Home School Product Reviews

if ever a game was a life-saver, police blockade was it.  we had to make four train trips this weekend to visit our friends staying downtown.  i threw it in the backpack thinking it might keep zoe entertained for at least a few minutes on the long train ride.

i explained to her that it is a ‘thinking game’ which means that if you don’t get it right away, you can’t get frustrated and give up!  we opened up the package and set up the buildings to start the game.  the premise is that a car has been stolen and your job is to block in the stolen car with police cars so that it can’t get away.

i will admit that these are exactly the kind of games i didn’t like growing up.  i just didn’t want to spend the time working out a solution that i knew was out there somewhere so why did i need to spend my time finding it?  now these are the kind of games i love to spend my time on.  somehow being able to put at least one thing in my life into order is very satisfying.  i wondered which route zoe would take.

she loves this game.  we worked together on the first couple and then she started working them out on their own.  before i knew it, she had worked her way halfway through the beginner level.  there are four levels of puzzles for a total of 60 different challenges so i’m sure there will be plenty of opportunity for her to be occupied in the next few years.

after watching us for a little while, bill and the other kids wanted to get involved.  we ended up switching back and forth.  zoe and i would do a puzzle then pass it off to bill and tessa and tate to see if they could figure out the solution to the puzzle as quickly as we had (bill wanted me to admit that he had a little bit of a handicap with his two helpers!).

now i can hardly get the game back to play a few rounds myself.  between bill and zoe, the puzzle is never availalble anymore. i’m thinking that police blockade is going to be making car trips with us, keeping zoe occupied during naptime, making bill feel smart and even entertaining tessa and tate. plus, it seems to be sturdily constructed enough to be something we will pass down to tessa and tate to use when they get older.

this game is available from timberdoodle (published by educational insights) which specializes in homeschooling supplies and curriculum.  i think whether you are looking for something to add to your homeschool collection, or something to occupy the active brain of your child, i think for $17.75 this game is a good purchase.  so often the games i look at in the store require too much adult supervision.  this one has provided me and zoe with a good bonding opportunity, as well as giving her a feeling of success when she figures out a puzzle on her own.  as a christmas gift for your seven-year-old and up, police blockade is a great choice.