MadeForMums Toy Awards 2024 Winners: Best learning, logic and STEM toys

Our team of little awards judges, along with their parents, put a variety of educational toys through their paces. They explored everything from balancing blocks and interactive phonics games to more advanced science kits and logic puzzles. While the kids focused on the fun factor, parents kept a close eye on how each toy supported learning and development, looking at engagement, skill-building potential, and overall value.

Whether you’re looking for the best learning toys for toddlers or science kits for older kids, you’ll find options here that mix education with excitement. Dive into the award winners and find the perfect toy to spark your child’s love of learning!

Jump to:

• Best educational/learning toy (under 5)
• Best educational/learning toy (5+)
• Best logic toy/puzzle
• Best science kit/toy

Best educational/learning toy (under 5)

It’s never too early to start learning, and an educational toy is the best way to introduce simple mathematics, STEM and phonics before your chid starts ‘big school’. Making learning fun, these toys offer an age-appropriate way to develop new skills and knowledge through play.

Our little testers built, counted, balanced and more to test out a range of preschool educational and learning toys. While they were focused wholly on the fun factor, their parents scored each toy for play potential as well as learning potential, how engaged their children were, how appealing it was for preschoolers and the value it offered. Here are the winners.

Gold: LeapFrog My 1st Phonics: Spin & Learn

The bright colours, engaging audio, and spinning motion encourage active participation, keeping my 27-month-old son entertained for extended periods, minimising screen time. This is a fantastic learning toy that combines fun and education seamlessly. It’s a wonderful gift idea for parents who want to introduce their little ones to letters and sounds in an engaging way. Highly recommended for toddlers who are just starting their phonics journey!

Silver: Orchard Toys Farmyard Heads and Tails Game

My child really enjoyed playing with this toy. The bright colours of the cards appealed to him and he enjoyed matching the images and naming the animals and associated sounds they make. He also enjoyed counting the cards. He said the toy was nice and he has come back to play with this toy independently every day since it was introduced.

Bronze: Learning Resources Numberblocks Blockzee Balance Activity Set

Phoebe loved setting up all the blocks with the stickers, she enjoyed understanding how the Blockzee mouth moved depending on the weights and was really excited to do the maths activity cards and use the pen to write the answers. It’s a great learning resource that enabled her to learn the maths terms ‘greater than’, ‘less than’ and ‘equal to’ and she was really proud to practise these.

Editor's Choice: Little Tikes Story Dream Machine

My 3 year old twins have been loving this and played with it all day. Ben said ”I love my stories, I want to use it in my bed”. His twin brother Jack has said ”it’s my favourite”. I was concerned that he would require help to change the books or use the dream machine but he got the hang of it very quickly and they feel pretty durable too.

Best educational/learning toy (5+)

We love toys that mix learning with lots of fun, and an exciting, engaging educational game is a great investment for your child.

Educational and learning toys can cover a huge range of subjects, and we tested a selection of toys that helped with everything from STEM to spelling. Our school-age testers got stuck in with playing games, building ball runs and solving puzzles, to give their verdict on the educational and learning toys that deserve a place in our awards. Here are the ones that scored high on skill-building, engagement and fun factor, as well as offering excellent value for money.

Gold: Orchard Toys Peter Rabbit Don't Wake Mr. McGregor! Game

Effy really enjoys playing this game, she is on the edge of her seat and won't stop moving with excitement whilst playing! She said, 'I love my new game! My favourite part is when I fall in the watering can and wake up Mr McGregor! I like collecting the turnips and counting the vegetables at the end!'

Silver: Edx Education 3D Pentominoes Puzzle

It’s great, amazing, fantastic, tricky and fun. We like that there’s hard cards and that some levels are tricky. We like playing with it and would play with this game again.

Available from EDX Education (£17.95)

Bronze: Orchard Toys Buzz Words Game

This is a really good game – I really like the bee pictures. I like doing the timer and practising my phonics, it's fun. I'd like to play again!”

