8 Best STEM Subscription Boxes of 2026

CrunchLabs Build Box sends one engineering toy a month to kids aged 8 to 13, and each one is designed around a single principle. The examples CrunchLabs shows include a disc launcher that uses a flywheel, a boomerang car driven by a worm gear and a paper airplane launcher built on springs. Kids follow step-by-step instructions, play with the finished toy, then watch a video from Mark Rober that explains the physics behind it. CrunchLabs says the lessons cover projectile motion, momentum transfer, hydraulics and mechanical engineering basics. Pricing is the strongest of the engineering boxes we compared: $27.45 per box on the annual prepaid plan, which totals $329.40 with free US shipping, or $29.95 per box if you pay monthly on an annual commitment. The trade-offs are the up-front payment for the lowest price and a narrow subject range: there is no chemistry, biology or art. Families with a younger child can look at the CrunchLabs Creative Kit for ages 6 to 10, and teens can move to Hack Pack.

KiwiCo runs the largest set of lines on this list: Panda Crate for 0 to 36 months, crates for ages 3 to 6 and 6 to 9, Tinker Crate for 9 to 12, and Eureka and Maker crates for ages 12 and up. Tinker Crate is the line most parents mean by a STEM box. KiwiCo calls it a laboratory for hands-on STEM projects, and each crate includes instructions, ways to play, bonus challenges and the parts for one build, with videos and activity ideas online. Example projects on the page include a Mega Hand whose jointed fingers move when you gesture and a remote control Delivery Bot. The regular price is $30 per crate with free US shipping, and KiwiCo often runs codes that lower the first crates, so the price you pay may differ. You can switch lines or cancel anytime. It ranks just behind CrunchLabs because the regular per-crate price is higher, but no other brand lets one family stay with a single service from the toddler years to the teens.

MEL Science is the most lab-like option on this list. Parents choose from five subjects, each with an age floor: STEM from 5, Math and Physics from 8, Chemistry from 10 and Medicine from 14, and can mix subjects or add kits for a second child. MEL says it offers more than 100 hands-on kits and more than 50 digital experiences, and the app walks kids through each experiment with interactive video instructions, with VR and AR lessons on top. Safety is documented in its FAQ: kits comply with US CPSC requirements for educational sets, the chemistry kits use substances on the European EN 71-4 list, and none include explosives. Pricing starts at $29.90 per month, and the annual plan gives 12 months for the price of 8. The limits are the age floors, which make it a poor fit under 8 outside the STEM line, and the reliance on the app for instructions. Kits cannot be bought one at a time.

Little Passports Science Expeditions is built for kids 8 and up who like their experiments to come with a story. The first package includes experiments, activities and a lab notebook, and every later month brings a new theme with hands-on experiments, activities and a comic book that follows the characters Sam and Sofia. Little Passports names slime, a pinball machine and a catapult as examples, and its Pinball Party kit has kids build and decorate a working pinball machine while learning physics and geometry. Kids collect badges as they go. The price starts at $25 per month with free shipping, which is the lowest starting price among the science-only boxes we compared, though it requires the 12-month plan; the monthly plan on the sister Science Junior line is $32. Little Passports says the content is developed with a panel of parents and educators and tested with children. Families who want heavier chemistry should look at MEL Science instead.

Most science boxes on this list start at age 8, and Little Passports Science Junior covers the years before that. It is designed for ages 5 to 8, and each monthly kit explores a science theme, with coral reefs, robots and nocturnal animals named as examples, using experiments and comics. Pricing is published in US dollars for all three plans: $32 per month month to month, $27 per month billed $162 every 6 months, and $25 per month billed $300 every 12 months, all with free shipping. You can cancel or pause anytime, and Little Passports suggests moving up to Science Expeditions after 24 months, which keeps the same characters and format for kids 8 and up. The trade-off is depth: projects are simpler than CrunchLabs or MEL Science by design. For a 5 or 6-year-old who is just learning to read instructions, that is the point.

Green Kid Crafts packs more separate activities into a box than anything else on this list: 4 to 6 STEAM projects plus a 12-page magazine that guides the learning. There are two lines. The Discovery Box is for ages 5 to 10+ and leans toward science experiments, while the Junior Box is for ages 3 to 5 and has more craft than science, in the company's own words. Themes named on the site include Shapes and Structures, Solar System and Rainforest Science. Prices run from $39.95 per box month to month down to $31.95 per box on a 12-month plan, and every box adds $4.95 for US shipping, so the real 12-month cost is $36.90 per box. The company was founded by an environmental scientist and describes itself as a sustainable business. It ranks below the engineering boxes because individual projects are smaller, and the shipping fee makes it pricier than Little Passports.

Raddish Kids is the outlier here: a cooking subscription rather than a science kit, included for families whose kids learn measuring, timing and cause and effect best in the kitchen. Each Cooking Club kit holds 3 illustrated, step-by-step recipe guides with skill lessons, laminated for durability, plus a kitchen tool, a creative kitchen project, an apron patch and Table Talk conversation cards. Baking and Global Cooking clubs follow the same format. Raddish sends grocery shopping lists for each kit. Plans cost $28.95 month to month, $25.95 per month on 6 months and $22.95 per month on 12 months, all with free US shipping and Raddish+ digital access, which makes it the cheapest box on this list. A Sibling Bundle adds a second tool and patch for $5 a month. It ranks seventh because it does not teach engineering or lab science directly, and recipes need adult supervision.

Lovevery Play Kits are not a science box, but they are the most common answer for parents who want a structured, hands-on subscription before a child is old enough for experiments. Each kit is timed to a developmental window and includes playthings, books and The Play Guide, with week-by-week tips and activity ideas. In the first year a kit arrives every 2 months for $88; from age 1 to age 4 a kit arrives every 3 months for $132. Lovevery describes the 2-year-old kits as teaching early STEM lessons and the 4-year-old kits as practicing executive function skills such as planning ahead and critical thinking. Playthings are tested through hundreds of hours of play studies and made with natural materials, the company says. The cost works out to about $44 a month, the most on this list, and the kits end at 5. Move to Little Passports Science Junior or Green Kid Crafts after that.