Meet Terri-Nichelle Bradley, the visionary behind Brown Toy Box and Brown Toy Box Foundation, one of the Official Charity Partners of Gen Con 2025. Brown Toy Box Foundation is creating the next generation of Black innovators, leaders, and artists, one scholar at a time. Brown Toy Box collaborates with partners and individual dream catalysts to expose Black elementary school students to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) careers and activities through play-based learning. We sat down with Terri-Nichelle and asked her about how Brown Toy Box came to be and what makes for a good family game night.
As a parent, how do you encourage your children to get excited about STEAM learning?
My children are all adults now, but I have always reinforced STEAM thinking, collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking — especially critical thinking. I ask them probing questions that require more than a yes or no answer, then always follow up with “why do you think that was?” I want them to examine things deeply.
How did the idea for The Brown Toy Box come to you?
I had a true mountaintop moment. I was walking around a mountain, and I asked God what I should be doing with my life. And what I heard was “look at my life.” I was raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, in a time when it wasn’t diverse, and my mother made sure that my sisters and I could see ourselves in the toys we played with and the books and magazines we had in the house. She wanted us to know that we could be anything we set our minds to. Later, as a mom myself, I finally understood why that was so important. When I started Brown Toy Box, I was reading many articles about the “leaky pipeline” to STEM. I knew it wasn’t a talent, intelligence, and work ethic issue; it was more of an access, exposure, and opportunity issue, and with that, I decided to expose children to STEM through play.
Do you have a favorite hobby or game you play as a family?
We are totally a “game night” family! We play Monopoly, Taboo, and Charades. We are very competitive, so when we go to someone else’s game night, our family mantra is “we’re going to play, but we came to WIN!”
Looking back on your childhood, did you have a favorite toy or game?
My favorite toy was my Holly Hobby oven; it was like an Easy Bake Oven.
What advice do you have for families who want to get their children more involved in STEAM opportunities?
Look for things to do in your city. Go to the library. If you are buying toys, focus on toys that mix fun and learning. Find ways to incorporate STEAM language into activities in your house. Go on a nature walk, ask probing questions, empower them to take things apart, explore, and figure things out.
What’s next for The Brown Toy Box?
We have so much in the works! We just opened our first retail toy store in Atlanta, and plan to open three more through 2026. We are building out our media and game offerings. We just launched four games with Microsoft MakeCode and are working to build Raspberry Pi. We are looking to take our character-driven games to other entertainment systems.
Follow The Brown Toy Box on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to keep up to date with all their exciting plans, and stop by the booth at Gen Con 2025 to meet Terri-Nichelle and learn more about her mission to inspire the next generation of Black STEAM scholars.