You may not like my opinion, but I believe that all children learn through thorough PLAY. Like dirty hands and feet kind of play. Is this little girl shows interests in science/engineering then maybe Lego might be the way to go. My boys adored their Legos and I still buy them each a little set every Christmas. They are 29 now and engineers. When Alex was eight he always described his instruction as his "maps". It still makes me smile when I think of those Christmas mornings.

I just went to a workshop on building resilience in students and the horrible effects screens have on brains. She's 8, let her be a child. With screens comes depression and anxiety. Don't FEED this,the world will without your help!!! Legos/Kinex/erector sets/crafting of any kind will do her brain and social/emotional development worlds more than electronic ANYTHING.

"She does enjoy a lot of what I call young for her toys but I guess that is ok."

It's more than ok. It's also normal. Are there certain types of toys she prefers over others?

Since I never had a girl, I couldn't wait to buy dolls for DGD who is also 8. She is not into dolls, but loves Breyer horses. What began as one horse is now about 20, along with their big barn and accessories. Right now she wants to be a vet. lol.

OTOH, she loves fairies, so I got her everything to make a fairy garden with, and we did that in the flowerbed.

I love watching her play and using her imagination. She spends enough time as it is on her ipad.

I agree with what the others have said, but if she is showing interest in coding it certainly won’t hurt to give her a taste of it. My son got the Kano computing system. My honest review wouldn’t be wonderful. He likes it, but it isn’t his “go-to” toy. I liked that he built the computer, then could write simple code to modify his Minecraft game. We always had trouble getting it to connect to our Wi-fi (not sure if it was a Kano issue or a wi-fi issue though).

Just my 2-cents in case you come across Kano.

My son and his wife have Little Passports subscriptions for their children, who are 2.5 and 4.5. These are educational projects, based on age -- 3-5; 6-8; 9+

The kids love the surprise each month and thoroughly enjoy the projects. There are science, travel inspiration and other topics.

To be brutally honest, and as someone with some facility in the field, the coding toys are a bit of a gimmick, along the lines of Baby Einstein. It *sounds* more worthwhile than it is. Especially at eight, they simply need to play. Without screens as much as possible.

I started giving DGS (loves STEM camps at his Montessori school) a monthly subscription to KiwiCo. (This link gives you a $10 credit.) I started with a 6 months subscription (you can buy single) and just renewed for another 6 months. Almost 2yrs ago, I purchased this Snap Circuits kit after learning about it on a GW thread. He still loves it and I bought him another kit a year later. He just turned 7yo. I also have a 6yo DGD. She is a big reader, loves dress up, dolls and Legos. She recently began to be seriously interested in art projects.

Thank you all

Louise: She has lego galore and we are running out of room to display all the sets. She enjoys her legos very much.

arcy: What I am looking at is no screens

Oakley: I hear you, she loves her dolls, horses and calico critters. she also made a fairy garden which is hanging in the garden.

amj: I will look into the Kano, thanks.

Mtn: I am looking at these with no screen activity. I think that is why I need advice on the different models. See my link to follow.

JTerr: I also will look into your suggestions, they all sound great.

Here is my link, if I can get this to work for my idea on coding for her. No screen time.

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Botley-Coding-Activity/dp/B077MRB975/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1538572433&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=botley+coding+robot&psc=1

I was going to suggest one of the many DIY robot kits for kids.

Here's a sample from Target:

https://www.target.com/s/build%20kids%20robot%20kit?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=msn&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=Toys_Figure%2BPlayset%2BRobotics&adgroup=Robot_1&LID=700000001175707p8678673226&LNM=build+kids+robot+kit&MT=b&network=s&device=c&querystring=build+a+robot+kit+for+kids&msclkid=edd253291fb0126547b3089dca80f7e0&gclid=CJG9kdDA6t0CFQ9PgQod7o8CHg&gclsrc=ds&facetedValue=5zl3x&Nao=0

justterrilynn: How would you compare nanoblocks to Lego.?

Allison: thank you for that link.

Carolb: so many choices, I am in Canada so am trying to find similar things.

My grandson loved coding, but he did it at school. His sister (2 years younger) loved anything to do with art. We bought ADULT art supplies, carbon pencils, colored pencils, water color paints, brushes, art pads, etc. The only thing we didn't get was oil paints. (clean up problems). She loved it.

Snap circuits are fun

Does she have k'nex? My kids were big into building, and that was one of their favorites. K'nex allows you to build moving things like ferris wheels. K'nex Building Sets

My DGD got a snap circuits kit for her 7th birthday and couldn't stop playing with it. First of all, it's easy to follow the instructions and then there's the immediate gratification that comes when the circuit works. As for coding type games, she has never followed the instructions for those games but made up her own rules.

Lyban, I think I just like the more retro look and size of the Nanos but they function in a similar way to Lego's. My grandmother had a humongous collection of larger than lego blocks back in the sixties when I was a child. I'm not sure how long she had them before that. There were all sorts of things in that collection for buildings like slat roofs, windows, doors etc. there were hard plastic trees and fences as well. I spent hours and hours with those blocks. The Nanos can be added on with adult Nano kits.

FWIW people with CS degrees do not tend to buy their children such toys. The key to programing is logic, not starter programing kits. I would focus on toys that are open ended and allow the child to direct the play, not the toy.

Here is an article about the importance of free play for children from the Bing preschool at Stanford.

https://bingschool.stanford.edu/news/play-based-learning-common-core-era