In the wake of the GoldiBlox viral video ad, Claire Cain Miller at the NYTimes highlights a few brands that provide options for parents looking to buy science and engineering toys for girls:
Sofia the First, a new Disney princess decked out in a lavender gown, is high on most retailers’ list of the hottest toys this holiday season. But if you’re shopping for a girl, why not skip the doll aisle for toys that encourage science and engineering?
That’s the Black Friday message from a small group of toy makers who say they are frustrated that there are separate lists for girls’ toys and boys’ toys in the first place. They have been led by GoldieBlox, the company whose “Girls” ad went viral this month (and got the company into some trouble with the Beastie Boys, whose song it rewrote)…
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
photo via towardthestars.com