Posted by This episode features a recording with Anna Gilbertson and Alana Aamodt from Momentix Toys. They make toys that use chain reaction machines to teach critical STEAM skills to kids 7 and up.
My two interviewees make up the founding team of Momentix Toys – Anna and Alana. They met in college while studying physics and that’s also where the idea for Momentix first came up and started to develop.
Anna brings her passions for engineering, design, and education to Momentix. After high school, she spent a year tutoring and mentoring 7th grade students with Americorps. That experience stuck with her as she pursued degrees in Physics and Design during undergrad.
Robotics engineering research, a senior sculpture thesis, and many problem sets in physics have cemented her belief that creative problem solving is our greatest asset, and fear of failure is our greatest barrier. Her dream is to inspire a new generation of kids who don’t see science and art as two different things for two different types of people.
Over to Alana. She first fell in love with Rube Goldberg machines in fifth grade and has been in love with them ever since. Momentix has been her brain child since the age of 10. Her longtime goal of being an inventor has finally been realized as she uses her Physics education and love of learning new things to drive the development of toys. Her dream is for any kid to see themselves as capable of doing math and physics–all they need is a framework for solving problems.
Momentix Toys has been kickstarted early 2020 is still quite on track despite the Corona Pandemic. I cannot wait to try it out, really. Momentix Toys is all about building chain reaction machines to teach STEM skills. Kids can build chain reaction machines using the building blocks that are provided, then they combine it with typical household items and – voila – there’s a chain reaction machine that waits to be tried out.
