Best inexpensive science toys and games

[unrepentant progress]

It's that time of the year, so I thought I'd ask DUers what their favorite inexpensive science toys and games are to give friends and families.

For the past couple of years I've been giving copies of Kerbal Space Program. It's a 100% non-violent game where kids of all ages can design and build spacecraft Lego-style, then use them to explore an entire solar system. It's also realistic enough where you can actually use it to learn pretty advanced physics and astrodynamics. I keep telling people you don't need to learn rocket science to enjoy the game, but if you do it only adds to the fun. And if you get bored with the stock game, there are all kinds of community created projects to modify and extend it.

So what are your favorites?

[daleanime]

1. Kick....

and bookmarked. Hoping to see some interesting choices. Have to check the first one out.

[unrepentant progress]

3. Thanks. I am too.

As I get older I'm losing touch with what's out there. Unless it's something like KSP that can appeal as much to middle-aged grumps as it does to tweens, I probably don't know about. Why, in my day we were given a box of rocks, told to build a wireless, and we liked it.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

4. You had rocks? We had to make do with our toenail clippings

[Thor_MN]

9. Toenail clippings? We dreamed of being able to clip our toenails.

Or having toes. We lived in a puddle in the middle of the road and naught but stumps as the puddles froze in winter. Toenail clippings, you lucky brats.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

10. Oh, we used to dream of living in a puddle with frozen stumps

Would have been a palace to us.

[misterhighwasted]

2. K&R

Very Cool Gift. Science!

[hunter]

5. A higher quality, rugged, pocket microscope.

Model rockets, preferably the kind that work with fire, but water rockets are good too.

A decent strain of champagne yeast to make mild beers, ciders, or ginger ales.

In general, any experimental science stuff that teachers and kids are forbidden to practice in school these days.

Cooking from scratch and organic gardening are pretty good places to start too.

"Chemistry sets" and most "science kits," the sort you find in the toy section of the department store these days, or even in the science museum, are far too mild.

But mostly BOOKS, BOOKS, and more BOOKS.

[unrepentant progress]

6. We agree here

"Chemistry sets" and most "science kits," the sort you find in the toy section of the department store these days, or even in the science museum, are far too mild.

Even the electronics kits are dumbed down.

Books are a given though, and I wasn't really thinking about the kits or sets.The kits and sets also tend to be quite expensive.

I was wondering if there are any specific inexpensive science toys or games people recommend -- things which are primarily intended to be fun, but also (intentionally or not) incorporate learning opportunities.

[hunter]

7. That's why I think the pocket microscope is a good one.

A microscope turns one's own skin into a strange alien landscape and ordinary insects and other invertebrates into creatures worthy of a horror film.

[unrepentant progress]

8. Oh, definitely

There are some decent low cost USB digital microscopes too. And for the truly precocious child, there's always the DIY scanning electron microscope (some assembly required).