Play Matters: Engineering with Goldie Blox

Posted by aMuse Toys on July 30, 2013 0 Comments

Goldie Blox is an innovative building set designed with little girls in mind. Historically, as girls grow up they gravitate towards play that involves creating, imagining, pretending and reading. Little boys are typically more interested in the mechanics of their toys. They want to know how things work. What makes cars go? How do buildings get so tall? Naturally, there is a divide in the workplace once all of these little girls and little boys grow up to find themselves selecting a career field.

 

The creator of Goldie Blox is Debbie Sterling. Sterling was one of few graduating females in her class of engineers at Stanford University. Her mission is to close the gender gap in the fields of STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics] and she's doing that with Goldie Blox. When Sterling began her work on prototypes, she wanted to make something that would encourage girls to explore basic building and engineering concepts without giving up their love of stories and pretend play. The culmination of her research and hours of play is Goldie Blox and the Spinning Machine, a story and building set that follows a girl who loves to read and build. 

 

Goldie Blox is designed to be an addition to the ever-growing collection of princess outfits, baby dolls and all things pink. In fact, in its latest media advertisement, Goldie Blox proclaims a disruption of "the pink aisle." Don't get us wrong, there's nothing wrong with a little pink. Goldie Blox is simply an engaging way to encourage high-level thinking and promote all areas of the STEM initiative without taking away the comforts and familiarity of reading and pretending. 

 

Just Some Smart Young Ladies Causing Disruption

 

This story begins by introducing Goldie Blox as a girl who likes to solve problems by building simple machines. Then, Goldie asks you to build a machine with her to help out her friends. As the story progresses, so does the building. By the end of the story, Goldie and her friends are happy and your little one has just built a working machine. And, she doesn't have to stop there. She can take apart the finished machine and see what else she can build on her own.

 

A Look into Goldie's Story

 

When your little one follows along with Goldie's story, she's working on her reading and verbal skills. When she adds pieces to the machine, she's fine tuning her spatial reasoning and problem solving skills. Goldie Blox will eventually expand into a complete series of books and building sets. Readers will be introduced to more friends, like Ruby Goldberg and Axl Rosie (We love it!). There will be more machines and engineering concepts to explore, like force and friction!

 

  

Goldie and Her Motley Crew

 

Goldie Blox is suggested for ages 4 to 9 years old. If you would like to learn more about Goldie Blox and the Spinning Machine or ways to include STEM learning in your everyday playplease visit us at our Fells Point or Quarry Lake location.

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Spot It! Signature and National Poetry Month

Posted by aMuse Toys on April 04, 2013 0 Comments

The arrival of Spot It! Signature to our shelves is perfect timing. April is National Poetry Month and this latest edition of Spot It! from Blue Orange Games is packed with images inspired by the creative arts and literary world. You'll have to be quick to match images like a Feather Pen, a Music Note, the words Imagine and Dare, and even silhouettes of authors like Jane Austen and Edgar Allan Poe. Spot It! Signature fits right in with anyone's trunk of games, but it's an extra special treat for those literary lovers in your life

 

Playing a few rounds of Spot It! Signature is also a great way to recognize National Poetry Month with family and friends. The month long celebration was created to encourage Americans' curiosity and appreciation of poetry and to present poetry not as something intimidating but as something accessible and enjoyable. If you want to introduce your children to poetry or maybe add to the list of poets you already know, check out sites like the Poetry Foundation and the Children's Poetry Archive. Or, you could head to your local library and ask the reference librarian for suggestions. Who knows? You and your kids might find yourselves writing a poem or two of your own.

However you celebrate, feel free to share with us because we'll be celebrating, too!

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New Toy Alert: The Great Wave & Sunflowers

Posted by aMuse Toys on March 15, 2012 0 Comments

We added Master Kitz to our repertoire of beautiful playthings last year and are thrilled to have received thier most recent kits this month: The Great Wave by Katsushika Hokusai and Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh.

We simply love the exposure to the art masters that these kits provide with easy-to-understand learning materials. Children (and adults) learn the story behind each masterpiece and why it has a special place in the history of art.

 

aMuse Toys team member Allison couldn't resist taking one of these kits home for a mom and daughter weekend art project. Check out their final masterpiece!

Have pictures of your Master Kitz creations? Tweet us, tag us on Pinterest, or post to our Facebook wall. We'd love to see them! 

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