You think you have kids, but what you really have are little curiosity machines roving around your life, peeking, peering, prodding at the world, wondering how it works, how they fit into it, and what it might mean.

Education is fundamentally about nurturing the natural curiosity of tiny humans, and helping them make sense of their world, something that often gets overlooked or lost in our current goal-oriented education culture. To help restore some balance, and encourage your children to explore their world in new ways, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite learning tools.

You can call them extracurricular activities or learning tools if you want; your kids will just call them fun.

Be sure to check out our related pieces on gear for schooling from home, great educational games for kids, how to make remote learning work, and the growing digital divide in schooling.