–by Margaret Tritton

I have been endeavoring to nudge my five-year-old granddaughter, Alexis, toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through the toys that I select for her. It recently has become apparent that for a girl that is not as easy as one would hope. I did some research comparing package labels of similar toys for boys and girls and then just started looking at labels of toys for girls. I will name toy manufacturers as it became conspicuous that some companies earned accolades for promoting nontraditional thinking patterns in girls and other companies did not.

Hasbro Canada gets a (thumbs down). My eight-year-old grandson, Ezekiel, is interested in a Hasbro toy called Beyblades. It is basically a spinning top that is driven by “Ripcord Launchers” that send the “Performance Top System” spinning at excessive speeds. The labels on the box describe the toy (this one happens to be the Mobile Bey Stadium) as: Beyblades Metal Fury! Bring the Battle with You! Let it rip! Face Bolt – Performance Tip – EWD External wide defense tip for amazing endurance! and Face Bolt – Performance Tip – SD Semi-defense steadies trajectory! It also encourages online Internet interaction at “Battle online at BeyBladesBattle.com” with “2 Codes Inside: Evil Befall BB-100A UW14EWD BALANCE.”

I was at my grandson’s birthday party and he was demonstrating to me what the Beyblade item was that I had gotten him. His nine-year-old friend, Lily, came over to me and smugly told me that she had a toy similar to what Ezekiel had. I asked her to show it to me and she brought me a spinning top called a Dizzy Dancer, also made by Hasbro. I was walking through a national chain store and noticed there were sets of Dizzy Dancers. I bought several pieces for my granddaughter, one of which was comparable to the Mobile Bey Stadium but called the Dizzy Twirlin’ Dance Studio. This spinning top is driven by “Do You Dare to Dizzy?” “Get the Dizzy Started! 1. Ready, 2. Zip, 3. Spin!” The labels on the box describe the toy as: Swirl on the dance floor! Twirl in the grooves! Slide down the ramp! Spin along the dance rail! and Learn a cool move on the Twistin’ Tricks Card. It, too, encourages online Internet interaction: “For more Dizzy Dancers fun visit DizzyDancers.com” and instead of special codes she got “25+ Colorful stickers to decorate your Dizzy Twirlin’ Dance Studio.”

I don’t know. Maybe it was the age appropriateness of the toys. For the BeyBlades it was eight plus. For the Dizzy Dancers it was four plus. But, “Do You Dare to Dizzy?” and “Get the Dizzy Started?” Really, Hasbro, you need to do better than that!

Next, Disney. I subscribe to email from the Women’s Media Center1.. One of the feature articles at their website was: “Miss Representation” – Poised to Advance a Media Movement. “Miss Representation” is a well done documentary that intellectually presents confirmation on the urgent issue of literal mispresentation of women and girls in the media having real negative consequences. At the same store where I bought the Dizzy Dancers I had occasion to take a close look at Disney toys for girls. They are beautiful fairies and princesses and mermaids, all in comely hour-glass shapes wearing (to me) suggestive clothing. What kind of messages is this giving to little girls who are just that, little girls?

To their superficial credit, it looks like Disney is making a perfunctory stab at role models for girls. They have a small line of medical doctor toys called “Doc McStuffins” which consists of a doctor’s bag, a Big Book of Boo Boos, a talking checkup set or a Time for a Checkup doll. Alexis does not want for Disney toys, but not from me! Disney gets a .

Fisher-Price along with Nickelodeon do a fair job of image representation with a character called Dora the Explorer. Dora is an Hispanic little girl who is all the time having adventures and doing activities that you typically see little boys doing: Explore the Earth DVD, Undercover Dora DVD, Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom DVD, Map Adventures DVD, Dora’s World Wide Rescue, and Dora the Explorer Let’s Help. They also sell Dora toys that, again, typically you see pictures of little boys on: Dora the Explorer Walkie Talkies, Dora the Explorer Electric Guitar, Dora the Explorer Percussion Pack, Dora the Explorer Flashlight, and a Dora the Explorer Hopscotch Floormat Puzzle Game. There is a Dora the Explorer Meets Diego DVD (Diego is Dora’s counterpart in the Nickelodeon cartoon series) in which she is portrayed as being kind of a tomboy and keeping up with Diego in large-muscle activities like running, climbing, jumping and sliding. I think Fisher-Price/Nickelodeon get a (thumbs up).

