We evaluate STEAM toys on a pretty regular basis, to see if they might fit into the programs at Pongos Learning Lab. If the adults think they’re promising, we’ll let the kids try them, to make sure they’re not just educational, but also fun! We participate in some affiliate programs, so if you click on and purchase through any links in this post, we may earn a small commission.
In this edition of Toys We Tried, we’ll share Survive the Quake Engineering Kit . Want us to try a toy? Contact us to suggest one.
Survive the Quake Engineering Kit

This is a really fun kit! We bought it from Lakeshore Learning for our Little Learners Lab, and it has been a big hit.
It’s simple: build a structure that can withstand an earthquake. The kit comes with 30 plastic building blocks, an earthquake simulator, and a booklet with instructions and suggestions.
Lakeshore recommends this kit for ages 4-11, and we can confirm that is a great age range. We’ve watched kids as young as 3 play with it, but they sometimes don’t understand that the whole point is to try to build something that won’t get knocked down, and they get frustrated when their buildings fall after the simulator is started.