Last week Mattel launched a brand new Barbie doll. Barbie’s latest career, a robotics engineer Barbie, is an effort to encourage girls’ participation in traditionally male-dominated STEM-based careers. The new doll adds to the list of more than 200 careers held by Barbie.
In addition to the doll, Mattel has partnered with Tynker, the number one game-based platform that has helped more than 60 million kids learn to code, to launch six free Barbie-inspired coding experiences. These lessons are designed to teach logic, problem-solving, and the building blocks of coding in a fun and interactive way.
The Barbie brand hopes both of these products will introduce girls to a wider range of career options at a young age. Other STEM Barbies include astronaut, scientist, video game developer, and computer engineer.
Mattel will also provide a grant to Black Girls CODE, gift dolls at robotics workshops to reach young girls interested in developing skills in the field, and launch an e-book called Code Camp for Barbie and Friends, a kid-friendly introduction to the concepts of coding.
“Our mission is to empower youth to become the makers of tomorrow through coding, and the Barbie brand is an ideal partner to help us introduce programming to a large number of kids in a fun, engaging way,” said Krishna Vedati, co-founder and CEO, Tynker. “It’s critical that all young learners have an opportunity to explore the possibilities available in STEM fields, and Tynker’s Barbie programming experience is a valuable tool to introduce kids of all ages to these concepts while building their coding skills.”