Lego is somewhat (well, maybe another “making a perfunctory stab at”) getting more girl friendly. Unfortunately, they seem to have teamed up with Disney so their Lego sets are based on princesses. Not only that, but they only come in the Duplo sizes which is intended for two-to- four year-olds. They don’t appear to make the smaller sets for girls which seem to encourage fine motor skills (which, from what I have observed, little girls are better at than little boys).

Until the Lego Corporation comes around to making interesting Lego sets for girls, they get a (thumbs down).

Lastly, there is a toy company called Mindware2 that I have been very impressed with. Their website says “Our mission is to market a collection of unique learning products that engage, educate and entertain.”

I searched toys for five year olds and found the following:

• Giant Polydron, A Sensory Building Experience (shows a girl and boy on box cover).
• Tangoes Jr., Classic Tangram Puzzles for Beginners (shows a girl working on it on box cover).
• Primary Science Set, A Big “Wow” for Little Scientists (shows a girl and boy on box cover).
• Twist Whiz, The Spinning Twizzler for Outdoor Fun! (shows a girl enjoying a physical activity on the box).
• Zoomy Handheld Digital Microscope, Handheld Digital Microscope and Camera (shows a girl using it positioned in front of a computer).
• Talking Microscope, Zoom in for a Science Lesson (shows a girl using this toy).
•  Connectagons, Build Up, Down and All Around (shows a girl using this building set).
• Imaginets, Imagination + Magnets = Imaginets! (shows a girl displaying a design she created).
• KEVA Structures 200-Plank Set, Develop a Knack to Stack (shows a girl using small blocks to build a structure).

These are all toys that, when I was raising my two boys during the 1980s and 1990s, I more often than not would see pictures of boys on the boxes. I have to give Mindware a for portraying girls in positive STEM images.

To reiterate the opening sentence of this article, I have been endeavoring to nudge my five-year- old granddaughter toward STEM through the toys that I select for her. As it turns out, that objective comes with reliable evidence that training can make a difference. The American Association of University Women’s, (AAUW) 2010 study, Why so Few – Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math found that: One of the largest gender differences in cognitive abilities is found in the area of spatial skills, with boys and men consistently outperforming girls and women. Spatial skills are considered by many people to be important for success in engineering and other scientific fields. Research highlighted in this report, however, documents that individuals’ spatial skills consistently improve dramatically in a short time with a simple training course. If girls grow up in an environment that enhances their success in science and math with spatial skills training, they are more likely to develop their skills as well as their confidence and consider a future in a STEM field. 3

But, as I hope I have shown in this article, with what is presented through the toys that our children and our grandchildren play with (and also with what is presented via the media), it will take an ever vigilant and concerted effort to keep our daughters and granddaughters on the track to achieve in the STEM fields as adults.

Epilogue: This article was published in two parts in the monthly newsletter of the Palo Alto Branch of the AAUW. The article ended with, “We in AAUW look forward to a future in which every girl grows up with an attitude of “can do” instead of “can’t do”. Branch members contributed two more ideas of toys for girls:

• Located at www.roominatetoy.com is a DIY (Do It Yourself) Wired Dollhouse Building kit. The website says, “Roominate is the first toy designed by Alice and Bettina — two engineers out of Caltech, MIT, and Stanford who wish they saw more women in their upper level math and science classes. They believe that early exposure through toys will motivate the next generation of female technology innovators.” I was very impressed by the toys and will revisit it come six-year-old birthday time.
• The second suggestion is Goldie Blox and is located at www.goldieblox.com. These toys seem aimed to do for girls what Lego does for boys. For one of their products the website says, “In Goldie’s debut story, she decides to build a spinning machine to help her dog, Nacho, chase his tail. Soon, the whole gang wants in on the action. Help Goldie build a belt drive to spin everybody!” Now, Hasbro, instead of “Do You Dare to Dizzy?” how about “Help Goldie build a belt drive to spin everybody!”? Now, this is more like it! Let’s get our girls out on the belt way to success in the STEM fields by the toys that we can choose for them.

1. http://www.womensmediacenter.com
2.  http://www.mindware.com
3.  Why so Few – Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, Study by the American Association of University Women, 2010, Executive Summary Page XV.