Your Ultimate Steam Gift Guide for the Best Nerd Gifts – Part 3 ($50 & Up)

Happy Thanksgiving, Nerd Parents! We hope you still have some appetite left for shopping if not for turkey. As promised in Part 2 of our gift guide, this third installment of the Wish List brings you all you can consume of fun, fascinating STEAM toys for your science, tech, and creative problem-solving hungry Nerds. Today we serve up the final course of Nerd gifts priced $50 and up. So, dig in!

Nerd Gifts for Emerging Nerds (4 to 7 Years)

Osmo Genius Kit – Meet Osmo, the award-winning game system that uses proprietary technology to combine play with hands-on learning. The Genius Kit includes five great games (Masterpiece, Numbers, Words, Tangram, and Newton). Kids play at drawing, math, word, and visual challenges in front of the iPad, Osmo “sees” their real-world handiwork and responds with on-screen encouragement, guidance, and giggles. Works with iPad Pro 9.7 inch, all iPad Mini, all iPad Air, all iPad 2 & up. *INCLUDES THE OSMO BASE

Osmo Pizza Co. Game with iPad Base – Run your own pizza shop! Quickly cook pizza & calculate change using toppings & money tiles. Invest your profits to upgrade your shop as you bake your way to becoming “the big cheese”! 
Inspire their imagination and inflict a love of learning by having them play out-of-bounds
. Works with iPad Pro 9.7 inch, all iPad Mini, all iPad Air, all iPad 2 & up. *Requires the Osmo Game System found, in any Osmo Kit.

Osmo Creative Kit with Monster Game (Ages 5-12) – Mo the Monster is the star of Osmo Monster. He loves magic, dancing, and creating together! He needs your child’s creativity for his next idea. Draw for Mo and it’ll become part of his magical animated show.KEVA Structures 200 – No glue or connectors required…simply stack wood planks to create buildings, monuments and geometric forms. It’s the ideal activity to help kids gain an understanding of balance and proportion, as well as an interest in architecture, building and design.

KEVA 400-Plank Set (Ages 5+) – KEVA planks are perfectly cut, identical construction blocks that stack with surprising stability. Narrow towers can reach all the way to the ceiling. Incredible stability is achieved by cutting the planks with great precision. This simple construction system provides a unique building experience. Children instinctively know how to stack things, so the fun starts immediately. With all the pieces the same, no energy is wasted searching for specific shapes or connectors. KEVA enthusiasts range from toddlers to architects because every person can enjoy building at his or her own skill level. 

Build & Imagine: Malia’s House (ages 4–8) – Watch your child become a designer, builder, and storyteller right before your eyes with groundbreaking magnetic construction sets from Build & Imagine. Join colorfully illustrated magnetic panels to build a custom dollhouse that’s different each time you play. Bring your scene to life with two sturdy wooden characters and magnetic clothes and accessories that stick to the dolls and panel walls.

Build & Imagine: Creativity Castle – This is a castle themed magnetic building set that runs on pure imagination. Children combine the colorfully illustrated magnetic panels any way they like to build a custom castle that is different each time they play. They can also change their story with magnetic accessories that stick to the floors, walls, and wooden characters. Its building blocks meets dollhouse meets dress up characters. And we made this Playset a castle theme to appeal to both girls and boys.

My Super Science Discovery Box: STEM Science Kit (Ages 5+) – This STEAM kit is child-directed, open-ended, and specifically designed for endless possibilities. Children define and regulate their own experiments, establishing the foundation for lifelong curiosity and a strong sense of accomplishment. Over 200 pieces support exciting discoveries and inventions. Materials and tools are contained in a durable, easy to carry, take-a-long storage case, with secure latches and a lock lid of exclusive design. 

Nerd Gifts for New Nerds (7 to 12)

Marbleocity Skate Park by Tinkineer – Build your own working skate park model made of real wood! The Skate Park features lots of fun physics action, including a stair descent, rail slide and a jump—so once you build your skate park, you can run marbles through it! The assembly instructions feature a graphic novel with the Tinkineer cast of characters— Kelvin, Joule, Newt and friends —to communicate meaningful STEM concepts in an engaging format. It’s a fun way to learn about projectile motion and centripetal force while making an awesome kinetic sculpture!

Snap Circuits Alternative Energy Green – With over 125 projects to build, youngsters will have endless hours of fun while learning about circuits, electricity, geothermal power and lots more. Contains over 40 parts, including the award-winning Snap Circuits, plus an instruction manual and educational manual that show step-by-step instructions for all the cool stuff you can do. 

