When Caileigh was little, she would have loved toys that taught Engineering ideas but were geared for girls. She was (and is) a very curious girl so she just joined the boys in their toys but she also loves colors and is artistic so prettier toys would have appealed to her. This summer she wrote, designed and planned a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Camp for Girls. She and her best friend taught about Serpinski triangles and then they and the girls made a colorful, giant 12ft by 11ft Serpinski triangle. She taught them about Fibonacci Numbers and them she had them trace with glitter glue Fibonacci spirals in pinecones, flowers, pineapples and fruit. They built vibrating art robots and showed how flowers use water by using food colors and carnations. They helped the girls be curious about the world around them all while showing how beautiful it is as well. The girls were intrigued and engaged.
Later, Caileigh and I were talking about getting younger girls interested in STEM. She specifically wanted to figure out how to encourage her two young cousins who are 5. We both feel that it is vitally important to encourage girls to think and play in STEM realms. We often just encourage our boys in STEM fields but our girls need more purposeful encouragement because the world doesn’t naturally encourage them to pursue these fields. We talked about getting them toys like she had when she was little but she really wanted to get toys that were girl oriented and we went into a toy store and there they were, the perfect toys.
They all feature girl action dolls who are engineers and they teach different skills and ideas. There’s Goldie Blox and the Zip Line which teaches about suspension. Or Goldie Blox Craft-Struction Box which has ideas for a ton of projects and introduces the idea of prototyping. There are many more sets, each designed to introduce and teach girls engineering concepts during play. I think I have several nieces who will be really happy come birthday and Christmas time. I think they will be extra happy because I know that their favorite people, their cousins Connor, Caileigh and Collin will be more than happy to get on the floor and play with these toys with them. I also think these might be great gifts or toys for Dads to play with girls. I know my husband would be more willing (okay let’s be honest, I would be more willing too) to play with these then to sit and play dolls.
