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By Amanda Boyarshinov 24 Comments

GoldieBlox Review: Keeping Our Girls Excited about Math and Science

I am a HUGE fan of getting kids involved in STEAM (STEM + Art) activities. (I’ve even released several STEAM E-books!) Last month, I had the opportunity to host a GoldieBlox Bash with our friends and review the parade float.

This month, I get to show you their newest products!!! It is so exciting to get to try out the latest STEM toys for my kids. Read on to find out more.

Keeping our girls excited about math and science

Affiliate Links+ Sponsored Post

I am honored to be chosen by Mom Dot Media to review  GoldieBlox and the Builder’s Survival Kit, GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine as well.  This is a sponsored post, but the opinions are 100% my own. I’m including Amazon Affiliate Links to the products.  If you click on the picture, it will give you a more detailed description of each product.

Keeping Our Girls Excited about Math and Science

I don’t want my daughter to lose interest in math, science, and engineering.

I want to provide her with opportunities to explore and have fun in these areas, so I have made STEAM and STEM activities after school a priority.  Sure, we sew, read, bake, and garden together (traditional “girly things”), but we also build, design, and experiment too (I also call these “girly things”).

As a Mom, I was most excited about GoldieBlox and the Builder’s Survival Kit.  It is a huge box with lots of tiny – I want to tinker with you – kind of parts to build with inside. (WARNING – they are chokers and need to be out of reach for children under 3)

My 8 year old daughter LOVED the parade kit we reviewed last month and it has sparked many hours of building in our household.  I couldn’t wait to see what happened when she opened a kit designed for older kids (8-12).

The colors of the building blocks are awesome.  We both were oohing and aaahing as we took them out of the package.  She skimmed through the book and landed on the spinning tea cups (the biggest and most challenging design and announced, “I am going to make this one.”

After about 30 minutes, she was totally overwhelmed and on the brink of tears.

“I quit.” She said and left the room.

My heart sunk.  This was NOT the way I had planned for this GoldieBlox set to go.  What went wrong?  Why was she not excited about learning? How come these were so much more complicated than the last set?

And then it made sense.  The new set is designed for our older girls – not just to get them excited about learning and building, but to keep them challenged and excited about tackling new tasks.

There will always be hard problems, with lots of little parts in life.  It will get overwhelming.

I gave her a hug.

The next day, I recommended that we take a break and try one of the easier ones to get familiar with the new pieces.  Instead of letting her explore on her own, I sat beside her. We also talked about making a plan of how to start and finish the project.

1. Read through all the instructions before beginning.
2. Starting with an easier project gives you the opportunity to explore how the new materials work.

GoldieBlox Survival Kit

3. Set out all of the necessary parts for the entire project before beginning. Somehow, we have already lost a little blue thingy. Luckily, the pieces all work together, so we just slightly altered the plan and stuck another piece in it’s place. For me, being able to problem solve is.

Building with GoldieBlox

4. Use the instructions to help you build.  Too often, our girls are not exposed to informational text and building manuals.  This kind of text is read differently and often we need to teach them how to read effectively.  

Many standardized test will include non-fiction and informational text, so we are also teaching them to read for a variety of purposes.

Girls in science and math, building with Goldieblox

5. Go in step-by-step order.  Use spatial reasoning, counting, reading a diagram and problem solving as you build.

6. Celebrate when you finish and plan your next project!  A pat on the back, a little happy dance, or even a smile completes the challenge on a good note.

GoldieBlox has helped my daughter get and stay excited about math, science, and engineering! I look forward to seeing her grow, learn, and interact with them in the upcoming months. It is my hope that she will be able to build the challenges as well as create her own.

If you are looking for a gift for your child – I would highly recommend GoldieBlox.  They would make a great birthday or holiday gift for girls.

Don’t miss 3 Must Read Tips for Raising Engineers

Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!

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Filed Under: STEM Tagged With: #afterschool, Amanda, engineering, STEAM, STEM

About Amanda Boyarshinov

K - 12 masters reading teacher, author and mom to 3. Amanda is a National Board Certified teacher with oodles of experience in early childhood education.

