The best STEM toys for your baby or toddler

This cute little hedgehog is the perfect little pal to introduce your toddler to colour recognition, counting and matching skills. It comes with 12 coloured 'spikes' for your little one to push into his back, building their fine motor skills whilst having fun.

Review: "It's great for kids to learn to count and select different colours. My son loves taking the spikes out and putting them back in. A good toy which goes well with our collection."

One for the babies, this Fisher-Price Baby's First Blocks Rock-a-Stack is the perfect way to introduce your baby to the world of STEM. Learning to grasp, stack, and sort shapes is a great way to develop their problem-solving and fine motor skills from an early age.

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Review:** "Great for babies to hold and figure out how to get the blocks in the box and the rings on the holder. I had to take the ring holder away tho because baby was trying to eat the top of it and poses a safety risk if she fell forward and it went further down her throat!"

Introduce your young scientist to the concept of physics using the power of water play. This cute Yookidoo baby bath toy attaches to the side of the bath and is transparent, so your little one can see the water in action. They will watch in amazement as they pour water into the funnel and as it makes its way through the system, turning propellers, sprinkling from the sides, turning the gauge and making the googly eyes spin in excitement. This toy is sure to provide lots of bathtime fun.

Review: "Really fun bath toy. My daughter loves filling and pouring, and her skills have increased massively. Very entertaining for her and very durable. Sticks well to the wall."

This cute mushroom toy is perfect for little ones to learn numbers and colours whilst playing fun games and listening to music. There are eight colourful mushrooms that light up and play fun melodies and a light show when touched. Learn numbers by counting the white dots on the mushrooms and experiment with sounds by pressing the mushrooms like piano keys. There are also fun games to play, such as memory games and finding numbers and colours.

Review: "Bought this for my granddaughter's 1st Birthday. She immediately started pushing the mushrooms and loved the music. It's nice and light for her to hold and probably robust enough, but only time will tell! A good buy."

For future green-fingered gardeners, why not teach your little one about different flower parts, colours and gardening with this interactive gardening set? Your toddler can build different flowers, water them, and learn to recognise different colours with this beautiful toy.

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Review:** "This toy is colourful and attractive, very sturdy. My three-year-old granddaughter loved building the garden, and it's something she can rebuild again and again, different every time and more sets can be bought so her garden can grow and grow."

Toddlers and children just love building things, and this rainbow building block set will no doubt provide hours of fun. Watch as they build robots, towers and cars with the geometric shapes, promoting their cognitive development. Block play boosts brain development and encourages creativity and imagination.

Review: "The kids love this to play with, they can play for ages. The Ferris wheel is easy to put together and really fun to spin! You can make loads of different things with all the suggested shapes in the booklet. Comes with a nice bag to keep it all neat and tidy. Will definitely buy more to keep adding to the collection."

Your inquisitive tot will just love getting a closer look at their favourite things with their very own microscope. This fully functional microscope has two large eyepieces so that your child doesn't have to close one eye, and it has a focus adjuster so that they can focus on smaller objects. It even has an LED light so that they are sure not to miss any details.

Review: "I bought this for my grandson, whose 4yrs old, he absolutely loves it and uses it a lot. It's great value for money and sturdy for little hands to use. He also found it simple to use straight away, overall a great purchase."

Trains, rockets and helicopters - a toddlers' dream trio! Give your child an early introduction to the basics of engineering with this fab toy. It has chunky pieces, perfect for little hands to build either a space rocket, a helicopter or a train. It even comes with a little screwdriver to tighten up the bolts at the same time as building your little one's fine motor skills.

Review: "My nephew absolutely loved this. It is sturdy, excellent quality and great value for money. He never stops playing with it. Would highly recommend it for any child who likes to build etc."

Help your toddler learn to recognise numbers, count, and eventually learn basic maths with this bright and colourful Balance Math Game. It comes with 19 small frogs, 30 double-sided cards, 10 number models, one balance, one base, two weighing plates and an instruction manual. Your toddler will just love this interactive toy that promotes independent learning.

Review: "Fantastic for my toddler learning to count. The weight is equal to that of the frogs, so it's super visual in children understanding what a number represents."

Introduce your little one to the world of beginner's coding with this snazzy little caterpillar. It comes with eight segments that can be easily rearranged to make it go forwards, left, and right and play music and sounds. Your little love will have tons of fun whilst experimenting and developing important skills like critical thinking, planning and sequencing, and problem-solving.

Review: "The four-year-old loves it – and so does her little brother! While I'd like for it to have a volume control (it really is very loud), the sounds it makes are fun and engaging for the kids. They love watching this little guy wiggle his way across the room, and the four-year-old is already starting to understand the cause and effect of which codes she inputs and which obstacles are in the way."

Teach your little one about mechanics with this lovely, colourful wooden shape sorter. They will learn shape and pattern recognition and how gears work whilst exploring through play.

Review: "Beautifully boxed, attention to detail regarding presentation is excellent. Can't comment on the lookout quality of the items as I wrapped them for Christmas presents. However, I've been told the children loved the gifts. Would recommend these as a former teaching assistant as they teach hand-eye coordination, logical thinking, colour recognition, counting, and so much more."

Help your toddler to build their own robot with this lovely Sparklebot. It comes with 15 coloured bolts and a screwdriver, and once completed, they can unscrew them all and play again. It also comes with sparkly stickers to jazz up their robot after.

Review: "As described, brilliant toy and educational too. My daughter, aged 4 years old, plays with this for hours."