Wired has an interesting article about a new company,
Goldiebox , who is making
science and engineering toys targeted to young girls . Apparently, this new direction in play-education was not supported by the conventional toy industry, but through crowd-funding Goldiebox was able to break into the mass market and is going like gang-busters. Interesting quote from the CEO: "A lot of the men in the toy industry have daughters, and many of them are tired of what they have to offer their daughters, too."
However, before ordering, I looked around for some more information. I found that on Amazon, there are some very negative reviews. The negative reviews would have you believe that the toys have serious short-comings in the execution of the great concept. For example there were repeated complaints about the toys being frustrating.
There were also a lot of positive reviews, but the negative reviews might keep me from ordering. I do like the concept though.