Right after you build your own working medieval catapult or trebuchet. All you’ll need is glue, scissors and a steady hand (plus a small bag of marbles or rocks or something as a counterweight for the trebuchet) to construct these wooden, Canadian-made siege engine kits. The catapult stands 6” tall x 5” wide x 10” long and will toss assorted stuff 15 feet or farther, depending upon the stuff. The finished trebuchet will be 26” long x 18” wide x 24” tall and will propel small objects (meatballs?) 20 feet or more. Both include detailed instructions and are great resources for STEM activities. For ages 9+. Note: Please don’t propel small mammals, and please don’t put anyone’s eye out.

Make a whole bunch of fun and instructive Lego® machines/chain reaction models like marble runs and mousetraps involving ramps, buckets, funnels balances and much more. Comes with (33) Lego® elements, (6) Lego® balls, a dozen paper props, and a 78-page instruction booklet for (10) machines. You add a few common household items. Includes suggestions for more complicated devices if you have your own Lego® pieces, and if you don't, what are you waiting for? Ages 8+.

This Lego® set from Klutz has (58) pieces, including gear wheels, bricks, axles and connectors to build (11) gadgets, including a claw, catapult, assorted vehicles, robots, a fan and a hand-held blender thingy. Includes a 78-page manual with detailed instructions and a plethora of punch-out paper parts for added verisimilitude. For ages 8+, or anyone else who knows what plethora and verisimilitude mean.

Lego® goes crazy with this 100+ piece kit with everything you need to build (16) different contraptions (be pretty stupid if they made 16 of the same contraption) for your amusement. In the mix are gears, pulleys, belts and axles, which you could turn into a rocket racer, Lego® launcher, donkey cart or scissor grabber, among other things. Includes a 50-page spiral-bound graphically illustrated instruction booklet. And, yes, adding Lego® pieces of your own just ramps up the fun. For ages 7+.

Wood or wooden you like to never see another pun on wood or wooden? Too bad--we’re not even trying to quit. Meanwhile, you can select your favorite from our collection of wooden automatons that you crank to move, all made from laser-cut pieces that you peg or glue together. You pick: the wooden clapping monkey, approx 6" x 3" when assembled; the wooden wiggling fish, 10-1/4” x 8-1/4” x 4-3/8”; or the wooden drummer drumming, 6-3/4” x 4-1/4” x 2-3/4”. All come with instruction booklets, glue, sandpaper and wax, and are for ages 9+.

Snap Circuits™ has added Brics, their name for little plastic building blocks that are, luckily, compatible with those other little, inerlocking plastic building blocks you have. This award-winning 200-piece Bric Structures set has sheets and blocks plus Snap Circuits connectors, blinking and steady LEDs, a slide switch, a fiber-optic bundle, an incandescent bulb and a melody integrated circuit, along with adapter blocks to mate the Snap Circuits components with the brics. Has instructions to make (26) electrified models, including a house and a tower, on the 10” x 5” base. You add a trio of “AA” batteries. For ages 8+. Winner of Six Toy of the Year Awards!

Nice little pulley unit kit includes (1) pulley each at 50, 30, 25 and 20mm and (3) pulleys at 11mm, plus myriad bushings, a 3VDC motor, (2) belts and a belt guide, base, mounts and assorted hardware. Includes graphic assembly instructions, plus a couple of rudimentary drawings with suggested projects. It's a mechanical science project waiting for a home.

Sounds like a Europop group, but it’s actually your new tumbling pet. Also bristles his spines, rolls, spins and scurries. He’ll be a tad bigger than a baseball when assembled. The prewired circuitry is triggered by an audio sensor that will make him do multiple tricks when you applaud, and who else do you know who’ll do that? The solderless assembly, with over (170) parts, might be a tad challenging for the listed 7-10+ age, so we suggest some supervision. From Thames & Kosmos. You add (4) “AAA”s. (And he’s a hedgehog, so don’t expect him to share the hedge if you have one.)

In the mood for a little light levitation? Try this magnet-based kit from KidzLabs® and make a pencil float in mid-air or tell your fortune, all through the captivating power of magnets. You can even build a mag-lev robot, and who doesn't want one of those? The (7) projects are based on the (7) plastic-coated, 1-5/16" dia bored disc magnets and assorted other parts. Projects include anti-gravity sculpture, floating spinner, magnetic compass, spring and weight scale, propelling machine and a mag-lev transporter.

Cleverly made, and mighty heuristic, too. For someone entranced by hydraulics, or for a whole classroom of students, there's the Pathfinders 4-In-1 teaching kit, with 4 different hydraulic-system kits that use unfinished wood, transparent tubing, and plastic syringes, which power the movement. The mini models include an excavator, scissors lift, cherry picker, and platform lifter. Bases are approx 4" x 7" and finished heights vary, thanks to those syringes! Very clever teaching tools for ages 8 and up.