"Hello Astrid, you may know that I design technical toys aimed at girls. Recently, I applied for a pitch. Can you help me by voting? Thanks in advance! Regards Claudia Verstegen" Enjoying my cup of Sunday morning coffee, I read this Linkedin message out loud.
"Now why only for girls" grumbles adolescent son, who has just rolled out of bed and joined me at the kitchen table. I don't feel like disturbing the Sunday peace with a discussion on gender-neutral toys, but he does have a point. Like the time I wanted to sign my son up for an autumn holiday programming course. Unfortunately, the party did not go ahead because it was only for girls. Why discriminate?
Happy Monster Factory
Still, my interest is piqued. If people make an effort to get children excited about engineering, boys and/or girls, they can count on my support. I click on the link to Claudia Verstegen's story about her project 'Happy Monster Factory'.
Opportunities
The idea for these tech toys came about when Claudia's daughters were still small. She could hardly find any toys for her girls other than dolls and puzzles. Creating a more varied range of toys may have been the trigger, but giving children better future opportunities with Happy Monster is certainly just as important to Claudia.
Happy Monster Factory aims to harness the technical potential of children, especially girls. With the help of these toys, children can explore their technical skills and expand their field of vision.
Future
If children are well prepared for the future, this is positive for the children themselves, but also for the B.V. Netherlands. The world in which they grow up will revolve around technology. From self-driving cars to robots. But even in healthcare, the degree of technology will increase. And we all know there is already a shortage of techies.
Technical growing toys
The focus of the educational tech toys may be on girls, but it is so cool that boys will very definitely want to play with it too. It is intuitive toys (mechanics, electrical engineering, programming and 3d printing) for primary school age children. By being introduced to technology in a playful way at this age, the preference for a STEM direction in secondary school will be much more natural. And it is expected that more young people will subsequently find their future in engineering as well.
Vote too!
Do you also believe that through Happy Monster Factory toys, today's children can more or less playfully roll into the manufacturing industry? Then also vote for this great project by Claudia Verstegen. She can use every vote to be allowed to pitch for Frits-Starter (initiative of Frits van Eerd, CEO Jumbo Supermarkets).
This blog was written by Astrid van Ballegoy, check out her profile here. Or follow her on Twitter @Astrid_Hitma.
