Pitch: Players (age 6+) build their own personal dollhouses—including modular furniture pieces, motors, connectors and switches, which can be reconfigured to create everything from elevator boxes to merry-go-rounds. (Co-creators Alice Brooks and Bettina Chen are both Stanford engineers.)
Payoff: The creativity required to build the houses—and the dramatic play that’s possible once construction is complete—can kickstart girls’ interest in engineering, and learning spatial skills at an early age will make it easier to hone them later in life.
Price: Starting at $29.99; available here.