from people who would say, 'I really want to buy some kind of engineering toy for my child, what's your favorite toy?'" says Tamara Moore, the executive director of INSPIRE and a professor of engineering education at Purdue. Though not every toy needs to be-or should be-STEM-themed, some gifts are designed to teach specific skills and ways of thinking. Each gift was played with and reviewed by three different people and assigned a ranking the top scoring gifts earned a spot on the annual Engineering Gift Guide, which is now in its eighth year.Ī report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2018 says that learning and play are "inextricably linked," partly because children feel comfortable exploring on their own and are able to learn without pressure. Before 2020, parents and kids were invited to test out the gifts, but due to the pandemic, the review process has been kept within INSPIRE. To help people find the best and most thoughtfully designed engineering gifts, students and faculty at Purdue University's INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering put dozens of toys, gifts and games released within the last couple of years through the wringer. But standing in the toy aisle-or scrolling on Amazon-staring at colorful rows of building blocks, robots and computer games can be overwhelming. Every holiday season, STEM-themed presents fly off the shelves as people purchase educational toys and books to give to kids in their lives.
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