8 years is a great age, isn’t it? 8-year-olds are so full of wonder about the world around them and the worlds beyond. There’s so much they’ve yet to discover and learn, and it’s all there waiting for them to enjoy.
With the right educational toys for their interests, you can really tap into their curiosity and imagination and ignite a light that will never dim.
In this article, we’re going to show you 25 different educational toys for 8-year-olds that get the thumbs up from teachers.
Now, if there’s anything that captures an 8-year-old’s attention, it’s magic tricks.
And rather than being amazed by someone else’s magic trick, this kit enables them to have a captive audience and amaze others with what they can achieve.
But, this is no ordinary magic set, with a couple of card tricks and some loaded dice. No, this is an educational magic kit, designed to teach your kid up to a whopping 50 different science magic tricks and experiments.
It will get them learning about chemistry and the chemical properties of various substances along the way.
Your kid can make a test tube disappear, bend metal with water, create square bubbles, and so much more.
The instructions are kid-friendly and don’t really need an adult hovering around.
This is an excellent little kit to bring out the geologist in your kid. It covers so much of earth science.
Most kids are typically enthralled by the idea of creating a mini active volcano, complete with bubbling “lava” exploding from the top and running all the way down.
Then there are two separate geological dig kits, so the kids get to dig gradually away until they reach the real hidden gems within.
And the child even gets to grow their very own crystal, too. In fact, there are a whopping 15 different science experiments and STEM activities in the kit altogether.
The kit includes a detailed learning guide for your child that spells out all the science in easy to understand terms.
As Disney says, “It’s a small, small world” but it’s an even smaller United States. And this nifty little gadget can teach kids all about their fellow Americans in their neighbouring states.
It may be a map, but it covers a lot more than mere geography. It teaches kids about different cultures, different histories, and even different political structures.
In fact, it is brimming with interesting facts, with over 2000 fun facts to discover.
Your kid simply runs the included “magic” wand over the state they want to find out about, and they can hear the facts out loud. And they can use it to brush up on their English or Spanish, because the whole thing is bilingual.
Amazon occasionally has deals on this particular kit, simply click on “check price” to see if there happens to be a deal on now.
With this kit in tow, your kid gets to bring a little nature indoors. For those of you who don’t already know, a terrarium is basically a container that simulates a natural environment.
It’s the perfect solution for homes that don’t have a garden, because your kid gets to grow real plants, right on the table-top, no backyard required.
It comes with everything you need to get started, including the likes of soil and seeds, but also cute little miniatures and stickers for decoration.
Now, if there’s anything 8-year-olds love, it’s getting stuck in with their hands, and exploring all kinds of different and interesting textures.
This awarding winning product could be your kid’s next slime lab. They get to make a batch of their very own slime.
Such an engaging and educational activity. Then they can experiment with color changing slime, or be blown away by the metal attracting properties of the magnetic slime. And there’s even glow-in-the-dark slime too.
The slime is all non-toxic and 100% safe, and the accompanying guide is on hand to provide all kinds of incredible facts on the gooey concoctions!
Amazon occasionally has deals on this particular kit, simply click on “check price” to see if there happens to be a deal on now.
How cool would your kid find it to have their very own robot!
And not just that, but a completely customizable robot too, that you can make again and again in 12 entirely different ways. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving!
Just so you know, however, this toy is aimed at kids of age 8 and upwards, so they may need a little help to start off.
And not only can this toy teach them about basic mechanics and engineering, but it also teaches them about planet friendly solar power, too. How neat!
Kids just love crafting. One of the first things kids love to learn at preschool age is how to grab a crayon and make their very own creations.
Well, this STEM toy picks up where that fun left off. This very affordable kit is in fact 3 projects in one. Kids get to make a functional, colorful rainbow piñata, a paper mache bowl and a lantern that lights up.
And as they craft away they get to learn all about refraction and reflection and the color spectrum, and about how levers and pulleys work.
The box includes all the bits and pieces you need and some fun fact learning cards.
This attractive and ergonomic microscope has an adjustable magnification that starts at 4x and goes all the way up to a whopping 640x!
It’s easy to use, comes with full instructions, and even features an LED light, so you can see your specimens no matter what the lighting is like.
Speaking of specimens, there are a whopping 50 different pieces in the kit, including 25 pre-prepared specimen slides, with a broad array of specimens to explore and discover. This includes the likes of insects, plants, and many other materials.
Your kid will just marvel at how different these things look close up. And they can even prepare their own specimen slides to observe.
When it comes to building a child’s confidence, there’s nothing quite like building a machine of some sort to give them a well deserved sense of accomplishment and pride.
With this kit, they get to make their very own sketching machine - kind of like the etch-a-sketch of our day.
It’s an excellent way to develop their spatial reasoning, dexterity and coordination.
The machine takes about 2 hours to build, so it’s a great project for a rainy weekend. Plus, the toy remains useful once it’s built, as a fun machine to sketch with.
And if you don’t want to make do with written instructions, you can take advantage of the instructional video instead.
There’s just so much you can learn about our fellow creatures with a real fossil kit like this one - especially if you combine it with other educational toys, such as the kid's microscope we showed you earlier.
