WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — Matthew Goins is inspiring thousands of families through his diverse sets of puzzles. Each character serves as an inspiration of what children can be when they grow up.
Goins said he started Puzzle Huddle for his three small children. Now, it’s turned into a national business that he runs from home.
“Somewhere after collecting puzzles for each of my three children, I started to notice that very few of them had diverse characters,” Goins said. “I decided to cut some puzzles out of cardboard online.”
He says the prototypes weren’t the best, but they were a start. After finding a commercial printer, the final version of Puzzle Huddle came to life.
The characters show Black professionals and people of color working in a wide variety of careers. Goins said he has Hispanic and Muslim characters as well. Some are doctors, veterinarians, religious characters, chemists, and even a news reporter.
He said his creation is helping to broaden representation of various cultures.
“It’s such a singular narrative that you don’t get the diversity of the black experience. You don’t get the range of what we might be interested in. What we might associate ourselves in. It’s just kind of this singular character that supposed to appear to the broad demographic,” Goins said.
Goins said he plans to expand his product line even more to show different types of diversity from various communities.
“I hope I can make a generational difference,” Goins said.
Through his toys he is adding cultural perspectives for young children, one piece at a time.
He hopes that 20 years from now he can look back at his products and see how the toys have inspired young children to various career paths.