Inspiring Girls to be Engineers with GoldieBlox {Review & Giveaway}

Although times have changed from when little girls were only encouraged to play with dolls, wear dainty dresses and white gloves, and host tea parties, there is still a clear gender gap when it comes to toys. A simple stroll through the toy section in any box store reveals the "girl aisle" that is pink, pretty and passive, while the "boy aisle" is blue, active and action-packed.

Why are we not encouraging the next generation of girls to continue on in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as much as we do for boys? Sure, we let them play with blocks and construction toys, but those have long been classified as for boys, so is it really any wonder that girls tend to lose interest in STEM subjects by the age of 8?

Fortunately, there is one award-winning company that has been striving to change the toy world by working to inspire the future of female innovators and engineers. It is time to think beyond the pink toy aisle and revolutionize the way that we encourage and motivate girls to look at the world with the one and only GoldieBlox.

Created in 2012, GoldieBlox's interactive book series + construction toys for girls have rocketed from a prototype to the 2014 Toy of the Year, featured everywhere from the Today Show to Good Morning America, Elle, and the New York Times. Engineering is one of the fastest-growing job sectors in the United States and men continue to largely outnumber women (only 14% worldwide), so I love that GoldieBlox is determined to change that equation!

The company currently offers three award-winning products (with three more that have just debuted and are available for pre-sale!) that help young girls to learn and enjoy basic engineering principles. Each GoldieBlox product features a fun story about a girl named Goldie, who has to solve a problem by building a simple machine.

The products come with pieces to build the same simple machines that Goldie builds, so kids can construct right along with her. After finishing the stories, they can then take the pieces and use their creativity to create a limitless amount of other simple machines while making up their own tales!

As GoldieBlox products are suggested for ages 4-9, I wasn't surprised when my 5-year-old and nearly-8-year-old daughters were both extremely excited to get started exploring the world of engineering with Goldie.

As they began removing items from GoldieBlox and the Dunk Tank, it was already easy to see how this kit would help encourage my girls' STEM knowledge. First, the pieces themselves are based on the Seven Simple Machines (wheel and axis, lever, pulley, etc.), which are the basic building blocks of every physical thing.

Second, the "Bill of Materials" lays out the correct names for each of the pieces, so kids are already learning and using the engineering vocabulary and terms before they've even begun building!

This kit begins with a storybook, telling the tale about Goldie needing to wash her dirty dog, Nacho, who doesn't like water. The result is a structure based on the concept of hinges and levers that causes an unsuspecting Nacho to fall into the dunk tank (or, in this case, a glass of water) when the target is hit!

My girls not only loved the finished product — in particular getting to throw the ball at the target to see Nacho fall — but were extremely intrigued by the building process as well. Turn each of the individual pieces into a structure that then drops Nacho into a glass of water when the hinge is hit with the ball? How cool!

This set has the added bonus of the back of the storybook turning into a carnival background!

After the fun of our first GoldieBlox experience, it wasn't long before we opened the GoldieBlox and the Parade Float kit to find out what educational adventure would happen next. In this set, Goldie and her friend Ruby are competing in a pageant and users are able to build a parade float to take part in the tale.

As with construction of the dunk tank, my daughters were excited to build the parade float and beamed with pride when they had the piece completed!

I love that GoldieBlox, as well as introducing and teaching engineering skills, promotes such confidence in building and the importance of not giving up.

Research has shown that girls are less likely to pursue an activity if they don't know they will be amazing at it, so simply being exposed to the terms and concepts when they are young is going to stay with them for long into the future!

What we discovered as the icing on the cake for GoldieBlox is the way that all of the pieces can easily be taken apart and used for just about any sort of other creation.

Girls simply have to use their imagination (they can also be inspired by the additional design ideas that come with the kits) and, as all of the parts are compatible between all of the kits, the sky is the limit in building and constructing!

With a mission to inspire the next generation of innovators and help girls think beyond the pink toys, GoldieBlox is the perfect way to encourage kids to see their world in a different way. Head over to GoldieBlox.com today to find out even more!

The first three kits (GoldieBlox and the Spinning Machine, GoldieBlox and the Parade Float and GoldieBlox and the Dunk Tank) can be purchased in stores, from GoldieBlox or on Amazon, while the new additions (GoldieBlox and the Builder's Survival Kit, GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine and GoldieBlox Zipline Action Figure) can be pre-ordered for future delivery.

Are you ready to encourage and motivate the girls in your life to stay interested in math and science? Visit GoldieBlox online, connect with them on Facebook and Twitter, and, thanks to their generosity, one person will be able to see how much creativity and STEM-based fun these kits provide, because...

One lucky person will win (1) GoldieBlox and the Parade Float and (1) GoldieBlox and the Dunk Tank kit!

Entry-Form

This post is part of a campaign with GoldieBlox and The Motherhood, who sent me products, compensated me for my time, and provided the giveaway prizes. Opinions, experiences and photos shared here are my own and honest and if you really need to see more, click here to see how I roll.