Does your daughter love to build? While Lego sets are a hit at our house, my daughter has recently gotten more into Roominate. I introduced you to Roominate here and, since then, my kids have had a blast using Roominate to make larger structures than Lego allows for–and they can add moving parts! What’s not to love about that?
Roominate was designed by two women in the Master’s of Engineering program at Stanford. Being some of the only women in the program, they realized that their own childhood toys were part of the reason they went into engineering. And they came up with a toy that encourages girls to develop life skills that are needed in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) professions–and that are a blast to play with. If I can encourage learning without my kids even knowing it, I consider that a big parenting win. And playing with different modular components, putting together circuits and designing really cool houses, animal shelters, and amusement park rides is hands-on fun.
So now you know that Roominate can help your children develop important skills, let’s take a look at how you play with Roominate. Roominate comes in building sets with modular pieces–pieces that can fit together in all different ways. There are large bases, smaller bases and pieces of all sizes. One of the reasons my daughter likes Roominate is because she can build large houses with not too many pieces. The shapes of the pieces themselves lend themselves to creative thinking. Curved pieces can become slides or archways. Stacked slats can become staircases or all types of furniture. Bases are great for floors, walls or outdoor spaces.
And, of course, there are the circuits that can create all kinds of moving parts. My kids have made ceiling fans, carousels and a ferris wheel using the moving parts. And the newest Roominate component, the rPower, is a power hub that can connect with up to 8 Roominate circuits so girls can control lights and motors on multiple Roominate structures. An app is included with this so Roominate is controlled via your phone or tablet. Instead of just turning a circuit on, you can speed things up, change direction and turn on lights. The rPower is compatible with any Roominate building kit.
Have you tried Roominate yet? Who in your life would love to liven up their current dollhouse with a new Roominate set?