With this kit, your budding archaeologist has their very own excavation site, and they can excitedly dig away until they find all 15 of the genuine fossils inside. They can find all sorts - real shark teeth, real dinosaur bones.
It comes with an explanatory fossil guide from National Geographic, and a little magnifying glass to view the fossils up close.
You know, kids often learn best when they engage all the senses, and this is where this science kit really comes into its own!
It’s super hands-on and kids can get stuck in stretching putty and slime, transforming play sand.
They can dip, squeeze and sculpt the contents to their heart’s content. The materials are all reusable, so it’s a kit they can come back to and play with again and again.
And it’s educational - it comes complete with a detailed learning guide that’s packed with loads of fun facts.
You know, before we had smartphones and iPads, we had much simpler gadgets. And the foundation of these gadgets is electricity.
And with this kit at hand, your 8-year-old can make all sorts of games and gadgets of their own!
It starts off gradually, and kids learn the basics of electronics in the first 10 projects. Then, once their confidence is established, the projects build in complexity, as do the bragging rights!
Kids get to create a magic messaging wand, make electronic dice, or even a motion sensor alarm. So much fun for your little would-be inventor!
Amazon occasionally has deals on this particular kit, simply click on “check price” to see if there happens to be a deal on now.
Two of the most important subjects for your children to learn are math and English. And by far the most fun way to learn these subjects is by playing games, especially games like this.
It features not one, not two, but 5 educational learning games. And there’s also a seven game version for a slightly higher price.
All you have to do is hook up the accompanying iPad base to your iPad, and you’re good to go. And you don’t even need a Wi-Fi connection to play.
Your 8-year-old can practice such things as multiplication, vocabulary and spelling, and is rewarded with positive feedback. And when they’re done with English and math, they can practice their creative drawing skills, too.
Amazon occasionally has deals on this particular kit, simply click on “check price” to see if there happens to be a deal on now.
This kit from National Geographic features 10 geodes, all at least one and a quarter inches thick. Your kid gets to smash each one of them open to reveal the beautiful crystalline structures inside.
The kit includes safety goggles, a display stand, a small spy glass, and a full color guide to each of the crystals inside. What a way to learn about geology!
Now this is a chemistry set that makes things a little more interesting!
It would be a great kit to break upon on Halloween. There’s zombie blood, zombie guts, zombie eyes, and even zombie poop. And this is certainly a more disgusting and gruesome way to learn about both biology and chemistry.
It’s super hands-on for the kids, and they’ll just love to gross out mom and dad. And they’ll be learning about science along the way, thanks to the full color guide.
If there’s anything that kids love, it’s their gadgets. And it just doesn’t get more high-tech than virtual reality…
And, talk about immersive learning! The kit includes both a set of VR goggles and other physical elements, such as an interactive atlas, a dinosaur fossil dig out, and more.
Your kid gets to watch famous structures being built and formed around the world, and they get to learn not only geography, but also history, different cultures and science.
Covering such matters as the topography of mountains and deserts and the oceanography of the world’s most famous reefs.
Not only is it a hands-on building toy made up of a whopping 370 pieces, but your kid gets to take their robot building to the next level with an app for iPads and smartphones so that they can control the robots using simple drag and drop graphical programming!
The instructions are via video, with 24 courses in robotics, split into 3 series, with 8 lessons in each series. So it’s not one of those toys your kid will play with just once and then forget about, the fun and learning keeps on going!
So many of the science kits out there concentrate on chemistry and biology, but how about this one which teaches all about physics?
And check this out for a fun with physics kit - your kid gets to make spectrum rainbows, send telegraphic messages, build electrical circuits, create robotic turtles, create whirling windmills, and make levitating serpents. Pretty neat, huh?
And the instructions are very kid-friendly.
Amazon occasionally has deals on this particular kit, simply click on “check price” to see if there happens to be a deal on now.
This is hands-down one of the most explosive chemical reaction science kits on the market. Your 8-year-old gets to make fizzy helium balloon bombs, color explosions, and even their very own DIY rockets.
But don’t worry, the instructions are very easy to follow and are in full color.
With the climate crisis at such a critical stage, it’s more important than ever that kids learn about meteorology and the weather. And this is the kit to teach it.
It features a whopping 20 different activities altogether and your kid gets to create a tornado, make a cloud in a bottle, create super snow powder, and much more besides.
You don’t have to wait for a particular season to get started, there are activities to enjoy all year round.
With this kit, your 8-year-old gets to make glowing dough, shampoo slime, luminescent blood, sticky glowing fish, and scented fluffy slime. What a riot!
With this kit, you get to take the learning outside, and explore bugs, dirt and plants, with 21 different hands-on nature activities that your 8-year-old can do right in your backyard. Why not have some fun out in the fresh air for a change.
Hi, my name is Elena Jones, and my full-time job is a teacher. Through teaching, I have discovered that children learn in many different ways, and have seen the positive impact both STEM and Montessori toys have on children.
Through this site I hope to educate parents and adults about these toys, providing them with useful information on how they can be used, and provide some in depth reviews of different toys to consider too.
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