Summer is here, and with it comes three months of school-free fun! Although we all need a break from learning every once in a while, it doesn’t hurt to make sure kids brush up on their skills to avoid the dreaded summer backslide.
Enter Brown Toy Box. These educational kits are the perfect summer products to ensure that kids learn while also having fun — a win-win! Designed for kids ages 5 and up, these STEAM-authenticated kits cover everything from coding and app development to astronomy.
Founder and Principal of Play Terri-Nichelle Bradley created Brown Toy Box with the mission of allowing every Black kid to see themselves positively represented in every space, including their own toy boxes. The company is centering play in order to disrupt generational poverty by normalizing Black excellence, cultivating curiosity, and building 21st century skills to create pathways to prosperous careers and expand Black kids’ ideas for their life’s possibilities.
Although the brand has expanded its products to include books, games, puzzles, and more, the heart of Brown Toy Box is its STEAM kits. Kids can choose from six different kits: Astronomy, Chemistry, Coding and App Development, Marine Biology, Museum Arts, and Robotics. Each kit is accompanied by a member of the Dadisi Crew, a fictional boarding school in Atlanta, Georgia, full of students who want to learn more about the world.
The kits are packed full of activities, games, and learning materials to get kids excited about the sciences. For example, the chemistry set includes a puzzle of the periodic table that kids can use to discover the correct order of the elements. The kit also comes with an activity booklet, in which young scientists can write down the name of the different elements and even grow their own crystals! Little chemists will love getting hands-on with their learning to discover a new passion.
There are many little pieces included in each set so although the sets can travel easily, I’d recommend that kids complete the crafts and activities on a flat surface. Once playtime is over, parents can make sure the pieces are stored in a safe place.
As the weather warms up, not only will kids want to get physical, but with Brown Toy Box, they’ll also want to get physics-cal!
