This is such a great idea for little girls; I just had to share.
In other news… sitting on my desk is my real, legit, published copy of my new Operation Beautiful book, One Note at a Time (!!!!!), which is geared towards 8 – 14 year old girls. I can’t wait to show you all what it looks like, and I can’t believe it’s finally ready for bookshelves…. on December 27!
November 19, 2012, 9:25 pm
November 19, 2012, 9:43 pm
YAY! How exiting!! You must be so proud of yourself. I am. 🙂
November 19, 2012, 9:45 pm
This Goldieblox video made me happy! I was a biochemistry major in college and I always love to see girls get into math and science.
November 19, 2012, 9:59 pm
I love that game idea! It tugged at my heartstrings a little bit. Definitely forwarded the video on to people I know that need to buy xmas gifts for little girls 🙂
November 19, 2012, 10:04 pm
I am looking forward to The book. I have two granddaughters. They are 7 & 10. I think they are pretty comfortable with themselves , but we want to make sure that continues. My daughter in law is a psychologist who works primarily with children and families. I’m sure that she has clients who could benefit from your message. I’m going to talk to my DIL and see if she may be interested in hosting you for one of her parenting seminars. Maybe you could speak to parents and children possibly separately. We might email you to discuss.
November 19, 2012, 10:08 pm
Just watched this video and it definitely made me want to get these for my 4 year old daughter. However, I had a hard time finding them online. I realized the title of your post is “Goldiebox”, but the product name is “Goldieblox”.
I found information at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/16029337/goldieblox-the-engineering-toy-for-girls?ref=live
What a great product…thanks for sharing!
November 19, 2012, 10:13 pm
Ooops…here’s an even better site for it: http://www.goldieblox.com/
November 19, 2012, 10:21 pm
Love that video! I am a child development and child studies major so this just speaks to me so much. I wish more toy companies would take the time and consideration this women took to help these young girls develop. She’s an inspiration!
November 19, 2012, 11:14 pm
I just learned about Goldieblox last week & think its brilliant! My daughter, 3 1/2, loves her blocks & Legos. It’s my hope that she’d be into Goldieblox too! Congrats on your book; that’s a huge accomplishment! Hope you’re doing something to celebrate 🙂
November 20, 2012, 1:57 am
Why are the releasing the new book 2 days AFTER Christmas and not before??
November 20, 2012, 6:59 am
Love the game idea. Had to Howard it to my husband, whose an engineer, for a daughter. Can’t wait for your new book.
November 20, 2012, 7:27 am
This new toy is so awesome! I was an engineering major and worked in that field for 4 years…I was honestly the only girl in ALL of my classes…it always bothered me. That is so awesome that this encourages a different type of playing for girls.
November 20, 2012, 7:40 am
Goldie Blox looks awesome. I love its problem-solving aspect and that it involves animals–I would have loved that as a little girl 🙂
November 20, 2012, 10:05 am
Seriously clicking over and looking at getting this for my niece for Christmas. Thanks for sharing!
November 20, 2012, 10:12 am
I’m so glad that you discussed the Goldieblox. I saw this last week from another website and I just love it. Definitely purchasing this for my daughter!
November 20, 2012, 10:26 am
As an engineer and a mother to a young girl, I was very excited to see this product. I placed an order last week and the expected shipping date was February. No problem, I am just happy to support the creator and I am looking forward to playing this with my daughter.
I was also the only girl in most of my engineering classes, so during my career I have supported Engineering Week, the Society of Women Engineers and Junior Achievement. My goal is to make sure all young girls know they can pursue a career in typically male dominated fields.
November 20, 2012, 10:52 am
This is brillant! I will be sure to share it with every mom I know. Thank you for posting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 20, 2012, 10:59 am
It is interesting – we have been debating this toy’s concept at work all week via our internal “Facebook” – as an organization focused on childhood play, we have an interest in it…
I love the story behind it and the passion in the video, but at first glance, the toy seems too gender specific to me, and to most of my colleagues. It almost perpetuates the stereotypes of girls loving pastel colors, tutus, etc. But I don’t know if we are over-analyzing it? I was surprised that others did not comment on that at all, however.
