The Best Educational Toys for 10-12 Year Olds

Kids between the ages of 9 and 12 both experience their middle childhood and early adolescence. During this transitional period, kids develop more complex emotional, social, and learning skills.

For the kids in this age group, independence and friendships become much more critical. Also, kids in this age group become more eager to challenge their cognitive abilities through playing fun games and activities.

Therefore, parents must support their mental and physical development with fun and educational toys. Through this blog, we will help you discover the best educational toys for 10-12 year olds and give all the details you need to know. Let’s dive in!

Top Educational Toys for 10 Year Olds and Up

With their teen years just around the corner, ten-year-old kids start to participate in more complicated activities, refine their interests, and become more collaborative. So providing them with suitable educational toys for 10 year olds can spark their interest in educational subjects like math, science, and engineering.

Here are the top educational toys for 10 year olds that will benefit their cognitive development and deepen their interests.

1. ThinkFun - Gravity Maze Game

This toy is designed as a STEM toy that combines the benefits of logic games and marble runs. It contains 60 challenges in different difficulty levels, a game grid, nine towers, one target piece, and three marbles.

Thanks to its easy instructions, kids can play with this exciting toy for hours. Also, playing through the challenges in the game enhances kids' critical skills, such as spatial reasoning, planning, and problem-solving.

2. MentalUP - Educational Games

MentalUP is a scientifically designed educational app for kids of all ages. This award-winning educational platform is designed with the collaboration of academicians, child development experts, and game designers to offer fun and personalized educational games for kids.

The app includes more than 150 age and skill-appropriate activities to enhance kids' cognitive skills like attention, memory, logical thinking, visualization, and verbal skills by providing unique content for kids from preschool to teens.

3. Abacus Brands - VR Science Kit

This educational toy is a virtual reality activity set hosted by TV personality and scientist Bill Nye. This alternative is one of the best educational toys for 10 year olds and up. Also, it is a great science kit to spark kids' interest in experimenting.

The science kit comes with 30 hands-on experiments, a comprehensive science book, and lab accessories like measuring cups, brushes, breakers, and many more. It is a great alternative to teaching kids about the fundamentals of science, including physics, chemistry, and math.

4. Funko - Marvel Battle World

This is one of the top educational toys for 10 year olds as it is an exciting Marvel game to play with friends. This Marvel game comes with collectible heroes, Marvel game cards, and accessories.

The game can be played with 1-4 players. Kids pick their favorite heroes, rescue their friends, and win battles to defeat Thanos. So it is a great game to encourage teamwork and social skills. Also, it is good for supporting their problem-solving and strategic thinking skills.

5. Tangram Puzzles

Tangram puzzles are extremely popular Chinese puzzles made up of seven shapes that can be arranged to form various designs. Tangram puzzles include triangles, squares, and parallelograms.

These puzzles benefit kids’ mental development in numerous ways. They improve kids' spatial awareness, support their problem-solving abilities, and even help them perform better on basic arithmetic tests.

There is a variety of tangram puzzle sets on the market. Still, online tangram puzzles offer much more variations for kids of different ages.

6. Sew Cool - Sewing Machine Set

If you are looking for educational toys for 10 years old girl or boy, this one might be what you need. The toy is designed to be used without thread, foot pedals, bobbins, or needles.

It comes with pre-cut DIY projects so kids can design keychains, stuffed animals, and pouches. It is a great toy for kids who are interested in DIY projects. It is also great for sparking kids’ creativity, imagination, and artistic skills.

7. LEGO - Make Your Movie LEGO Set

This LEGO set is one of the best educational building toys for 10-12 year olds. The set comes with a set stage, LEGO elements, small figures, and a step-by-step instructions book to guide kids in shooting their stop-motion animations.

Kids can enjoy creating their mini-movies with their phones, tablets, or computers and during the process, they can learn subjects like lighting, sound effects, and camera angles. Thus, this one is a great toy for kids who are into cinema. Plus, it is great for enhancing their creativity and imagination which makes it one of the best toys for autistic kids.

