A Mighty Girl's top picks of newly released books starring girls and women who love science, engineering, and math!

With the demand for stories about female scientists at an all-time high, there have been growing numbers of exceptional books published about girls and women who love science, engineering, and math! It can be challenging for parents and educators, however, to stay up on all of the new releases so, to help make it easier, we've featured 12 of these titles in a new blog post. From books about role models like scientist Temple Grandin, computer scientist Grace Hopper, doctor Patricia Bath, mathematician Katherine Johnson, and marine biologist Eugenie Clark to fictional stories about science-loving girls curious about the world around them, there's sure to be a new book to appeal to every budding young scientist!

For more books for all ages about girls and women who love science, check out our blog post 50 Books to Inspire Science-Loving Mighty Girls or browse our entire Science / Technology Collection. Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's top picks of books for children and teens about real-life female scientists who changed the world!

"Young girls need to see role models in whatever career they may choose, just so they can picture themselves doing those jobs someday. You can't be what you can't see." — Sally Ride, First American Woman in Space

When someone mentions scientists, chances are good that the face that pops into mind is male: perhaps a picture of Albert Einstein or Neil DeGrasse Tyson, or maybe a more generic man in a lab coat. However, even when women were largely shut out of science, there were still groundbreaking women making discoveries, conducting experiments, and publishing research! And while school curricula and popular culture are slowly expanding to include women beyond a few notable favorites such as Marie Curie and Jane Goodall, many people — young and old alike — still often find themselves struggling to name even a handful of female scientists.

Fortunately, with the increasing availability of great biographies for children and teens, we can show our girls that women in science make contributions every day! And, of course, these titles are just as important to share with boys because all kids need to know that science is for girls! With that in mind, we've showcased our favorite biographies of female scientists for children and teens. From primatology to physics, the expanses of space to the vast floor of the ocean, these women made their mark and changed the way we see the world... just like the budding Mighty Girl scientists of today will one day! Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's top picks of science, math, and programming toys for curious Mighty Girls from toddlers to teens.

Kids are full of curiosity about how the world works, so why not give them a way to better explore it? With a high-quality science kit or toy, kids can incorporate the wonder of the everyday world into their play. In fact, it's amazing how much they can learn that way!

In this blog post, you'll find our favorite science, math, and programming toys and kits for curious kids of all ages. Whether you know a would-be star-gazer, a budding biologist, or an eager young robotics specialist, there are options here that will fascinate them. And who knows? Play alongside them and you might just learn something new too.

For books starring girls and women who love science, check out our blog posts: Ignite Her Curiosity: 25 Books Starring Science-Loving Mighty Girls and Those Who Dared To Discover: 15 Women Scientists You Should Know. And, for more fun STEM-related toys and kits, visit our Science & Math Toy Collection.
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A great way to encourage girls' interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields is by sharing stories starring girls and women who love science and technology! Seeing female faces as scientists, whether in the lab or out in the field, is a powerful message to girls that these subjects are open to all. And, while introducing them to real-life women in STEM through biographies is important, fictional stories showing science-loving girls and women are another excellent way to entice girls with the unlimited possibilities before them.

With that in mind, we're showcasing our favorite fictional books for both children and teens starring Mighty Girls who love science, engineering, and math — each in their own thematic section below. With options ranging from the fun and fanciful to the more contemplative, you're sure to discover a title to excite every budding scientist or engineer, girls and boys alike — after all, both need to learn that science is for everyone!

If you're looking for books for children and teens about real-life female scientists, you can find dozens of titles in our Science Biographies section. And, for toys and science kits to further support her interests, check out the recommendations in our blog posts: Wrapped Up In Science: Top 40 Science Toys for Mighty Girls and Building Her Dreams: Building and Engineering Toys for Mighty Girls. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

“Children are born true scientists. They spontaneously experiment and experience and re-experience again. They select, combine, and test, seeking to find order in their experiences — ‘which is the mostest? which is the leastest?’ They smell, taste, bite, and touch-test for hardness, softness, springiness, roughness, smoothness, coldness, warmness: they heft, shake, punch, squeeze, push, crush, rub, and try to pull things apart.”

