How do you build an interest in science, technology, engineering and math in young girls? Give them interesting and engaging products that foster their curiosity and a desire to want to know more.
As a mom of a girl who loves all things STEM, I’ve been a little hesitant about GoldieBlox in our home. The pastel colored play sets were just a bit too stereotypically girly for our house and I’ve always preferred more gender neutral toys or activities that could allow her to develop her interests alongside her brother. But honestly, I understand. I love that Goldie is a female role model in a traditional male dominated industry and she’s inspring a new generation of girls who may not be interested in STEM otherwise.
I also understand GoldieBlox from a marketing perspective. In a world where toys compete for parent and child interest on the store shelves, GoldieBlox stands out to girls because of the friendly girl face, swirly script, and pastel colors of engineering projects on the box. If I wanted to steer tepid girl in the direction of a STEM toy to get her feet wet, I’d recommend GoldieBlox because they combine story and building to develop spatial skills and confidence around STEM skills.
Now GoldieBlox has gone beyond the physical building sets and is appealing to girls through their brand new free app, . The app incorporates art to teach kids how to animate anything to create 1 second movies on iOS devices. Movies can be played through the app or printed and cut out to fit in the GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine play set.
Every kid loves a great story with a problem and GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine app challenges kids help Goldie save the annual Bloxtown film festival by making 1 second films that will fill the program. Kids use their hands to draw, color, sticker, and animate movies using the app on touchscreen iOS devices that comes loaded with features that makes animation easy and fun, helpful tutorials, bonus movies featuring Goldie, and parent confidence that their kids won’t be exposed to third party ads and in-app purchases.
Features include a toolbox for drawing everything you need to create your own 1-second films, including:
- 3 brush shapes with multiple sizes
- 16 color palette
- 20 Stamps featuring basic shapes, rainbows, mustaches, top hats, and lightning clouds.
- Eraser with multiple sizes
- Undo button for pesky mistakes
- Duplicate tool for easy copying
- Tracing-paper for prior frame
- Confetti celebrations
- Save and name your movies
- AirPrint your movies to play with GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine Toy set
app is designed kids age 4 and up. I love that it appeals to girls who are already familiar with the GoldieBlox sets but is inclusive and something that boys would want to play with to as they learn animation to create 1 second films.
No compensation was received for this post and all opinions are my own. Amazon Affiliate links included in this post.
This app looks like a lot of fun for all of my kiddos! We don’t have any goldiblox set in this house – yet! Can’t wait to check it out!
As a mom of 2 special needs girls, I look for toys and apps that will stimulate their minds. This looks like a winner. Thanks for the recommendation!
Not for Android yet… :-(. My daughter has an Android device and this would be pretty spectacular for her to use.
This app sounds so cool & I love that the movies can be played through the app or printed and cut out to fit in the GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine play set. Very nice!
This sounds cool, my kids would love it!!
This sounds fun. I bet my daughter would love this app!
What a fun app. Looks so creative and fun.