Nowadays, toys are designed not only for the purpose of entertainment, but for education as well. The recognized doll brand Lottie, in cooperation with the European Space Agency and an astrophysicist, will launch a new addition to their line of children’s toys: Stargazer Lottie.
Particularly targeted toward girls ages three and up, Stargazer Lottie is armed with collector cards of the solar system. Also packaged with the toy are profiles of distinguished female astrologers, and a functional, low-cost telescope, similar to the Galileoscope – although its assembly doesn’t require tools nor adhesives.
Thanks to guidance from University of Portsmouth’s astronomy senior lecturer, Karen Masters, the information and details found in the doll’s packaging are ensured to be accurate. The doll, which was presented at the annual Toy Fair, held in New York City, won Space.com’s 2015 Space Age Awards Little Scientists category.
A five-year old Canadian girl named Abby, and her mother, Zoe, brought stargazer Lottie’s conception forward. According to Lucie Follett, the director and co-founder of Arklu Ltd.,the company that creates the dolls, Zoe also offered suggestions on the clothing and packaging of the toy.
This isn’t the first time that Arklu has incorporated educational material in their products. Previously, the toy company released a robot-themed Lottie doll, tagged as “Robot Girl Lottie.” The doll, along with a customizable robot, was packaged with biographies of personalities who excelled in the field of robotics and engineering – names like Erin Kennedy, the noted robotics engineer, and Kathy Ceceri, the writer of “Robots,” a crash-guide to robot designing.
Arklu has also manufactured a similar doll, dubbed Fossil Hunter Lottie. A group, consisting predominantly of female archaeologists, palaeontologists, and geologists, named TrowelBlazers, collaborated with Arklu in this endeavor. Similar to the packaging of Stargazer Lottie, Fossil Hunter Lottie includes special, well-detailed collector cards concerning Mary Anning, a well-known British palaeontologist, to “teach and inspire children to learn about her life and achievements”, according to Arklo in a statement. In addition to the Mary Anning cards, a sheet containing a list of well-known female archaeologists and palaeontologists was also included.