Snap Circuits Deluxe RC Snap Rover Electronics Discovery Kit – Like all Snap Circuits Kits, the Snap Rover Deluxe uses Snap Modules to complete an array of exciting electronics experiments that engage and educate young engineers and scientists. With SCROV-50 Snap Circuits goes mobile and you can turn your space rover into a Martian hunting mode with the included disc shooter unit. Some other projects to complete are: Lighthouse Rover, Parallel and Series Pitch Reducers, RC Rover, Electronic Metronome, Car Alarm, Current Diverter, RC Disc Launcher, Martian Monster Sound Generator, Power Generator, and many many more.

Tinkering Labs Electric Motor Catalyst – Children are happiest with their hands and minds are working together – they’re having fun, and they’re also honing their hands-on creative problem-solving skills. And to fuel the imagination, the Electric Motors Catalyst comes with a deck of Challenge Cards, with inspirational prompts such as “Build a machine that draws curvy lines” and “Make a machine that can scramble an egg.”

Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit by Littlebits – With littleBits, kids get creative as they engineer new Droids. They can take their Droid apart and put it back together in new ways to give it additional abilities or make it perform new tasks. With just the wave of a hand, kids can guide their Droid like they’re using the Force. Droid-driving is easy with in-app controllers including a joystick, sliders, and tilt mode. Use the kit to create a unique Droid & enter the littleBits Competition: Droid Inventor Kit.

Circuit Cubes Whacky Wheels – Circuit Cubes are electronic blocks that enable kids to add power, motion, and light to their toys or projects. Designed by STEM teachers, Circuit Cubes foster confidence and promote problem-solving skills as kids master the basics of circuitry through hands-on play. With Circuit Cubes, kids can unleash their inner creativity and engage in endless fun.

Circuit Cubes Smart Art Construction Kit – Precision-designed to work with LEGO, Circuit Cubes gives kids multiple options to integrate other materials into their projects and imaginative play. Whether recyclables like toilet paper rolls or vintage toys, “Circuit Cubes offer the first tangible glimpse of the future of play” (Venture Beat).

Beasts of Balance Digital Tabletop Stacking Game – Players take turns to pick a beast, element, action or miracle piece to stack onto the tower. with each new piece evolving the world they’re creating on their connected smartphone or tablet in new and surprising ways. The goal is simple, to work together to build a tower with as many pieces as possible whilst filling your digital world with magnificent beasts, but knock the tower over and the volcano erupts…ending your world in a shower of fire and brimstone. Combining the best of digital and tabletop gaming, simple to set-up, with co-operative, open ended game play, over 100 different beasts to discover and an infinite number of ways to stack and combine your pieces, Beasts of Balance is the perfect, evergreen addition to family game night.

Nerd Gifts for Big Nerds (12 and Up)

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies: Fuel Cell Car Science Kit – Experience the excitement of new fuel cell technology with this customized construction kit. This fun science kit combines cutting-edge science, education and fun for all! In building this car, your Nerd will discover the possibility of using 100% clean fuel to power cars of the future.

Terraforming Mars Board Game – In the 2400s, mankind begins to terraform the planet Mars. Giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, initiate huge projects to raise the temperature, the oxygen level and the ocean coverage until the environment is habitable. In Terraforming Mars you play one of those corporations and work together in the terraforming process, but compete in doing the best work, with victory points awarded not only for your contribution to the terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar systems and other commendable achievements.

DROPMIX Music Gaming System – DropMix lets you play music like never before! This fast-paced music mixing game gives you a new way to collect, discover and combine favorite tracks. Compete with your friends (up to 4 players) and create unexpected song mixes! Keep the music pumping with 3 ways to play: Freestyle, Clash, and Party.

Over $100

Nerd Gifts for Younger Nerds 7 to 12

LEGO BOOST Creative Toolbox – Simple Coding. Challenging Fun!|Start inspiring their future with creative play! LEGO creations come to life with LEGO Boost, a robot kit for kids! Using the free app on a tablet, kids can code behaviors into whatever they build! Here’s our review.

Q-BA-MAZE 2.0 Ultimate Stunt Set – Get your imagination rolling faster and further than ever imagined. Build, bounce, adjust angles, fine-tune turns and experiment with cause and effect to see what kind of zany, zigzagging action is possible! Part art and part science, the full spectrum of colors and a complete range of stunts allow for endless construction possibilities in both form and function. The Ultimate Stunt Set features every stunt in the Q-BA-MAZE arsenal plus three exciting additions—the spiral sphere, quad-exit cubes and marble catchers. Here’s our review.

