Girls Gone GoldieBlox!

Last updated on: January 10, 2017 at 3:25 pm by Alan Atchison

Girls Gone GoldieBlox! 2017-01-10T15:25:42-06:00 Alan Atchison

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Ever since becoming the father of a little girl almost two years ago, I’ve found myself swimming through, tripping over, and yes, occasionally playing with an assortment of baby toys. Mind you, I didn’t actually purchase most of these toys, nor did my wife. That’s why we have siblings and parents (and parents of those parents). Many of these toys are, what some might consider, geared toward females: dolls, a kitchen set, and (my wife’s impulse buy) a tent-like princess castle that took up no less than half of my living room until one night, after having tripped over it for the gazillionth time, I took it apart in a fit of prideful parental superiority and stashed it in the basement. Also, the pink! Why does it all have to be so damn pink?

The next day, my daughter, Kaylin didn’t seem to notice her princess castle was missing. In fact, that’s how she is about most of the expensive toys she’s received in her young life. The more elaborate and fancy-looking the doll or high-tech the toy, the quicker she loses interest. You know what toys she actually is into? Pretty much anything that’s not a toy. Cups, bottles, boxes, remote controls, DVDs, smart phones. Anything she can stack or build with, really. Ever since this girl figured out she’s got two hands and ten fingers, she’s had this innate ability to put objects together in creative ways. I’ve seen her stack cups together and figure out how various objects interlock at a time when putting one object on top of the other should have been impossible with her tiny digits. It wasn’t long before I started telling people that the best place to get a quick, cheap gift item for Kaylin was at the dollar store.

That is, until I heard about GoldieBlox.

Debbie Sterling, a Stanford University engineering student and creator of GoldieBlox, claims she was put off by the high level of male dominance in the engineering field – 89 percent men – after having grown up without toys that build spatial skills, she believes, because of her gender. As a result, she decided to produce a toy that combined building with reading in order to encourage and nurture female ingenuity in the field.

A GoldieBlox set contains a storybook, five animal figures, and a set of construction materials. Kids follow “Goldie the girl inventor and her motley crew of friends, who go on adventures and solve problems by building simple machines.”

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this idea. Maybe I’m still reveling in being a new dad to a little girl, but when it comes to toys, I’m really into the idea of my daughter having positive female examples to help her develop hands-on skills (yes, even if a few of those female examples happen to be fictional).

Customer reviews are showing tremendous praise for GoldieBlox, so the $29.99 retail price just might be worth it after all.

Kaylin’s birthday is coming up in October. Anyone want to make a certain two-year-old girl a happy little engineer?

Alan Atchison is a Contributing Writer to The Rogue. He is a Senior Publications Editor at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (University of Pennsylvania), where he also earned a Masters of Liberal Arts in Creative Writing. He lives in Philadelphia, PA with his wife and two daughters. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Previous Post

August 1, 2013

Minecraft "Let's Play" Video, Episode 3.

Next Post

August 2, 2013 Sherlock Season 3 Trailer......Updated with the Most Recent Teaser!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Alien Life ASMR Book Reviews Careers in Writing and Filmmaking Catholic Imagination Christmas miracles DC Trinity War Articles Ebola Faith Family Entertainment Fangirl Raves Filmmaking Geek Books Geek Comics Geek Culture Geek Entertainment Geek Gaming Geek Girl Geek Goes Catholic Geek Goes Catholic Geek Literature Geek Movies Geek Music Geek Sports Geek Tech Geek TV Ghost Bear Ramblings God's Not Dead Coverage Grace Unplugged Coverage Ham on Nye Coverage (Yeah, we went there) HWA Stuff Indie Artists Interviews Jonathan Ryan Book News Kardashians Lord of the Rings Mark Driscoll Movie Reviews Parenthood Pixie Perfect Salt Lake City Comic Con 2014 Social Issues Teen Author Boot Camp The Conjuring Coverage The Michigan Dog Man Adventures Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Jesus" name mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Savior Messiah God saves Anointed one