— R. Buckminster-Fuller

Do you remember a time when learning how the world worked was fascinating? Many of us lose that sense of wonder, even if we regain it later. But fading interest in all things science isn’t the inevitable progression of childhood! You can help your Mighty Girl maintain her love of science with a little time, effort, and some great science toys.

In this blog, we highlight a few of our favorite toys for different age groups that promote an interest in science, technology, engineering, and the natural world. You can also visit our entire selection of nearly 300 empowering STEM-oriented toys in our science / technology toy section. Continue reading → Continue reading

These Mighty Girls are national finalists in the premier science competition for middle schoolers!

The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge is the premier science competition in the U.S. for middle school kids and, like every year, the Mighty Girls in the competition continue to astound! The event challenges kids in 5th through 8th grades to use their scientific know-how to come up with an invention or solution that addresses an everyday problem. Whether it's an issue that affects themselves, their family, their community, or the whole world, they get to turn their ingenuity and drive towards making a difference — and every year, it's amazing what these young scientists think up!

This year, three of the national finalists are Mighty Girl scientists! These Young Scientist finalists will be spending their summers working with mentors to develop their visions into a more polished prototype, and we can't wait to see the results at the finals in October, where they'll be vying for a $25,000 prize and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist" for 2018.

In this blog post, we introduce you to these clever and creative Mighty Girls and their incredible projects. From using infrared light to detect microplastics in ocean water to designing a water-saving toilet flushing system to using alginate gel to relieve dental pain, these Mighty Girls' inventive solutions to everyday problems will inspire science lovers of every age! Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's top picks of kids' books, toys, and clothing for bug-loving girls!

While the tired, old stereotype may be that girls scream and squeal whenever they see a bug, in reality, plenty of girls are fascinated by these tiny creatures! There are lots of girls (and women!) who love insects, from butterflies and ladybugs to spiders and worms, and want to learn all about the incredibly diverse insect world. To that end, it's important to bust stereotypes and preconceptions, both about bugs themselves and about how girls will react to them. Continue reading → Continue reading

Meet 16 Trailblazing Female Scientists Who Dared to Discover!

For centuries, women have made important contributions to the sciences, but in many cases, it took far too long for their discoveries to be recognized — if they were acknowledged at all. And too often, books and academic courses that explore the history of science neglect the remarkable, groundbreaking women who changed the world. In fact, it's a rare person, child or adult, who can name more than two or three female scientists from history — and, even in those instances, the same few names are usually mentioned time and again. Continue reading → Continue reading

Jeanne Villepreux-Power began her adult life as a dressmaker, but rose to become one of the preeminent marine biologists of her day.

If you've ever been captivated by colorful fish and sea creatures darting around an aquarium, you can thank 19th century French scientist Jeanne Villepreux-Power! Villepreux-Power began her adult life as a dressmaker, but rose to become one of the preeminent marine biologists of her day. Her invention of a glass box for holding and observing marine specimens — the first recognizable glass aquarium — earned her the title "Mother of Aquariophily" from British biologist Richard Owen. "[She] was not content with purely descriptive studies of dead specimens," French scientist Claude Arnal wrote in a tribute to her. "She was excited by life and its mysteries." Continue reading → Continue reading

Dr. Gerty Cori's groundbreaking work cracked the secrets of glucose, paving the way for treatments for diseases like diabetes.

The groundbreaking scientist Dr. Gerty Cori was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Medicine and the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in a scientific field. She shared the Nobel with her husband and lifelong research partner, Carl. Although their experience and education was identical, it took thirteen years before she was finally promoted to the same rank as him at the university where they worked. Together, the Coris made numerous breakthroughs in medical research, including discoveries that paved the way for understanding and developing treatments for diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Despite the institutionalized sexism she faced throughout her career, Gerty's tremendous scientific mind could not be denied — and her work would change the field of biochemistry forever. Continue reading → Continue reading