Editor's Choice: Learning Resources BrainBolt Boost

My son absolutely loves this toy! He plays with it every single day and gets the same level of fun each and every time. He has told me this is the best toy that he owns! When we visit my mum he likes to bring the toy as well and it really occupies him and provides lots of fun and excitement. He really loves how the buttons light up as well as the different sounds that the toy has. He has loved trying out the different modes and difficulty settings and he gets a sense of fulfilment from practicing and challenging himself. He gets so excited when he ”passes” a level and it brings hours of fun!

Best logic toy/puzzle

Brain teasers like logic toys and puzzles are brilliant for fine-finger skills as well as analytical thinking. They’re a great screen-free way to get your child engaged and entertained – but which logic toys are the best?

Giving their brains a workout, our team of child testers played a fantastic mix of logic games and puzzles, to choose their favourites. From simple wooden puzzles perfectly sized for little hands, to tricky 2-player problem-solving games, they tested a range of toys and puzzles for all ages, looking at the skill-building qualities, fun-factor and quality. Check out the winners below.

Gold: Smart Games Genius Square

My son absolutely loves the Smart Games Genius Square! When I asked him what he thinks about the toy, he enthusiastically said, “it’s so much fun trying to beat my time and fill the grid!” He enjoys the challenge of racing against the clock and competing with others, and he often asks to play it again. His eyes light up with excitement every time we set it up, and he’s always eager to tackle new puzzles. It’s clear that he finds the game engaging and fun, and he would definitely play with it again and again!

Silver: Smart Games IQ Gears

I love that I can work through the levels at my pace. I really like the bright colours for the pieces. I enjoy playing with this on my own but it's great to include mum and dad with the problem solving at times. I really like that it comes in its own case so we can take it out to dinner and play on the go.

Bronze: Learning Resources Kanoodle Ultimate Champion

I love the colourful pieces and that I can build up to 500 Puzzles. My favourite was the 3D pyramid puzzle. I’m aiming to do all 500 puzzles in the book. My brain is also going to grow if I complete all the challenges!

Editor's Choice: Smart Games - Smart Dog

I would definitely play it again, I do like it. I think when it gets too high levels it’ll get a bit harder except I will still like it because it's puzzles so it uses your brain. It is also a good activity to play if you want some alone time or if you just want to play alone or if you’ve just come back from school. I like that it gets your brain thinking and I also like that it uses obstacle courses to train your dog.

Best science kit/toy

Inspire a love of STEM with a hands-on, immersive and exciting science kit for kids. Our child testers got their lab coats on and dived into a range of cool experiments and toys to bring scientific theories to life.

Looking at how easy everything was to set up, safety, whether the toy or kit was suitable for independent play, the educational qualities, value for money and, crucially, how much fun was had, our testers and their parents voted these the very best science kits and toys out there. Here are our award winners.

Gold: Learning Resources STEM Explorers: Superhero Science Lab

It is really cool, really fun, especially in expanding the marshmallows with the vacuum chamber. I love all the experiments. The story book (instructions) is easy to read and follow. I give this toy a 10/10 score.

Silver: Learning Resources Design & Drill Robot Workshop

My daughter was very impressed and so excited to play from the moment she opened the box. She’s seen her daddy drilling and using screwdrivers and different tools to create things and this has been her opportunity to create something herself which has really added to the excitement for her It combines role play with imagination and the end result gives little ones something to feel proud of. As there are lots of different pieces included, there are so many possibilities on designs that can be created with this so the toy has potential to be played with for a good length of time without the child becoming bored. The design and bold vibrant colours add to the fun and excitement.

Bronze: MEL Science

The best bit is the maze because it is super-duper tricky. I’d love another kit because I enjoyed the mirrors. I loved the 3D goggles and counting the unicorn cats through the book – it's all pretty fun.

Available from MEL Science

Editor's Choice: Clementoni Stranger Things The Upside Down Terrarium

I think it is really cool the way it is designed, how it has the roots as the plants on the other side. I think the only problem was the painting was a bit fiddly, so it didn’t turn out as well as I hoped. I really liked how the house plaster cast turned out really well, it had no cracks or holes. So apart from the painting it was really good, I had a similar one which was easier to paint, it was more open but was still really good.

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