Young Engineers: Toy Chain Busts Gender Stereotypes

A new ad from a new company called GoldieBlox is drawing rave reviews for its stereotype-busting premise: It shows little girls invading the "pink aisle" of a toy store to demand toys that set them on the path toward becoming engineers and scientists, reports the Mary Sue blog. GoldieBlox got its start last fall on Kickstarter after founder Debbie Sterling, a Stanford engineering grad, got fed up with the stereotypical girls' toys she saw everywhere, reports the Huffington Post.

Now the company has notched its first big success: It's got a deal with Toys 'R' Us to start selling its first product, called "GoldieBlox and the Spinning Machine," reports Forbes. The toy kit, and others to follow, will center on a girl inventor named Goldie who must build a particular machine to solve a problem. In the first kit, users will build a belt drive to power a spinning machine. As for that ad and the premise behind it: "Downright inspirational," says Boing Boing. (More gender stereotypes stories.)