The Best Educational Toys for 12 Year Olds

Finding suitable educational toys for 12 year olds is not easy. These kids are too old for children’s toys and also too young for teen items. Still, they need some toys that are tailored to their sophisticated interests and abilities.

To help you find suitable educational toys for your 12 year olds, we’ve compiled a list of the best educational toys for 12 year olds. PS - these toys are great gifts for kids, too. Here we go!

1. Buffalo Games - 3D Tetris Strategy Game

This is a fun Tetris game for both kids and adults. It is a head-to-head, multiplayer strategy game that can jazz up your family game nights.

The Tetris set comes with matrix towers, Tetris cards, a game board, and player tokens and can be played with up to four players. Playing this game improves kids’ visualization, memory, problem-solving, and focusing skills. Also, it boosts their multi-sensory integration and reduces their sense of stress and anxiety.

2. MentalUP - Brain Training Games

As a practical and beneficial learning app, MentalUP can be played on any laptop, smartphone, or tablet. It includes 150+ brain training games and activities and 240+ fitness exercises.

In addition, MentalUP, which is among the best apps for 12 year olds, provides kids with a safe learning environment as it has no ads or inappropriate content.

MentalUP brain training games support kids’ mental development and improve their cognitive abilities by challenging them with age-appropriate brain teasers, games, puzzles, tangrams, and activities.

3. Fat Brain Toys - Jixelz Ice Cream Puzzle

At first glance, this one might seem too simple for 12-year-olds. Actually, it is a 700-piece jigsaw puzzle for older kids. The puzzle set comes with precision-cut, micro jigsaw pieces that fit together perfectly as kids follow the template to build delicious-looking creations.

Kids can create numerous things with this jigsaw puzzle. The set lets kids run with their imaginations. It also reinforces their spatial awareness, creativity, planning, and stress management skills. So if you are looking for awesome educational toys for 12 year olds, this might be the one for you.

4. Mattel Games - Star Wars Uno Card Game

This Uno set is one of the most fun educational toys for 12 year olds and Star Wars fans. It is the renewed version of the classical Uno game, and both offer kids and adults some educational fun!

It is a great option to jazz up your family game night and support kids' visual recognition, strategic thinking, flexibility, adaptivity, and social interaction skills. Also, it is a great gift for kids who are fans of Star Wars movies.

5. Mindware - Science Trivia Challenge

This board game challenges kids' science knowledge through three types of stimulating challenge cards. The players earn observation tokens for each correct answer and accumulate them at the end of the game.

The game comes with double-sided cards to provide kids with different difficulty levels. It is great for playing as a group, family, or individual. Playing trivia with this set strengthens kids’ social skills, logic, scientific knowledge, deductive reasoning, and much more.

Tips for Choosing Educational Toys for 10 12 Year Olds

Until now, we have learned the best educational toys for 10-12 year olds. Still, there are a lot of toys to be discovered on the market.

Here are some tips that will help you to choose the suitable educational toys for 10-12 year olds;

• Consider both your child’s age and interests.
• For older kids, try to find toys that challenge their brains and knowledge.
• Keep in mind that best apps for 10 year olds, online games, and electronic toys can foster creativity and are easily accessible.
• Always read the labels carefully before making a purchase.
• Especially for kids aged 10-12, look for toys and games that promote collective playing and improve social skills.
• Try to observe your kid’s cognitive skills and provide them with suitable toys for their cognitive development.
• If you decide to go with electronic toys, make sure that they are “UL Approved.”
• Aim to find toys or games that both stimulate learning and entertain kids.

Frequently Asked Questions

Throughout this blog, we’ve explored the best educational toys for 10-12 year olds in detail and learned how to choose suitable educational toys for kids aged 10-12. Now, it is time to get all your questions answered!

Here are the most commonly asked questions about the highest-rated educational toys.