« DIY Gruffalo Inspired Mouse Costume Headband
STEAM Preschool Art Challenge: Fall Bug Habitat »

Comments

  1. PragmaticMom says

    October 9, 2014 at 6:07 pm

    What a great point about sitting with your child to help them step by step until it makes sense to them. After that, I bet she will be able to play with the set in a more free form way (which is probably what you imagined).

    My son is very careful to follow the complicated lego sets in the same way but also the instruction manuel is very minutely detailed with words and an image for each step so he can do it himself to build it precisely the first time but I frankly enjoy it when he goes free form after that.

    Reply
  2. Ruthie says

    October 10, 2014 at 7:55 am

    I love the idea of these! We play legos all the time with my 3 yr old daughter, and I would love to have these for her as she is started to love having "girl" toys. It'd be fun to have these when my 8 & 11 yr old nieces come over. I bet they'd love them too!

    Reply
  3. Dayna Abraham says

    October 11, 2014 at 10:32 am

    OMG! I wish I had an older girl but I know so many that would love this as a gift! I am in love with the GoldieBox!

    Reply
  4. Natasha Johnson says

    October 11, 2014 at 10:55 pm

    My 10 year old daughter. She would love this.

    Reply
  5. Natalie PlanetSmartyPants says

    October 12, 2014 at 3:00 pm

    My daughter just played with Goldie Blox at a friend's house, and now she wants them for her birthday 🙂 Perhaps I get lucky and win 😀

    Reply
  6. beth says

    October 13, 2014 at 3:17 pm

    I'd like to give this to my niece and foster her love of science,

    Reply
  7. Crystal says

    October 15, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    I remember when this set was a Kickstarter project! So fun to see how far it has come since then 🙂

    Reply
  8. Crystal says

    October 15, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    PS I would save this set for my now-three-year-old girl. She already loves Legos and would love this when she gets a bit older 🙂

    Reply
  9. Stephie says

    October 15, 2014 at 4:48 pm

    I would love to give this to my nieces. They love to learn and they love science!

    Reply
  10. Anonymous says

    October 21, 2014 at 6:59 pm

    My 6 year old daughter would love this! She plays with her dunk tank kit quite often.

    Reply
  11. Anonymous says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:43 am

    I would give this to my cousin.

    [email protected] Beth

    Reply
  12. Anonymous says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:43 am

    to my granddaughter's teacher

    Roy

    Reply
  13. Anonymous says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:44 am

    I would give it to my granddaughter

    Twila

    Reply
  14. Anonymous says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:44 am

    I would give it to my favorite teacher

    Gloria

    Reply
  15. Anonymous says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:44 am

    My sister for her school students.

    Susan

    Reply
  16. Danielle says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:44 am

    I would love to give this to our school age classroom!

    Reply
  17. Nicholle says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:44 am

    I would give this to my students.

    Reply
  18. Anonymous says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:44 am

    This would be a perfect addition to our newly created STEM lab! Thank you for the information and the opportunity to win.

    Reply
  19. Nadi says

    October 25, 2014 at 7:44 am

    Love these toys for my students

    Reply
  20. Library Lady says

    October 30, 2014 at 10:49 am

    I would like to give this prize to my school to use. – Jessica Holmes

    Reply
  21. Anonymous says

    October 30, 2014 at 10:49 am

    I would give this to my niece. Jeff

    Reply
  22. Rhonda P. says

    October 30, 2014 at 10:50 am

    I would love to put this in our science lab at school!
    danrhon (at) gmail (dot) com

    Reply
  23. Arielle Goldstein says

    October 30, 2014 at 10:50 am

    I'm starting a STEAM lab in my school. These would be an amazing addition!

    Reply
  24. Amy Neumayer says

    October 30, 2014 at 10:50 am

    I would love to have this kit available to the kids in our after-school program! Thanks for this chance to win! 🙂

    Reply

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