Global Toy News Insight:
STEMPlay Labs reflects two major trends reshaping the global toy industry: the demand for screen-free educational play and the rise of locally developed toy brands with global ambitions. By combining a patent-pending construction system with curriculum-inspired learning products, the Chennai-based company is positioning itself at the intersection of STEM education, open-ended creativity, and the growing “Made in India” movement. As India’s educational toy market accelerates, brands that can pair meaningful learning with innovative design may find opportunities well beyond their domestic market.
Chennai’s STEMPlay Labs launches India made, screen free STEM toys built around a patent pending brick.
Mother of two takes on the imported toy aisle: Chennai’s STEMPlay Labs launches India made, screen free STEM toys built around a patent pending brick.
STEMPlay Labs, a direct to consumer children’s toy brand founded by edtech entrepreneur and mother of two Aditi Prasad, is making STEM toys designed to do one thing well: let children build real skills through play, with no screen involved.
At the heart of the range is WonderBriks, a construction system built on a patent pending side and centre locking mechanism. The bricks connect on their sides and through their centres, so a child can build outward and upward in directions that open up far more than simple stacking. The result is a toy with genuinely open-ended possibilities, where a five year old’s idea of a rocket, a robot or something with no name at all can all be built from the same box, and where spatial reasoning, problem solving and creativity get exercised without the child ever clocking it as learning.
Alongside it sits PictoMath, a series of visual math card games for ages six and up that turn numbers, patterns and logic into a game, building number sense and confidence before “math anxiety” has a chance to set in.
“Children learn best through play,” said Aditi Prasad, Founder of STEMPlay Labs. “A skill, a child discovers by building something themselves sticks in a way that instruction handed down never does. That is the whole idea behind everything we make. I’m a mother of two, and I wanted toys that would actually grow my kids’ thinking, made in India and built to last years of play. So we made them.”
The two brands are the start of a growing line. STEMPlay Labs’s toys expands across themes including space, vehicles, animals, magnetic building and pretend play, with ranges organised by age from three years upward and more products arriving through 2026. Every toy is designed to grow with the child and to pull siblings, friends, parents and grandparents into the same activity rather than scatter them across devices.
The founding team is not new to the field. Prasad, who also founded Indian Girls Code to bring STEM education to underprivileged girls, has spoken at TEDx, keynoted a UNESCO policy forum, and was named by the Government of Singapore as one of fifteen Young Societal Leaders globally.
The brand arrives as Indian parents increasingly seek out toys that develop their children. According to IMARC Group, India’s toy market was valued at around USD 2.09 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 4.74 billion by 2034, with educational and STEM toys among its fastest growing segments, in a country where close to a quarter of the population is under fourteen.
The company describes its approach as Swadeshi 2.0, Indian innovation built to international standards for families worldwide.
STEMPlay Labs toys are available at www.stemplaylabs.com.
About STEMPlay Labs
STEMPlay Labs is a Chennai based, direct to consumer children’s toy brand making screen free, open ended toys that build STEM skills and creativity in children aged three and up. Its brands include WonderBriks, construction sets built on a patent pending side and centre locking mechanism, and PictoMath, visual math card games, with a growing line of toys across themes and age groups. The company’s mission is to be a trusted partner for parents and educators raising curious problem solvers.
