Top 5 Educational Toys for Tweens

*AD/Collaboration, but as always, all views are my own. Updated on January 8th, to add more toys.

When it comes to schooling, it is often hard to get children excited about education. Especially, when it comes to the age group known as tweens – we are talking 10 to 13 year olds, really. We have found that having toys and activities that have an educational spin on them, while not being directly learning, have kept Kai, our tween, more interested in spending his time doing educational. We have played with loads of educational toys, and found that there are tons out there to choose from.

Specifically, Uncle Wickes have a huge selection of toys, wither you are looking for toys for a picky teenage boy or looking to find something interesting to keep your kids away from the screen, there are many educational options. We have picked out the best educational toys for tweens, in hopes of helping you keep your child interested in education.

Chess Teacher

Chess Teacher is a version of Chess that makes the game very easy to play and understand. Instead of having to remember how each of the various pieces move around the board, Chess Teacher has pieces that have a base, which showcase the movement of the pieces. Chess is a classic logic game, that builds up logical thinking and allows children to develop strategy, thinking ahead before moves. Secondary schools often have afterschool Chess clubs, which tweens might be interested in joining, and having a Chess set at home that is so helpful in learning has been great for our household.

MEL Science Subscription Boxes

MEL Science have a bunch of one off boxes or subscription models that will send a kit to your doorstep. These kits, which Kai has been enjoying over the last few months, provide a different scientific project. The boxes come with easy to follow instructions, allowing your tween to do the kit mostly on their own, while reading and learning about the various scientific topic that the box is focused on. There is also a companion app that can be used with the box, to get more information and take a deeper look into the topic, which is nice especially if a box really peaks a child’s curiosity.

Horrible Histories – The Board Game

Horrible Histories is probably a household name if you’ve got the Horrible History books or seen any of the Horrible History movies, but there is also a board game version to keep kids interacting and entertained. This board game takes you through history, from the Rotten Romans to the Vile Victorians and more, you’ll need to move around the board and answer questions or preform actions to stay at your tile. It’s a good way to remember knowledge, as playing something hands on can really help and with over 600 questions, there is a lot of replay value to this game.

Machine Works 4-Cylinder Engine

Machine Works creates loads of models that can be made by tweens and teens, which showcase lots of real moving machines. Kai and Dann put together the Machine Works 4-cylinder Engine, which better showcased how engines work, and came with an app that Kai used to understand how the engine would move and work in use within a car. These sort of hands-on projects have really helped enforce learning and creating something that does relate to skills in the real world. The engine is a bit tricky to put together, but does serve as a real model, which can be placed in a tween’s room, for them to tinker with on their own.

Snap Circuits

Snap Circuits are kits that actually allow tweens to understand and learn about electronics, through making circuits that make things spin or program games, or create alarms. Everything within these packs are safe and many of them don’t even include breakable wires, instead opting for circuit boards that are battery operated and easy for tweens to plug things into and play with. There is a main kit as well as a bunch of expansions, which Kai has spent a lot of time playing with over the years. He has a bunch of them in his room and often brings them down to tinker with, while following some of the experiments in the various booklets that came with it, and he is always eager to talk about what he has created with us!

There is a selection of the best educational toys for tweens, that all have been approved by our resident tween, Kai, himself. It is very good to have educational toys dotted around the house, so that Kai can have access to them and spend his time playing and learning.

Check out more of our toy reviews!