The growing awareness of the value among parents wanting to develop and inspire their child’s interests is not only driving more companies to develop educational products but pushing sales.
According to a report by Global Market Insights the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) toy market is projected to reach $13 billion by 2032.
Among the toymakers meeting the demand is Assaf Eshet, CEO and founder of Clixo , a flexible, origami-inspired magnetic system that was recently named one of Time magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025. As an industrial designer who has worked for some of the top names in the toy industry, Eshet said his mission has always been to create toys that inspire exploration rather than dictate outcomes.
“Kids should have a real appetite for curiosity,” said Eshet. “Our job as parents, teachers and toymakers is to strike that nerve of wonder and keep it alive.”
That’s what Playmobil did for him as a child.
“I used to assemble them and then reassemble them to make them my own,” Eshet said during a phone interview from New York City.
Now children are taking his kits, assembling them as they are and then reimagining them to be something else.
“Things that we can’t even imagine they are already creating,” said Eshet, who launched the brand in 2020 with a few kits and has expanded it to include 20 kits ranging from $15 to $200. New this year for aspiring paleontologists is Dinosaur Adventure (6-up, $49.99).
“It’s an amazing set,” Eshet said, of the newest addition to the Clixo family featuring 36 pieces that can be used to make a variety of dinosaurs or whatever creature comes to mind.
“You can mix and match them, too,” said Eshet, whose Clixo brand is also in the running for the Toy Foundation’s Best Creativity Toy of the Year.
The company also earned the Best Creative Fun Award by Tillywig and was named to Toy Insider’s Top Holiday Toys list in 2023.
Clixo is a new favorite but the launch of STEM toys happened around the same time as the space race and the inauguration of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958.
“The scientific achievements of the next three decades from the moon landing, artificial heart, personal computing and cell phones all yielded a call for enhanced science education,” according to a report from Forbes. “The call was answered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which established guidelines for the teaching of science, math, engineering and technology in grades K-12, introducing the acronym SMET. However, educators and policymakers found the term awkward and unappealing, evensuggesting it sounded like ‘smut’. So in 2001, the NSF officially rebranded the initiative STEM and more recently STEAM, as ‘Art’ was added.”
“A lot of parents are buying STEAM toys that have educational value and those toys become treasures,” said Julie Everitt, co-owner of Whistle Stop Hobby and Toy in St. Clair Shores, which has been in the business of selling toys for more than 50 years. Everitt said there are a number of cool new STEAM toys out this year including Rail Cube by Sanko Toys (3-up, $99.99-$199.99).
“The set comes with magnetic tubes that you connect to create a little monorail for a little engine,” Everitt said. “It’s a super cute set and it really goes.”
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Another favorite at Whistle Stop is Hape’s Lock and Learn Playboard (3-6, $34.99), a wooden busy board featuring little exercises that teach kids meaningful tasks like how to unlock a latch or turn on a light. Among the STEAM toys growing in popularity among older kids is Rolife’s miniature kits ($49.99). Tweens and teens, even adults can build everything from little houses and book nooks to tiny greenhouses.
“Most of them are for ages 14 and up but we do carry some for 8-plus,” Everitt said, sharing but a few of the STEAM toys making this year’s hot list.
More toys
Looking for a few more toys. Check out our kids’ review of this year’s lineup of STEAM toys along with many others that are expected to make Santa’s Wish List inside the Homefront section and on our website.
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