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Summer break is coming, and so is the risk of learning loss. While summers offer a much-needed and well-deserved break from the classroom, kids still need stimulation. This is the perfect time for kids to try new things, learn something they’re actually interested in, expand their minds with unique experiences, and have fun doing it. Even better, you don’t even need to leave the house (which is extra good news for parents who still have to work this summer).

These boredom-busting gadgets help keep kids off screens and away from summer brain rot. They’re designed to engage young minds, keep hands busy, and encourage learning without making them feel like they’re back in a classroom. They might even get a little exercise in the process. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll prefer these toys and tech over Netflix and video games. If you’re ready to kill summer boredom before it even starts, check out this list of fun gadgets for kids of all ages.

Yes, it looks like a screen. That should be enough to pique your kids’ interest, but beyond looking like a tablet, the Buddha Board Enso couldn’t be more different. While regular screens emit blue light and strain the eyes, the Buddha Board is meant to relax and calm. It plays on the ancient practice of water painting, a minimalist art style that requires almost nothing to get started. The idea is to allow the simplicity to unleash pent-up creativity.

Unlike tablets and laptops, the Buddha Board doesn’t need electricity or charged batteries to work. It uses a brush as its stylus and water as its paint. Just dip, stroke, and watch your art come to life. There’s no ink, no chemicals, and no mess. Plus, it’s reusable: The water will eventually fade, and your burgeoning artist can create as much as they like. And no, you won’t need to make room on your refrigerator for all their extra art. That’s part of what makes it eco-friendly. It’s available on Amazon for $24.95.

For some parents, getting their kids to read during the summer is about as easy as wrestling a raccoon in a Walmart parking lot. But going two months without reading anything will take a toll once your kids finally do go back to school. One happy medium that parents and kids can agree on is the Yoto Mini Audio Player. Instead of reading a book word-for-word, kids can listen to their favorite stories via the audio player (and go screen-free in the process).

The Yoto Mini Audio Player uses cards that insert directly into the machine. The company has some of the most popular titles that kids are actually interested in, along with musicals and soundtracks like “The Sound of Music” and “K-Pop Demon Hunters”. While they’re not exactly building on their reading skills, they do get to hone their listening skills (another essential for kids) and exercise their comprehension and recall. Like the full-sized version, the Yoto Mini is portable and can travel with you on your summer adventures. It provides audiobooks without the internet in a device that travels. And as an added bonus, it can also double as an alarm clock and sound machine. It’s available for $79.99.

Remember the classic balsa-wood airplanes you could put together from a kit and fly over and over until they broke? Kids today still enjoy the same kits, but now they can fly them with a little extra power. PowerUp’s airplane conversion kits, like the StarFlux Balsa Wood Airplane Kit, turn the average balsa glider into a high-speed flying machine. The materials and construction will feel familiar. But these kits also come with a Bluetooth module that adds app-controlled turbo speed.

Kids still get the joy and satisfaction of building their own plane. The RC aspects add an extra layer of fun by giving them longer ranges and flight times. The remote-controlled system can also transform into a traditional paper airplane, so there’s no excuse to be bored this summer. And while they’ll need some screen time to take advantage of the app, they’re also learning about aerodynamics and engineering in the process.

Skylight built its original smart calendar for busy adults juggling a million tasks and schedules. Its next iteration, the Skylight Buddy, focuses on the kids responsible for those million tasks and schedules. With a limited beta release occurring this spring, this tabletop device acts as a personal coach for kids, especially when they’re home for the summer. It guides kids through daily tasks using timers, prompts, and reminders. This way, moms and dads don’t have to nag their kids a hundred times to feed the pets or put up their laundry.

The device can manage everything from chores to morning routines to evening wind-downs. It also lets you assign star values to each task, kind of like a digital reward chart, so kids can track their progress. The goal of Skylight Buddy is twofold: To reduce overparenting and to teach kids responsibility. The summer offers the ideal training ground for this since kids usually have more free time and fewer obligations. The Buddy reduces the mental load for parents and caregivers while kids enjoy a balance of freedom and ownership.

Teaching kids to code is becoming more and more common. But for the most part, learning to code relies heavily on screens and software programs. For parents wanting to get away from excess screen time and keep the learning going, CodeeBots offers an alternative. It’s a screen-free coding system that uses physical pieces that snap together to perform different functions. Think AI tutor meets real building blocks. 

Kids learn to code by physically interacting with their project. The kit can do everything from controlling robots to building light paths, and even perform practical tasks like opening curtains or operating a soap dispenser. Each piece in the kit serves a clear and distinct purpose, such as adjusting light brightness, distance, or motion. There’s also an option for kids to press a button and ask what’s wrong with their code when something fails to work, so the learning can continue even when it’s outside the parent’s comfort zone. It’s suited for kids ages 4 to 12 and is available via the CodeeBots website.

