STEM Room for Dolls

As huge lovers of STEM, Science / Technology / Engineering / Math, my daughters and I decided that our dolls needed a lab room of their very own.  Today we will show you how we created a STEM room for your American Girl dolls.  We wanted this room to have the feel of a NASA lab with some added classroom details.

This room was created just in time for American Girl’s, Girl of the Year, 2018 release of Luciana Vega.  Luciana is a STEM loving character!  Leaks have revealed her to have a space pod and a robotic dog!  We won’t say much more…but stay tuned for the January 1, 2018 release.

Doll of choice for our STEM room is our Josefina doll, now renamed Dr. Shelley Cazares.  We can’t wait for Luciana to join Dr. Cazares in our STEM room!  Please read  Jayla’s wonderful interview with Dr. Cazares here: http://brandyshappyhome.com/an-interview-with-a-leading-female-engineer-in-stem-dr-shelley-cazares/

This amazing MARS shirt was a fabulous “launch present” from one of my favorite sponsors, A Bee Line.  Check out A Bee Line here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ABeeLine and here: https://www.facebook.com/ABeeLineDesigns/

After lots of internet searching, we went with white walls and tables to give our room the look of a clean, sterile, NASA lab.

We used a 24 x 36 inch trifold from Michaels.  We like using trifolds on specialty room because they can easily stored away when not in play.  We always use a coupon on these trifolds.  We cut 12 inches off the top of the trifold to make it 24 inches tall.  We used a Foamwerks channel rail and straight cutter to make this cut; we find this the easiest way to make steady cuts.    You can also use a yard stick and box cutter to make this straight cut.

We purchased paper from Hobby Lobby in a small white brick pattern.  The entire board was covered with the white brick paper.  A glue stick was used to glue down the paper.  We used 9 sheets total.

On the left wall of the STEM room is a very large chalkboard.  On this chalkboard are technology drawings found from Mars One.  My daughters and I are fascinated with the possibility of sustainable life on Mars and have been following along on the Mars One journey.

When I created the chalkboard printable I originally created two separate chalkboards.  However, when gluing, I decided to cut the bottom off of one and the top off of the other to create one large chalkboard.  You can find your STEM room chalkboard printables here: Chalkboards for Doll STEM Room

Inspiration for this chalkboard in our doll STEM room came from Time Life Magazine images of mathematicians working at NASA in 1961. Inspiration also came from the movie “Hidden Figures.”  When the actress playing Katherine Johnson took the chalk and walked up to that gigantic chalkboard and showed all those men how brilliant she was left my daughters and I in awe.  We were sitting there watching the movie shouting, “Go get them!  Show them what you got!  You own them!”  🙂

So two chalkboard printables became one big one!  We added a ladder to the scene!  You never know where your inspiration will take you when creating doll scenes!

The right side of our STEM room is flanked with posters of the solar system, periodic table, world map, and constellations map.  All of these images were found on internet searches.  If you want to use the same images I used, you can use this printable here: Posters for Doll STEM Room

The clock, flag, Mars, and Rosie posters are part of the printable listed above.  We love a little Rosie the Riveter inspiration!  I did not include a NASA logo in the printable.   There are several NASA logos that you can find on internet searches.  I’ll leave it up to your own discretion to use whichever you choose.

You can find several beautiful NASA posters that are available for free download here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/  Please remember that all downloads are for personal use only.  For more detailed information on these posters read here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/about.php

We created an Apple TV for our STEM lab room!  We have a blog post coming tomorrow with the how-to!

As mentioned above, we went with simple clean white tables for this scene.  You can find out all about these foldable tables here: http://brandyshappyhome.com/doll-tailgate-folding-table-and-food/  On our back table is two of the three Lego, Women of NASA.  This back table includes school books, science and math, from American Girl.  The “First Place” ribbon is from the American Girl telescope set.  The mini binders were found at Staples.  The mini glass bottles were found at Michaels.

The Lego Women of NASA set was a must for our STEM room!  Most, if not all, STEM programs have Lego robotics.  This set added a cute touch to our Luciana Vega theme!

Our side table included the third Lego, Women of NASA, figure.  The table also included American Girl’s microscope set.  The clipboard and pencil were a DIY.  The Ipad is from an American Girl Grace baking set; more information is coming with the Apple TV in tomorrow’s post.

The telescope seen in pictures is from American Girl.  Come back tomorrow to find out how we made the Apple TV for our STEM doll room!

Are you excited to meet American Girl Luciana Vega 2018 ??  We can’t wait!