November 20, 2012, 11:32 am
I work as an electrical engineer and have more than my fair share of pink products in all forms, but I am so conflicted about this. At first I’m all yay pink engineering toys, but the other half of me is pink engineering toys, really??? In discussing this with some of my other female friends who are also in science fields we all don’t necessarily agree with the pink-ifying to make it more girl friendly. But another one of my friends likes that at least there is a book and reading to go along with it, which is a good point.
November 20, 2012, 11:48 am
Yeah – I love the book concept. Seems they are doing this with some traditional STEM toys such as legos, as well. http://www.yoyo.com/p/lego-duplo-learning-play-lets-go-vroom-6760-12-pcs-339214
November 20, 2012, 12:18 pm
Thank you for saying that. I saw this video posted on Feminsting.com yesterday and was really bothered by how “gendered” the toy was. I posted about it on my Facebook page which as stimulated some discussion about it. One of my friends directed me to Feminist Frequency and her discussion of Legos/Legos Friends.
http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/01/lego-gender-part-1-lego-friends/
My husband is a math teacher and I have an undergraduate degree in engineering, have taught science and am currently doing a graduate program. We often talk about the types of toys we want our daughter to have in order to stimulate interest in math and science. I would be hesitant to get her this toy because of how “girly” it is, but I would suggest it to family and friends to give her. I tried so hard to not have tons of pink blankets and clothes and everything else. I’ve slowly and reluctantly realizing that is an impossible goal. I do think we will have more than one child and would like as much of our kid stuff to be applicable to both.
There are studies that show when Asian women are reminded that they are women before taking a math test, they do worse than when they are reminded that they are Asian. I think one of the most difficult thing about toys like this is that they continue to contribute to this separation of boys and girls play, when really, all children should be able to play together and with the same toys.
I think the best part of toy is the story aspect of it. I would love to see her company do story/building projects that are both gender-neutral and directed at boys. It may help address the issue of boys being behind in literacy. If the reading helps them build something cool, it would encourage the reading.
Sorry of for the long reply, but I’ve been thinking about this lot lately.
November 20, 2012, 1:56 pm
“I think one of the most difficult thing about toys like this is that they continue to contribute to this separation of boys and girls play, when really, all children should be able to play together and with the same toys.”
That bothers me too. I get that there are studies about how children play, and presumably those studies take into account causation and other variables, so if the studies show that girls would rather read than build something, I trust there’s some truth to that and it’s not simply because their parents are more likely to give them books than building blocks. But surely there are ways to encourage girls in certain endeavors without having to create a girl version of it. To me, it still kind of tells a girl that she shouldn’t really be interested in building, because you have to give her purple and pink parts to get her interested in building.
My sister and I were definitely into reading, but we also played with legos, and we didn’t need a story to make us play with them, we made up our own stories as we built things.
November 20, 2012, 11:06 am
Wouldn’t it be a better idea to have it released before Christmas????? Seems odd.
November 20, 2012, 11:07 am
yes – unfortunately, not up to me. book publicists know what they are doing, so i trust them. however – secret – if you order on amazon you will prob get in time for christmas.
November 20, 2012, 3:40 pm
Wow! What a great toy! I’d definitely buy this for a future daughter!
November 20, 2012, 7:24 pm
The goldieblox video is amazing. My best friend is a civil engineer and she always bemoans how few women there are in her world. I’m a teacher so it’s exactly the opposite which we always find funny. The book sounds amazing Caitlin I would love to get hold of a copy for my school library.
November 21, 2012, 2:51 pm
I saw the book on Amazon for pre-order. I’m thinking it would make a great post-Christmas gift for my 3 little girls. My oldest will turn 8 on Sunday and while my other two are a little younger I still think they can benefit from the message. Now tell us when you’ll be doing book signings so I can get it signed for my gals 🙂
November 21, 2012, 2:52 pm
ooooh just saw your message saying I could get it early if I pre-order on Amazon! Woo hoo! Ordering now!
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Oh my! I can’t wait to see it!!!