My favorite part of holiday shopping (for me, that refers to Christmas, insert your favorite winter holiday here) is the hunt for stocking stuffers. The requirements—cute, compact, not too pricey, instantly usable , and ideally (at least when my kids were younger) providing non-screen entertainment during holiday downtime. Even though my kids are getting too old to be interested in some really cool markers or colorful stickers, I still am a sucker for potential stocking stuffers.

So when Chibitronics pitched me on reviewing a STEM toy that would easily fit in a stocking and involves stickers and drawing in a scrapbook, I agreed to take a look.  And I have to say, they nailed my criteria—cute, compact, reasonably priced, and something you can start playing with right out of the package (without looking at video tutorials, although they exist)—no learning curve required.  Chibitronics seems to have the tween girl market pegged, without resorting to even a dab of pink.

Simply, Chibitronics is basic paper crafting (focused on greeting cards and scrapbooks) that involves electronics in the same way more traditional craft kits involve glitter. The starter package includes stickers, batteries, conductive tape, and a sort of combination sketch book, coloring book, and instruction manual in the style of classic craft kits from Klutz Press. The company offers four kinds of stickers—LEDs,…[Read more]