Boolean Box – A Build-It-Yourself Computer Kit for Girls – It is easy and fun to build your own computer. Open the box and connect this Raspberry Pi computer to your HDMI-capable TV, and it is ready to use. It is designed for children 8 and up to build without help. Girls (and boys) can learn coding, build electronics, and more. They can create their own projects or use the projects on the Boolean Girl website. The Boolean Box contains everything a Nerd needs to code in Scratch or Python and complete simple circuitry tasks, such as the game controller project.

Cozmo Toy Robot – He’s a real-life robot like you’ve only seen in movies, with a personality that evolves the more you hang out. Challenge Cozmo to games, or use Explorer Mode to see things from his perspective. He comes equipped with Code Lab, the perfect platform for new coders to unlock their imagination. 

Cubelets Robot Blocks (Ages 4+) – With Cubelets, you can build delightful robots that respond to the world around them. Create a light-chasing robot or proximity-sensing flashlight. Build thousands of thought-provoking robots with the Cubelets Twelve! The kit includes two each of the Drive and Distance blocks and one each of Rotate, Flashlight, Brightness, Blocker, Inverse, Passive, Bluetooth, and Battery blocks that provides hours of continuous play.

 

Nerd Gifts for Big Nerds (12 and Up)

Sphero SPRK+ Robot – Designed to inspire curiosity, creativity and invention through connected play and coding, SPRK+ is far more than just a robot. Powered by the Lightning Lab app, you can easily learn programming, complete hands-on activities and share your creations with the community. Learning is evolving. Get on the ball.

 

LEGO Ideas Apollo Saturn V Rocket (21309) – Display and role-play with this majestic meter-high LEGO brick model of the NASA Apollo Saturn V. Packed with authentic details, it features 3 removable rocket stages, including the S-IVB third stage with the lunar lander and lunar orbiter. This building set also includes 3 stands to display the model horizontally, 3 new-for-June-2017 astronaut micro figures for role-play recreations of the Moon landings, plus a booklet about the manned Apollo space missions and the fan designers of this educational and inspirational LEGO Ideas set.

LEGO Technic Ocean Explorer Set (42064) – Enjoy seafaring adventures with this LEGO Technic Ocean Explorer set, featuring a ship with a dark-blue, red and white color scheme, plus a buildable submarine with movable arms and spinning propeller, and a buildable helicopter with spinning rotors. The ship features a large captains bridge with radar and funnel detailing, plus a landing pad, working crane and an opening deck hatch for access to the ships hull, complete with bulbous bow and two fenders. This detailed 2-in-1 set has been designed to provide an immersive and rewarding building experience and can be rebuilt to create a Push Boat and Barge.

DaVinci MiniMAKER 3D Printer – XYZmaker is a 3D modeling software designed for beginners in 3D printing. Make whatever you desire with our intuitive and easy-to-use modeling system. Don’t let its smaller, light-weight design fool you, the da Vinci miniMaker has a robust build size.

Raspberry Pi 3 Ultimate Starter Kit – Now your Nerd can hit the ground hacking with this barebones bundle that includes everything they need to build a mini computer. Great for beginners, pros, adults and kids.

Piper Computer Kit – Today’s kids grow up with “black box” phones, computers and gadgets that come in beautiful packages, but leave no room for tinkering or understanding how they work. With Piper, they can now understand how technology works in order to make sense of our environment and invent the future. The Piper Computer Kit comes with everything they need to assemble your own computer. Inside, your Nerd will find the revolutionary Piper learning system that teaches kids engineering and programming through a combination of engaging storyline, physical building, and Raspberry Pi Edition of Minecraft.

Dragonfly Drone with Camera – See and record everything this HD drone with camera live video sees on your mobile device. With one button, you can take off, land and engage Custom Routes. Fly this drone with FPV anywhere with Altitude Hold, Headless Mode and more.

 

 

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Now you can skip the feisty crowds and long lines on Black Friday (you’re welcome!) and rest up for Cyber Monday when we’ll bring you our Mega Holiday Wish List: Bonus Stocking Stuffer Edition. In early December, we’ll tie everything up with a bow with our Bonus Books Edition. Until then, be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the Mega Holiday Wish List to be sure you didn’t miss anything – Nerd on!