So, I saw this commercial a few years ago and I fell in love with the idea of GoldieBlox:
I could relate to this commercial so much that it made me want to cry. Certainly, little girls get pink, dolls, and cooking/cleaning toys shoved down their throats. Back in my day, Lego was about the only thing that was gender neutral-esc., and Lego today seems to think that female Legos should be mostly princesses and “friends” with little tiny wastes. There is definitely a clear divide on how they market Legos to boys versus girls right now. Bleck!
So, I finally bought my daughter GoldieBlox and the Dunk Tank this past Xmas (she’s a bit on the mean spirited side, so I thought she’d like to keep dunking the poor little dog figure, lol).
Long story short, while I love the principle behind GoldieBlox, I did not think much of the Dunk Tank kit. It took my 7-year-old about 10-15 minutes to put the kit together, then she played with it for another 20 or so minutes before being completely bored with it. The kit is fairly limited to where it basically acts as a set toy once you put it together (ie, like when you open up a Monster High house – you put it together, then it’s permanently together).
Now, the dunk tank does come with a handful of extra pieces, and some other ideas of what else you could build with the kit. But, that did not interest my daughter at all. The kit was together, it matched the box, so she was finished.
For the recommended age range, which is 4-9 years old, I can see where this would be their mindset. GoldieBlox is newer, and kids may not really understand that it’s supposed to be similar to K’nex or Legos.
But after seeing how few pieces a $20 kit came with, I have to admit that I was disappointed as a consumer too. As far as building pieces, there are only 51 in the kit. That doesn’t sound like a number to sneeze at, granted, but when you consider that the kid is mostly a combination of hollow, plastic straws and square connector pieces (you can only make things that are square/rectangle shapes, essentially) and it feels more limiting than liberating. Also consider that a box of 521 K’nex, or a 303 box of random Lego bricks, are also $20. Then you start to feel screwed over as a buyer.
GoldieBlox has such a strong concept, I’m disappointed that they seem to get in their way by trying to make very specific kits. What I would like to see from GoldieBlox in the future are boxes full of random pieces and an idea book. Give girls more of a push to create and think on their own rather than be so limited to create a few specific things with each kit (yes, I know that Lego is just as bad for kits, but you at least get the option to buy a box of generic bricks). I’d also love to see some items geared more towards the 10-13 crowd of girls, because that is the age, in my opinion, where the meaning of “being a girl” starts to get heavily defined. That’s when the idea of being popular and glammed out starts to take over and create biases. So, GoldieBlox, I know you have it in you to open the minds of a lot of little girls, and I hope you keep pushing forward to get there.
Trying to Mom 