“Any girl you know is so much more than just a princess.”
Goldie Blox are engineering toys designed especially to appeal to little girls. Even better, they are engineering toys with books! Check out this awesome video to learn more:
Debbie, the creator and CEO of Goldie Blox, is an engineering student at Stanford. In the video she says that it never occurred to her parents to buy her toys like LEGOs or K’Nex or Lincoln Logs and that she didn’t even know what engineering was until her senior year in high school. Recognizing a lack of construction toys designed for girls (and not just colored pink), she set out to design one herself. After researching how to get girls interested, she discovered that reading was the key. So not only did she design a construction toy for girls, she designed a construction toy that involves reading in order to play!
Growing up I struggled with the fact that I was girly, but I also had “boy” interests. I loved playing Barbies and house as much as I loved playing with my cousin’s toy cars and action figures. As I got older, I discovered I was good at math and loved science and computer games. Around this time I started having fewer girl friends and more of my friends were boys. Maybe if I’d had access to toys like this I wouldn’t have felt so stuck in between two worlds. Or maybe I would have had more girl friends because they also liked math and science and we would have been able to bond around that in addition to clothes and boys.
We desperately need more “boy” toys designed for girls, as well as more “girl” toys designed especially for boys. I would love to see a toy that teaches young boys how to take pride in being a good dad to a doll and taking care of the house. Because then we can move on to toys that are just plain good for kids, no matter their gender.
Sources: Upworthy, Goldie Blox
