DIY Telescope STEM Toy for Kids 8-14 Years

Moderate difficulty for a 9 year old. Took about an hour. Lots of fun to make and play with after. Parts are good quality. Not flimsy at all.

I got this as a Christmas gift for my 7yo and 10yo kids, who will be turning 8yo and 11yo in the next couple months. They both have enjoyed similar STEAM projects in the past, and I expected this would be right up their alley. My 10yo was the one who decided to tackle this activity, and I am so incredibly thankful that he was the one who chose it rather than my 7yo. There are a lot of small steps that require careful fine motor skills. He struggled, and he’s close to his 11th birthday. I can’t imagine my almost 8yo child pulling this off anytime in the near future. There are also a gazillion rubber bands. I wasn’t paying close attention to the steps as my 10yo worked through it, but there was a lot of ranting about how the smallest rubber band size kept flying out of his fingers. It’s been several days, and I’m still finding them in random spots near where he worked. Thankfully, the makers account for this by providing a ton of backup bands, so there was no shortage. It’s just a bit awkward to suddenly have tiny rubber bands all over the place. In the end, he got it done without my assistance, and he had a working telescope that was very cool. I’m not sure how much he tested the measurement aspects, but he was happy and proud of the work he had done, which is what I care about. In summary, this telescope STEM project is probably better for 10+ unless your kids excel with their fine motor skills, but it’s still a nice project with a working end result.

Great quality and a fun hands-on project! It was easy to build, educational, and kept my child engaged. A wonderful STEM activity that's both entertaining and rewarding.

Bought as a gift for my son. He enjoyed putting it together, had some difficulty with getting smaller pieces away from wood, but overall did well on his own. He had fun putting it together and enjoys using it now.

The Smartivity Telescope is a good concept, and the eco-friendly wood is a plus. However, the assembly can be a bit challenging for younger kids, and some parts seem a bit flimsy. It's a decent educational tool but requires patience and careful handling.

Bought this for my 10 yo son. This is an amazing find! Assembling was a fun experience, even for adults. And its now one of my sons favorite toys. It’s a good feeling to not add more “forever” plastic to this world or expose the kids to chemicals like BPA. This is a fun, educational and environmentally responsible choice. Looking forward to trying the other products from this vendor. This is what all toys should be like!

I got this for my 9 year old who loves building things. Unfortunately, he got very frustrated with the instructions as they weren’t nearly as easy to understand as Lego kits. With some help though he was able to build and use it. I think this is better for 10+ years old. The price is a bit high in my opinion.

Building the telescope herself give her understanding of how it works and respect to not abuse it. She's fascinated with her telescope. Will she play with it forever? Of course not. But, the goal of learning things was achieved. She wanted "help" to assemble it, but it just meant some quality time for me watching her do things and telling her, "Try it!" and "That's right..."

It’s not often a kid’s toy impresses me. I had low expectations for this but it knocked my socks off. The tolerances were surprisingly tight. They need to be for a sturdy object. A little patience helped get the pieces together as if it was machine built. The lenses leave a little to be desired but do the job. It is comfortable for my 6 year old to use, fun, can take a knock or two, and fun for both adults and kids alike. There are ample spare parts.

My daughter, who is 8 years old assembled alone and she really enjoyed assembling it and it’s a good start for the kids to explore STEM. The product is durable and the manual is very clear and easy to understand..The Quality of the very good. Thank you so much Smartivity for this amazing product..

The end product is overall good though small. Assembly takes about 20 minutes. Lens quality is good for a toy and considering the price. The finished product looks a weebit dull.

Amazing product. Very engaging. Will definitely buy more products.

Precision Engineered STEM project for curious young budding scientists, engineers, mathematicians! Just out of curiosity, I bought it for my six year grandson just to see how he likes it. He was thrilled to assemble 40% of telescope by himself just by reading steps in the nicely illustrated book. Just showed him one step and rest he wanted to do it on his own. Even he could tell the next step from the book and take out appropriate part for assembly. The math part was of course beyond him but still enjoyed final assembly. Overall excellent, value for money Educational Project.