For those who just found the Internet or have just not seen the home of innovative ideas known as Kickstarter, Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that has, according to Wikipedia, received more than $1.9 billion in pledges from 9.4 million backers to fund 257,000 projects. Included among those are 9 fun STEM kickstarters with updates since last September (note: some of these may be older but their feed has been recently active).
Inspiring young women to enter STEM fields is the common theme for several of the projects I’m looking at today. Of course, this is not surprising given the emphasis on teaching young adults, particularly females, about STEM areas. What better way to do that than through a cool new idea. Those specifically geared towards women are:
- Getting Girls Excited About STEM: A Children’s Book Project
- MakerGirl Goes Mobile: Introducing STEM through 3-D Printing
- Maple Box Dolls – Dolls, Activities, & Recipes Delivered
- Little Ms. Crate
- Roominate 2.0: New Smart Toys to Inspire Girls Into STEM
So, we have two STEM-focused subscription boxes, a STEM-inspired book, a 3-D printing service, and girl-focused STEM toys. That’s quite the range of female-targeted STEM products. Rather than provide a summary of each, I will encourage you to click the links above. Just a few notes though:
- MakerGirl appears to be part female empowerment, part STEM learning. Stay updated with their roadshow tour. If they visit somewhere within driving range, you can expect my daughter to be there.
- Roominate is a fully launched product now with over 20 individual items listed on Amazon (affiliate link; LTS receives a % of purchase); they look great! These may be the big birthday gift this year in our household.
The last 4 STEM kickstarters I’ll mention today are targeted toward all audiences. They are:
- Mogees Play
- The Dimensionals
- Solar Powered Airplane STEM Kit
- OurWeather – Weather Kit for STEM kids of all ages
Again, just a few notes:
- From their name, it is fairly obvious what the weather and airplane kits do. However, it is worth a click to learn more about them and see just how they accomplish their respective goals.
- I was tempted to list The Dimensionals with the girl-focused STEM kickstarters above, but the creators intend the full color comic book to be read by kids of all ages.
- No comment, just a video.
And that’s it! I am sure I missed some interesting ones, so feel free to leave a comment and let everyone know what you found. I would also be interested in hearing anyone’s feedback on the kickstarters mentioned.