My kids have enjoyed playing with an electronics kit for years, so I am including it as #10 in the countdown for the best open-ended toys ever. I’m judging open-ended toys based on the sheer number of hours my kids have spent with them, and the fact that they learn a lot while having fun. Because I have 3 boys and only one girl, I’ve used my top two favorite open-ended toys for girls in the countdown, from when I was a child growing up with 3 sisters. I spent literally hundreds of hours as a girl playing with my top two favorite toys. No other toys compare to those two girl toys, in my mind.
I’ve included toys for younger as well as older kids. This electronics experiment, for example, is for slightly older kids. This video shows the most fascinating experiment I’ve seen with the electronics kit, which is a piano made out of pencil lead. The circuit is completed because the lead of the pencil conducts electricity. Depending on where you place the wires, you hear a different sound!
This year all three of my boys played with their electronics kit more than any other toy.