The simple water gun is one of the most classic children’s toys out there. They come in all shapes, colors, and sizes, but one thing is always the same: They offer endless hours of summer fun. If your kiddos are serious about their water gun wars, the SpyraFour Water Blaster Gun might be right up their alley. Its massive size alone looks intimidating, and its 50-foot range adds to the terror. Unsuspecting parents or siblings never saw it coming.

Aside from its size and power, this unique water gun is made to deliver fun for hours. It runs on a rechargeable battery that you can quickly charge via a USB-C port. One of its best features is its auto-refill. Instead of aiming a gushing water spigot into a tiny hole like most water guns, this one lets you automatically fill a tank simply by submerging it in water for a few seconds. Then you’re ready to go back to the water war. The SpyraFour Water Blaster is available in red or blue for $169.

The Fotorama Alien Vision Shooting Game is like next-level hide and seek, except this time, you don’t need a partner. Kids can don the included VR-style headset, which turns their surroundings into an alien hunt. Aliens appear on the headset screen, and kids use the included wrist shooter to target the aliens. When you get a hit, the alien roars to let you know it’s been defeated.

The fun part for kids is hunting and shooting aliens. But the fun part for parents is that kids are on their feet and actively moving during the game. They never know when an alien will appear out of nowhere, so they’ll need to look everywhere and be ready at all times. Meanwhile, all that movement and gameplay will build hand-eye coordination and motor skills while having fun. The Fotorama Alien Vision Shooting Game has earned more than 800 Amazon reviews and an average rating of 4.1 stars. It’s available for $29.99.

The problem with most screen time is that it’s passive. Kids sit in awkward positions staring at smartphones, tablets, or TVs, either doomscrolling or watching one episode after another with no break. It takes a toll on their posture just as much as their minds, and these are only some of the reasons that screen time gets a bad rap. But screens can also be productive, depending on how you use that time.

One option is the Nex Playground. This interactive video game console uses a screen, so it’s technically considered screentime. But it also gets kids (and their adults) on their feet and into the action, without the mindless scrolling or binge-watching. The console includes five interactive games and a built-in camera that tracks your movements as you hit, slice, jump, and move your way through them. The camera tracks your body’s natural movements, and every game requires active participation. It’s a console that can also double as an exercise tool, allowing your kids to use their screen time wisely. The console is $299 on Amazon, and additional optional subscriptions for more games start at $49.

3D printer projects are growing in popularity, but many kids just aren’t ready for a full-sized machine. There’s definitely a learning curve to printing with filaments. A better option might be a handheld 3D printing pen, like the 3Doodler Start+ on Amazon. It feels familiar to kids with its pen-like look and feel. And since there are no hot parts involved, parents can feel better about giving them to their kids.

Like regular 3D printers, the 3Doodler Start+ uses plastic colored filaments that melt when they get hot. The melted plastic comes out of the tip of the pen in a way that lets them draw without making a mess. The only limit is their imagination: They can create 3D designs that bring their sketches to life or even make new toys to play with over and over again. This kit comes with the 3Doodler Start+ pen, a doodle mat, 72 colored strands, and an instruction guide. It’s available on Amazon for a regular price of $59.99.

At first glance, the Sphero Mini Golf Coding Robot looks like a regular golf ball. But it can do so much more than roll across the floor. It’s a coding robot, so kids can program it to do other things. For example, it can navigate homemade obstacle courses and double as a game controller. It can star in mini golf challenges and even teach beginner coding skills. And none of it feels like doing school work.

The golf ball comes with an app, so yes, there will be some amount of screen time involved. But instead of doomscrolling or mind-numbing AI videos, the app teaches kids useful skills, like coding and writing JavaScript. Parents love this toy because it works for nearly any age: Younger kids can drive it around using remote controls or joysticks, while older kids can experiment with drag-and-drop coding. It’s compact enough to bring on family road trips or vacations. And a 4.6-star average rating across more than 5,500 reviews speaks to a positive experience by users. If kids are going to get screentime anyway, they might as well learn something useful, too. The Sphero Mini Golf Coding Robot is on Amazon for $50.

We had a few requirements in mind when we started exploring tech toys that could help cure boredom over the summer break. First, it needed to have some form of tech element to it, ideally something without a screen (or at least where the screen wasn’t the essential center of focus). It also needed to be something that most kids could use independently. That means user-friendly, intuitive, and not a ton of pieces or steps. And if it does need adult setup, ideally, it’s a one-time thing, and the kids can take it from there. 

We also chose items that had practical elements. For example, many of the items on this list require kids to move around or use critical thinking or creativity. They’re playing and learning at the same time. There’s no better way to put boredom in its place.