GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
kickstarter.com
GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
1–10 of 113 posts
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#2I can't figure out if this is a good idea because it encourages girls to explore traditionally male-dominated activities, or a bad thing because it reinforces the idea that traditional construction toys are intended for boys.
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#3[deleted]
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#4I'm somewhat reminded of an ill-fated attempt by the European Commission to attract girls to science with a music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g032MPrSjFA
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#5I get the desire for narrative and different colors...but this looks awfully simple-minded. Why can a boy age 5-9 play with erector sets and legos, but a "girl's" engineering toy must comprise such a primitive set of components?
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#6I couldn't figure out from the video what the "game dynamic" is of this toy. I see that one arranges the spindles so that the animals spin when the ribbon is pulled.
Is the pattern a puzzle for the kids to solve? Do the kids follow along based on the patterns shown in the story?
Either way, exciting concept. I wish they explained the game itself though.
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#7Can't hate, I love it. Even the pink and cuddly bits. If this product instead had a blue ribbon and alien figurines with the title "Cyber Drivetrain Blast Kit" it wouldn't raise an eyebrow as a gendered or pandering toy.
Legos are for boys when 95% of what's on the Lego shelf is boy pirates, boy laserbros, boy Batman, boy bio-alien-robots tearing the shit out of boy bio-dino-robots, etc.
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#8Can't hate, I love it. Even the pink and cuddly bits. If this product instead had a blue ribbon and alien figurines with the title "Cyber Drivetrain Blast Kit" it wouldn't raise an eyebrow as a gendered or pandering toy. Legos are for boys when 95% of what's on the Lego shelf is boy pirates, boy laserbros, boy Batman, boy bio-alien-robots tearing the shit out of boy bio-dino-robots, etc.
My girls LOVE legos. They have a few of the new 'pink' ones but mostly play with our 20 year old lego collection. They don't think of the girly legos as 'real legos', for whatever reason.
It _is_ disheartening to go into a lego store and see almost solely boy-oriented sets, though. I note kids in Lego stores are roughly 60/40 boys / girls, but the sets are boyish.
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#9I can't figure out if this is a good idea because it encourages girls to explore traditionally male-dominated activities, or a bad thing because it reinforces the idea that traditional construction toys are intended for boys.
I think it accepts the fact that traditional engineering toys are boy oriented, and adds a girl oriented toy to the market. Seems less about changing prevailing attitudes and more about using presenting cool stuff about engineering to girls who have probably already been impacted by those attitudes.
In any case, I signed up for a couple boxes for my daughters.
Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls
#10Can't hate, I love it. Even the pink and cuddly bits. If this product instead had a blue ribbon and alien figurines with the title "Cyber Drivetrain Blast Kit" it wouldn't raise an eyebrow as a gendered or pandering toy. Legos are for boys when 95% of what's on the Lego shelf is boy pirates, boy laserbros, boy Batman, boy bio-alien-robots tearing the shit out of boy bio-dino-robots, etc.
So only 15% of girls liking engineering is a problem, but girls not liking pirates, batman and bio-alien-robots isn't? Where is the movement to get girls interested in bio-alien-robots?