Smartivity DIY Robotic Mechanical Hand STEM Toy for Kids 8-9-10-11-12-13-14 Years Old | Parents Choice Award Winner I Birthday Gift for Smart Kids | Engineering Kit for 8-14 Years Old Boys & Girls

The media could not be loaded. I bought the Smartivity Hydraulic Plane Launcher as a Father’s Day gift, hoping my husband and the kids could enjoy some quality hands-on time together. It ended up being mostly my husband and me assembling it, but our son did sneak in here and there to help with some of the steps. We all had a great time!The instructions are clear, and the laser-cut wooden pieces are impressively high quality. Assembling it is part of the fun, and the clever hydraulic system using syringes and tubing makes it even more interesting to build.Once everything was put together, it became a launching station for both paper airplanes and darts! The kit includes printable paper plane templates, and the launching mechanism is surprisingly robust. Quick tip: You need to reset the plane launcher to its lower position (by pulling back the syringe) before each launch to retract the holding mechanism.This project seamlessly blends play and learning. It’s a hands-on introduction to hydraulics, physics, and basic engineering. The kids benefited from our hard work—they spent hours launching planes and darts across the room. It’s genuinely fun for both kids and adults.Highly recommend this kit for families seeking a creative, screen-free activity that offers both bonding and learning opportunities.

My son built this mostly by himself. The instructions were pretty well put together and the material are well built. It took him a couple of hours from start to finish and he’s having a blast playing with it. Great for kids to learn to build and understand mechanics.

Super cool hand that was good to do with a 10 year old. Some parts are hard to assemble alone, given how tiny rubber bands are and many different parts, plus difficult to pop some parts out of the sheets they come in, but a great activity to build together that takes 1.5 - 2 hours. The instructions are easy to follow and the back of the instruction book has great educational lessons and activities! The 10 year old who got this couldn't wait to play, and it fit decently (her hands were a bit too small but it functioned)--she wore it for hours and loves playing with it.

My son loved this project! Works great for a science fair idea. Kept him occupied for about 2 days while taking breaks. He's excited to show off his mechanical hand and explain how it works.

My 10 year old enjoyed building it. Would have given five stars, but the pinky broke pretty quickly and even though super glued it.Still wouldn’t stay together

I bought the Smartivity DIY Robotic Mechanical Hand for my 11-year-old son’s birthday, and it was by far the gift he was most excited about. He’s a big fan of Legos, but this kit offered a totally different and refreshing experience. The assembly process was engaging and just challenging enough to keep him focused and entertained. What we loved most is that, unlike many building kits that just sit on a shelf once completed, this one can actually be played with afterward, adding extra value and fun. A fantastic gift for any kid who enjoys building and hands-on projects. Highly recommend!

Got this for a 7yr old and he thought it was the greatest thing ever! Really helped him focus and it’s amazing to hear his imagination while playing with this.

My 7 year old and I really enjoyed putting this together. I helped to walk him through the easy to understand directions, step by step, and do some of the more repetitive tasks on the fingers, but he was able to do most of it independently. We spent a whole day on it! It offered us some great quality time and a fun homeschool STEM activity. That is a win in my book!It's actual functionality is somewhat limited. I have long, slender hands and my palms were too big to fit in the hand. My son's hand fits much better, but the thumb is a little glitchy and uncomfortable. (He ended up cutting the felt to try to make it more comfortable, but that gave him less control of the articulation of it.)Overall, this is a solid toy and would make a great gift. He got this for his birthday and was super excited about it. He tends to love all things somewhat robot related. We do a lot of Kiwi boxes and this is definitely more sturdy than the things we make with the subscription kits.