The RS Holiday Gift Guide: STEM Gifts Galore

The 2024 RS Holiday Gift Guide is brimming with STEM gifts sure to please STEM lovers spanning seasoned professionals to curious children of all ages.

The holiday season is here, STEM fans, and to help you celebrate, we’re back with another holiday gift guide filled with STEM gifts galore! This year’s holiday gift guide features more than 45 STEM gifts sure to elicit smiles in STEM lovers spanning seasoned professionals to curious children of all ages.

STEM Gifts for Professionals

Having a hard time finding STEM-centric gifts for friends, family, and Secret Santa exchanges? We’ve got you covered with 16 excellent options under $25 in addition to a handful of splurges.

Utilitarian STEM Gifts: Many STEM professionals, including a variety of different engineers, do at least some field work. So, portable problem-solvers can make great engineering gifts. Take, for example, the Memo Bracelet, a handy, reusable, waterproof notepad with a slap bracelet form factor that comes with a pen and eraser and is great for jotting down information ranging from vitals to measurements and to-dos ($20). A multi-tool pen set that features an LED, stylus, level, screwdriver, standard and metric rulers, and even a bottle opener and still fits comfortably in shirt pocket could be another fantastic option ($10). And if pens aren’t their thing but tools definitely are, this 18-in-1 multi-tool shaped like a credit card might be more their speed ($9).

Portable power is another must-have for modern life, both in STEM fields and beyond, and many newer solutions offer an attractive mix of price, performance, and aesthetics. PlugBug is the world’s first power supply equipped with Apple’s Find My technology and is available in 50W and 120W versions designed for use in the U.S. and internationally ($70–130). Anker’s MagGo Power Bank provides 10,000mAh of ultra-fast wireless charging in a super slim form factor available in four colors ($75). And for those who don’t need wireless charging, Belkin’s highly-rated 10K power bank with integrated USB-C and Lightning cables allows you to charge Apple products and other devices. It can even charge two devices at once, and it’s currently available in black and blue for $49 on the Belkin site.

Relaxing STEM Gifts: STEM gifts don’t have to be dedicated to performing an essential or work-related task, though. While STEM jobs tend to offer a high degree of job satisfaction, they can also require long spans of sitting or standing, deep thought, and even physical exertion. So, it can help to have something on hand to relax the body, reduce stress, and refocus the mind. That’s why STEM toys designed for fidgeting can make awesome engineering gifts. The Infinity Cube Sensory Fidget Toy ($7) and the more colourful SHASHIBO Shape Shifting Box ($18) are both great options, as is the incredible LARAH Color Fidget Pen Toy ($14). A book of brain games is another good option for a brief mental refresh ($9). And if you think the STEM-lover you’re shopping for would prefer physical to mental relaxation, it’s hard to beat a massage. The Super Mini Massage Gun provides portable, powerful relief with a long-lasting rechargeable battery that enables up to five hours of continuous use ($40).  

Silly STEM Gifts: Silly socks are also tested and proven engineering gifts — especially when they’re STEM themed — and there are lots of options out there. Some of our favorites include these math and chemistry socks ($17–19) and these space socks ($17). And while fun socks strike a nice balance between utility and enjoyment, there’s no overestimating the value of a good laugh. So, you could also consider these illustrated lab rules coasters ($23), a punny STEM shirt well suited for folks in bioscience fields ($16), or a silly mug to add to their collection, like this one fit for a network engineer ($19).

Literary STEM Gifts: It’s also hard to go wrong with a good book and easy to find STEM themes in a variety of different genres. Here are a few great choices sure to satisfy different tastes:

• “The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women” by Kate Moore ($15) is a historical nonfiction that shares the wild, true, and horrifying story of a group of young women in the early 1900s who got jobs painting watches with radium and then began to glow — and decay.
• “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch — the author of “Upgrade,” “Recursion,” and the Wayward Pines trilogy — is a mind-blowing speculative thriller (and New York Times bestseller) about an ordinary man who wakes up in a world that’s wildly, impossibly different from the reality he thought he knew. It’s also under $10 and the basis for a new Apple TV sci-fi series.
• “The Big Book of Science Fiction” ($24) is an expansive, nearly 1,200-page collection of some of the best science fiction of all time, featuring genre heroes like H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula K. Le Guin alongside lesser-known but similarly gifted authors.

Techy STEM Gifts: If you’re looking for something techier and willing to splurge, check out the new Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, which feature camera and speaker improvements and a new embedded AI assistant ($240–380), and Oura smart rings, small, sleek smart devices designed to provide a holistic view of the wearer’s health and last for up to eight days without charging (starting at $349). And if you’re splurging on a gamer, check out the Logitech Astro A50 X LIGHTSPEED wireless gaming headset, which provides excellent audio, supports PC, PlayStation, and Xbox connections, and functions as a full HDMI switch for all three gaming consoles if they’re plugged into the included base station ($380).

STEM Gifts for Children of All Ages

In the not-too-distant past, STEM toys didn’t stretch too far beyond the Slinky and Easy Bake Oven. Both of these simple engineering toys continue to withstand the test of time and are still enjoyed by kids today (albeit at higher prices, now $4 and $150), but technological advancements have enabled some truly mind-blowing STEM toys that make learning even challenging concepts and skills engaging and fun for kids of all ages.  

