I tell Kate all the time that she should major in engineering in college. You know why? Because people with engineering degrees get jobs. Good ones. That pay a lot of money.
To be honest, though, engineering isn’t really on her radar (not that she’s quite ready to choose of vocation at the ripe old age of 10, but still). And she’s not alone – girls are losing interest in math and science as young as age eight, and right now, only 14 percent of engineers are female.
Remember what I said about jobs and money? We are losing out. More importantly, engineers literally build our world; having female perspective and input in how that should look is critical.
For anyone who has ever walked down toy aisles, the origin of this phenomenon is pretty clear – toys designed for boys encourage them to build and create, and toys designed for girls, well, don’t.
Enter GoldieBlox.
GoldieBlox’s mission is to help girls stay interested in engineering and technology past age eight by creating toys and books that they’ll love. GoldieBlox is a series of interactive books and construction sets that help them develop and build spacial skills while having fun.
Kate (and Sam – he had to get in on the action too) had a chance to check out GoldieBlox earlier this week.
In this set, Goldie’s dog Nacho needs a bath. He hates taking a bath, though, so Goldie’s solution is to take him to the carnival and put him in the dunk tank. As kids read along with the story, they build a dunk tank – and develop problem solving skills, learn about spatial relationships, and comprehend basic building principles like hinges and levers.
Kate and Sam built the set, created that video, and texted it to me while I was at work. Add independence to the list of skills honed!
Originally created as a Kickstarter campaign, GoldieBlox went viral and now it’s everywhere. You can buy sets on Amazon, Toys R Us, GoldieBlox.com, or thousands of other stores. I’ll be keeping GoldieBlox in mind for all the girls on my Christmas list!
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This post was written in partnership with GoldieBlox and TheMotherhood.com.
It would be great to have a girl engineer in the family. Murrin already has another career path in mind…working with special needs kids. Gotta love that! However, maybe Kate, Sophie or Lily will find a math/science niche!