STEM Board Books for Babies: A Critique of the Trend
A New Yorker article looks into the growing popularity of STEM-focused board books for little ones, featuring titles like Ruth Spiro's "Baby Loves Coding!" and Chris Ferrie's "Baby University" series. These books aim to introduce complex concepts like algorithms and quantum computing to babies and toddlers. However, experts argue they don't meet developmental needs. Peg Oliveira from Yale's Gesell Program in Early Childhood describes them as "a PowerPoint presentation dressed up as a board book," emphasizing that these books should promote preliteracy through engaging language and simple stories. This trend reflects the anxiety parents felt during the Baby Einstein craze of the late 1990s, which also faced criticism. Despite concerns, millions of these books are sold, as the number of U.S. computer science majors has grown fivefold from 2008 to 2024. While some parents enjoy sharing their passions, educators warn that the complicated language could actually complicate learning.
Key facts
- Ruth Spiro's 'Baby Loves Coding!' is part of the 'Baby Loves Science' series, which has sold over a million copies.
- Chris Ferrie's 'Baby University' series has sold more than four million copies.
- Peg Oliveira, director of the Gesell Program in Early Childhood at the Yale Child Study Center, criticizes STEM board books as 'a PowerPoint presentation dressed up as a board book.'
- The Baby Einstein franchise, launched in 1996, was acquired by Disney in 2001 and generated up to $200 million in annual sales.
- A 2007 study in The Journal of Pediatrics found that infants who watched educational baby videos understood six to eight fewer words per hour of viewing.
- In 2009, Disney offered refunds for Baby Einstein DVDs after a threatened class-action lawsuit.
- The number of computer-science majors in the U.S. rose fivefold between 2008 and 2024.
- Librarians Alana Bennison and Nora Reilly note that children's interest in these books often wanes after age one.
Entities
Artists
- Ruth Spiro
- Irene Chan
- Chris Ferrie
- William Hurley
- Sarah Kaiser
- Sandra Boynton
- Bruce Degen
- Margaret Wise Brown
Institutions
- Yale Child Study Center
- MIT Kids Press
- Penguin Random House
- Walt Disney Company
- The Journal of Pediatrics
- Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
- C. H. Booth Library
- Gesell Program in Early Childhood
Locations
- Newtown
- Connecticut
- Sandy Hook
- Green Bay
- Wisconsin
- United States