Kids are fickle and thus, it’s easy for parents to throw down a ton of money on seemingly great toys that quickly end up in the trash. Instead, look at the ever-evolving robot toys that you can get for your aspiring inventor. The best robots for kids introduce them to STEM concepts, activate their inner “maker”, and even teach them coding and robotics for kids. Plus these toy robots can help kids learn cognitive skills like critical thinking and problem solving, while they’re also having fun assembling them and making them work.
When choosing coding robots, parents should make sure they’re age-appropriate, first and foremost, because if you get your offspring something that looks really good but is far too advanced, they’ll only get discouraged. Some coding toys require apps and screens, while others do not, so choose whatever option works best for you and your parenting style. You’ll find that some of our robot toys are modular, meaning they pair well with existing toys like Legos, so their shelf life by definition will be longer.
The Best Robot Toys for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Like the first iteration of Botley, its younger sibling lets kids engage in screen-free coding. But it's loaded with pretty cool new features: It has night vision and can complete 45 degree tuns. The new Botley has expanded coding styles such as music, lights, and movement, and kids can program Botley to follow sequences of up to 150 steps and turn Botley into a ghost or car, among other things.
Kids enter different codes to control the robot's movements, teaching kids about early math concepts, colors, shapes, and letters. Plus, kids program the robot to move in different ways. There are three ways to play: free coding, by following learning challenges, and by using secret codes.
Not only does this set provide your kids with interactive pets. But when they're in cording mode, kids follow storybook coding challenges to play hide and seek with the critters, have Bopper grab her carrot, or push the swing.
Kids build simple yet fully functional toy robots that fly or zoom around, which have moving parts, wheels, and gears, as they follow along with a funny little story about adventurous kids. It's a solid screen-free way for preschoolers to learn about how machines work.
Another stellar screen-free coding set, this one features a peanut butter and jelly sandwich named Sammy. Kidslay down physical coding cards to get Sammy to move around, light up, play sounds, and do his thing. And they learn the basics of coding.
It's hard to quantify this thing, except to say that it's really cool and most closely resembles a virtual coding class slash preschool. It's a screen that has three play modes with curated playlists: broadcast for exposure, session for learning, and lullaby for sleep. It helps kids with literacy, numbers, and social skills by offering up interactive content that lets them sing, dance, identify shapes and colors, and learn to count with a panda, a fox, a monkey, and a frog. It auto-updates, and is ad-free.
No screens required: Preschoolers twist each dial on the caterpillar's tail and it goes straight ahead, turns left, turns right, plays music, and makes goofy sounds.
Kids build robots by joining cubes together, and control the creations via the app. Each cubelet has software inside with a specific function, so they change behavior depending on how kids assemble them.
The Best Robot Toys for Kids and Robotics for Kids
For kids who love Legos, here's a coding kit with 23 robotic parts that are fully compatible with traditional Lego bricks. Lego builders ready to up their game can combine the blocks with the interconnecting rods and parts, and build ever more functional and complex robots.
Fans of remote control cars will dig this badass rover. Why? Because it's ready to go right out of the box, and it levels up with your kid. Beginners just use the Sphero app to drive the RVR and give it directions. More experienced kids, ages 8 and up, can code with JavaScript. This thing works on just about any terrain, and its on-board sensors include a color sensor, light sensor, IR, magnetometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope.
Elementary schoolers use an iPad combined with handheld pieces to learn to match on-screen shapes, solve creative puzzles, practice math in an open-ended way, and hone their language skills. They can play solo, or in groups. The coolest aspect of this coding set is the ability to arrange wooden puzzle pieces to build intricate shapes.
A mythical coding robot toy, this one has kids program the creature's snout to change colors. It has 606 snap-together parts, two different sets of wings for customization, and works with the corresponding app.
This cute little programmable 'bot recognizes your kid. Sings to your kid. Talks to your kid. Tells your kid stories and teaches your kid about history and science. Answers questions. And dances on command.
It's a gorgeous classic toy train, but with smart features for savvy kids. Younger children play screen-free, just like with a regular toy train, and learn to control the smart train’s navigation and speed by using colored plastic tiles that snap on and off the tracks. If you do opt for screens, download the app and they can really go wild with the train by creating custom commands.
Star Wars fans, and there are a lot of them, will dig this coding toy, which lets them connect code blocks, see the JavaScript, learn about loops, logic, and variables, and get more powerful the more they train. Once kids connect the board, button, and bits, they move their hands to swing lightsabers, levitate X-wings, pilot starships, make lightning, and fight stormtroopers.
Kids built the robot of their dreams with these cubelets. They are little blocks of software inside little blocks of hardware and because block has a special function, how kids assemble their robot changes its behavior. Every single time.
This great set teaches electrical circuits with conductive and insulating dough, letting kids squish, mold, and sculpt the dough while learning about engineering and tech. This is better for older kids, because you need to be somewhat careful when using it.
The Bolt is the size of a baseball. It has an LED light matrix that lets kids program the robot to show characters, vector graphics, sensor data, or play games on the matrix itself. Coolest of all is BOLT’s built-in compass that allows kids to drive the robot, and program it to follow real-world directions on a map.
Kids construct the construction truck of their dreams, and then code it to do whatever they want. They can create buildable, codable robots like Dozerbot and Dirtbot or design their own. They then download the app and get step by step instructions on how to build the thing and make it work. They use the Blockly coding platform, which lets kids build and code these robots to perform programs and tricks.
We're not quite sure why this is a kit for girls. It's for anyone, period. You build a computer kit from scratch and wind up with a working device. The kit includes a keyboard, mouse, Raspberry Pi, 8 gig SD card with Raspbian OS, Scratch, Python, and Minecraft, as well as wires, circuits, resistors, buttons, LEDs, breadboard. It's WiFi-enabled but works without it.
The Best Lego Robotics Kits
Currently the most dope LEGO robotics kit you can buy, this one lets kids build walking, talking, and fully-functional robots that completes missions via the corresponding app. With five building options, this set is the opposite of boring.
Instead of a one-and-done (mostly) Lego set, kids stay continuously engaged with this set. They build three app-controlled Star Wars droids: R2-D2, a Gonk droid and a Mouse droid, each with their own personalities and skills. Then, they use the app to program the droids to go on increasingly difficult missions. This is suitable for kids eight and up.
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