Introducing the Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab…
With a background working in STEM recruitment, I have often felt incredibly frustrated by the lack of young females we saw apply for our graduate vacancies. Out of the 5 years I recruited into Graduate IT Developer roles, I only saw a handful of females apply, despite the position offering an excellent starting salary and a fantastic career path! Despite lots of attempts to change the perception, STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) can still very much be seen as a male career path, and this really has to change! I always try to reinforce the message with the girls that they can grow up to be whatever they want to be. As a result, I am always keen on toys that encourage an interest and understanding of these subjects by both boys and girls, so when I heard that Little Tikes were launching a new range of STEM toys I was very excited!
About Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab
The Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab is the ultimate interactive STEM lab designed for pre-schoolers and above (3+). Providing hours of educational fun, the Stem Jr Wonderlab comes with 20+ hands on experiments that children can create using the lab accessories provided and household items such as baking soda and food colouring.
The lab comes with over 20 different lab accessories including a ball maze (with interchangeable pieces), test tubes, stirring spoons, eye droppers and the lab googles; the latter of which are the ideal way to get your mini scientist’s into character.
The Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab also makes over 40 different playful sounds and phrases during game play as the experiments are completed.
Assembly of the Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab
The Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab does require some initial assembly, but for older children, it is actually quite a fun engineering activity in it’s own right, so I actively encouraged Erin to help me as we pieced it all together, looking at the instructions and passing me the right pieces as I needed them. The instructions are very straightforward to follow, and with the exception of a screwdriver required to pop the batteries into their compartment, and secure the leg pieces into place, the rest involved simply clicking items in to each other.
First Impressions
Our first impressions of the Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab were very positive, it stands at a great height for children to work at, and I particularly liked the fact that everything could be stored neatly away when not in use using the tray underneath to hold all the accessories. There was even a little hook on the right hand side to hang up the experiment cards when not being used.
Erin immediately wanted to play with the lab, before she had even grasped that there were specific experiments as such, and immediately set to work securing some of the ball maze on to the panels, she also liked popping the balls into the large funnel flask and stirring them with a little spoon (simple things!).
Key Features
Some of the key features to highlight on the STEM Jr Wonderlab include:
Experiment cards – there are over 20 different experiment cards included with the set to inspire little minds, with a range of science, maths, engineering and technology subject matters. The cards can be easily flicked through, and have clear illustrative instructions so that children can see from the outset what will be required. Some of the experiments only require the accessories from the Wonderlab itself, where as others need some additional household items such as baking powder, food colouring or saline solution, but nothing that would be particularly challenging to get hold of.
When your child has selected which experiment they want to do first, they can unclip it from the experiment file and hang it from the two clips in the centre of the lab so that they can clearly see the instructions they are following at all times.
Erin’s favourites
With so many experiments to try out, we have only really scratched the surface with the range of options that the Wonderlab can bring, however there are a few clear winners with Erin, who tends to favour the Engineering and Technology type experiments the most.
The Circuit Centre has been a big hit, and one that she goes back to regularly. Erin has really enjoyed learning about conductivity, and how different household items can conduct energy and as such complete the circuit and cause the light to come on. It was interesting to see that she started to recognise which items were likely to work and which ones weren’t, and even that you could pop the two clips together to close the circuit without any extra items at all.
The ball drop track was also a big hit, with the child arranging the different pieces of track in a way that will allow the balls to drop from the top right to the bottom. With up to 16 different successful combinations to mix and match, it was lovely to watch Erin figure this out and her emotions change from anticipation to frustration to pride when she finally nailed the right combination of pieces. From a parent’s perspective, watching her learn that you don’t always get things right first time was also a really valuable life lesson, and I was proud to watch her persistence as she tried to figure out what she needed to change in order for it to work.
We have so much of the Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab still to try. Due to the fact the lab is currently set up at Nanny’s house where she has brand new carpets. we are yet to have fully embraced some of the Scientific experiments, many of which involve baking soda, and as such, may have the potential to be a little messy. That said, the Wonderlab is light weight and easily portable, so this would be an ideal activity to do on the patio outside, where any bubbling over could be done without concern of the mess! There is also a fairly deep purple tray in the centre, so I imagine the majority of overspill could be caught in this, and then the tray easily removed and cleaned without any significant upheaval.
At £79.99, The Little Tikes STEM Jr Wonderlab is a high price point item, however in terms of the range of interactive and educational play you get for your money, I feel that this is reasonable. The set is well built, has lots of accessories and interactive pieces, and even once the recommended experiments are completed, there is plenty of essentials which will allow you to create your own or add more options to your list.
For us, the next experiment on the hitlist is to make Vampire Blood – who wouldn’t want to this close to Halloween? I am looking forward to using the pipettes and measuring jugs with Erin, and we may try and make a bubbling potion too!
If you have your own budding scientist at home, you can learn more about the Little Tikes Wonderlab on the Little Tikes website here.
The Little Tikes Wonderlab is available to purchase from Amazon and retails at £79.99
*Disclosure – we were sent the Wonderlab free of charge in exchange for our honest review, however as always all thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links*