STEM Toys for Ages 0–3: To inspire a love of STEM in the youngest children, consider wooden Montessori busy boards with plugs, toggle switches, keys, knobs, and dimmable LEDs. Joyreal offers four versions spanning $35–45. While loud, pound-a-ball toys, like this one from Playkidz ($25), promote dexterity and hand-eye coordination and teach toddlers about cause and effect. MEGA BLOKS are much quieter and help kids one and up develop creativity and fine motor skills. There are tons of different options, but the most basic set of MEGA BLOKS, which features 80 pieces in a reusable storage bag and is available in both primary and pastel colors, is just $11. “Goodnight Lab: A Scientific Parody Bedtime Book for Toddlers” is another fun choice at just $6. 

STEM Toys for Ages 3–8: Science kits are likely the oldest STEM toys, having hit the market in 1922, and they have also stood the test of time. But they go well beyond basic experiments nowadays. For instance, Butterfly Edufields STEM Kits allow kids ages six to eight to create vacuum cleaners, tornado turbines, and even hovercrafts, and they’re available in three different sizes and price points ($26–$70). For future chemists as young as four who want to see things (safely) go boom, the Doctor Jupiter My First Science Kit will allow them to mix safe compounds in hundreds of different ways ($28).

There’s also a variety of creative construction kits that allow younger children to explore STEM concepts by building moving vehicles ranging from cranes and forklifts to rockets and helicopters (likely with a helping hand), including this 195-piece set for kids as young as three and this 167-piece kit for kids as young as four (both $24). Kids ages six and up who are also into art — and likely four and up if you’re willing to help — may also enjoy this wooden race car creation kit ($15). And those already into electronics will likely enjoy this Kids’ Electric Robot Kit ($18).  

Shopping for a young one with more specialized STEM interests? We’ve got STEM gifts for them, too! For the future botanist, the Kids Root Viewer garden kit offers children the opportunity to see the exciting underground world of plants first-hand ($15). STEM toys ideal for future architects, civil engineers, and mechanical engineers include the Kinazium ($90), which allows kids to create mazes and environments for their robots, figurines, and rolling toys to play in while subtly introducing them to basic concepts of physics and engineering.

STEM Toys for Ages 8–12

If you think the STEM gifts for little ones are cool, just wait until they’re a little older! This solar robot STEM kit lets kids as young as eight build solar- and battery-powered robots ($16)! The National Geographic Circuit Maker Kit helps young minds explore the shocking world of electricity with over 120 fun projects that include creating a keyboard, a light show, a sound system, and even a helicopter ($41). And there’s even a kit from Smartivity that lets kids create their own mechanical hand ($24). With engineering toys this engaging, the next generation of STEM professionals will be just about ready to conquer the world by 13!

STEM Gifts for Ages 13+

Speaking of 13, this is often the age where gift-giving gets a little bit more complicated. It’s still too soon for a massage gun, but they’re also way too cool for anything that has even a hint of “my first science project.”

KiwiCo offers an innovative science and engineering subscription service for kids ages 12–16, KiwiCo Labs, that focuses on creativity and invention. Subscriptions start at $24 a month with free shipping and include everything kids need to create a challenging and amazing STEM or STEAM project. Examples include a “trashketball” can, a pinball machine, a printing press, headphones, and even a ukelele! KiwiCo Labs also offers STEM-centric subscription kits for younger kids, which can make buying gifts for siblings a bit easier. The ones for kids ages 6–8 focus on science exploration, and the ones for kids ages 9–11 focus on engineering builds.

Like that idea but willing to splurge on the perfect gift? Consider signing them up for an immersive STEM course or summer camp like the ones from iD Tech, which are designed to provide kids as young as seven and as old as 19 with incredible opportunities to deep dive into their passions. There are courses and camps that focus on artificial intelligence, game design, video production, 3D printing, robotics (including BattleBots), basic coding skills,  Java and Python, and so much more. Virtual courses start around $400 and on-campus courses and camps start around $1,000, which is arguably expensive. But if you have it to spare and want to give your teenager a real leg up in their professional development, you’d be hard pressed to do much better than this. And with camps at 75 universities across the U.S., the odds of having a participating location near you are pretty good.

Finally, for all the technology in the world today, no one with a good head on their shoulders — teenagers included — will ever be too cool for a good book. A few great choices for young adults on up include:

• “The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here” by Hope Jahren ($11) features short, easily digestible chapters that explain the science behind the key inventions that have moved both society and global warming forward, the current and projected outcomes of those changes, and what we can do about it.
• “In the Shadow of the Moon: America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race” by Amy Cherrix ($16) tells the story of the incredible engineers who fuelled the great space race between Russia and the U.S.
• “Folding Tech: Using Origami and Nature to Revolutionize Technology” by Karen Latchana Kenney ($29) explains how the ancient art of paper folding intersects with mathematics and how those concepts have been used to solve some of the most complicated challenges in engineering, architecture, technology, and medicine. It also includes two augmented reality images of these cool technologies.
• “American Murderer: The Parasite that Haunted the South” by Gail Jarrow ($16) tells the tale of the deadly havoc that hookworms wreaked across the American South in the early 20^th century, making it a perfect fit for STEM lovers in the bioscience and medical fields who also enjoy thrillers and history.

Happy Holidays From RS!

Gifts are great, and STEM gifts like these are even better. But the best part of the holiday season is spending some time with those you love. Friends and family — including pets — are the greatest gift of all, and we hope that our holiday gift guide helped you show some love and save some shopping time so you can spend more time on the things that really matter. From all of us to you and yours, Happy Holidays!