Educational but not at all boring toys to give your kids a head start in STEM

These cute Coding Critters bring creative, magical and screen-free coding to STEM. Each programmable play set is built around an adorable robot dragon or unicorn, and a colourful wand with directional buttons.

A combination of a spell button and a storybook-style spell book with coding commands triggers a variety of modes such as dance and fetch.

The Children’s Spy Agency tries to get kids into coding and computer science, as well as urge critical thinking, with the help of this book series.

Using her coding skills to complete missions, 11-year-old agent Asha teaches budding adventurers about coding and the digital world through tales and activity training sheets.

Send your children on a tablet-based coding adventure where little hands can interact with the on-screen action using figurines. There are three different story-based activities with more than 200 challenges to choose from.

Teaching the fundamental concepts of coding, such as inputs-output, loops and sequencing, and decomposition, it will help children transition from easy to advanced challenges as their skills develop.

This cute little coding bot puts the ‘A’ in STEAM learning, combining coding with creativity for kids who are naturally more artistic. Armed with marker pens, kids can program Artie to draw different designs, then watch him go to work on paper.

There are lots of pre-programmed designs for beginners to start coding straight away. When you’re ready for more complex code creations, the JavaScript, Python and C++ coding languages will be waiting for you.

If the exploits of Nasa’s impending Artemis I mission are launching your child’s interests in astrophysics or space exploration, look no further than this. It’s the first ever interactive Mars globe and it’s powered by augmented reality.

Scan it using a phone or tablet to explore the mysteries of the red planet and solar system while developing scientific thinking, physics fundamentals and problem-solving skills.

This palm-sized pup and cool bit of kit makes a great pet for STEM enthusiasts.

Once out of the box, the four-legged DIY project will help kids learn robotics and programming.

You can bring it to life by programming and teaching it new tricks, such as walking around on your desk, walking up slopes and even doing a flip.

If you’ve got a PC, Mac, iPad or Kindle Fire, you’re in business here. This cool coding kit will have would-be witches and wizards feeling every bit the Harry Potter protégé as they build, use and modify code.

Armed with their own coding wand, kids will feel like they’re performing their own magic tricks as they wave it around to build spells that make feathers float, pumpkins grow and more. Frozen and Star Wars coding kits are also up for grabs.

Sphero’s pocketable, app-enabled rings are embedded with motion and light sensors that react to different colours to create a symphony of sound.

Not only will they take their cues from the included play pad, but they will also respond to any coloured surface that takes your fancy, turning the world around you into a musical instrument.

Fusing robotics with augmented reality, the idea behind these DIY droids is to build one of six pre-designed Botzees or create your own, then get your code on.

Botzees can be programmed to move, drum, dance, make sounds and light up using the app.

And there are 30 interactive AR puzzles that will assist in teaching yet more coding concepts that come with visual clues.

With 949 pieces, sensors, motors and an intelligent hub to tinker with, as well as five remote-controlled robots to build, the Lego Robot Inventor will help kids get to grips with coding as they complete challenging activities via the accompanying app.

With more than 50 to choose from, boredom will never kick in when bringing your creations to life.