Home School Product Reviews

A good toy for all ages

Camelot Junior is very popular in our house. I bought it for my 4 year old so that he’d have something fun to do during school time, but my older boys (ages 7 and like to play it, too. I like it, too, and will frequently turn to the more difficult puzzles in the back as I’m setting it out or cleaning it up to see if I can do them. Younger children (5 and younger) will need some help to do more than the first few puzzles, but it’s a high quality toy that can be enjoyed in many ways. My 4 year old will often start just playing with the blocks as he desires, and I can let him because the wooden blocks aren’t going to get worn our or lost like the small, plastic pieces in some other games. I also think it’s silly that the princess sometimes rescues the knight. My boys just always send the knight to rescue the princess.

Creative way to learn critical thinking skills

We purchased Anaconda for our 9-yr-old son as a way to help him focus on learning critical thinking skills, as he loves critters. While he may complain about completing a math assignment on paper, he will sit quietly for a long time and work on these puzzles, figuring out which pieces must go where to complete the snake. I have been adding these types of puzzles to our homeschool curriculum so that we can all have a puzzle to work on during “game time”. My son and I race to complete our puzzles, and my other children are occupied with other puzzles. My younger children enjoy just playing with the Anaconda pieces – putting a snake together without following the diagram. These games are a refreshing change from book work and I am looking forward to continuing this aspect of our schooling.

Okay, I am not as impressed with the 3-D Skeleton puzzle as I thought I would be.  The detail is excellent, but the rib cage was difficult to put together and kept falling apart.  Also, it wouldn’t stay on the stand once we (yes, it took an 11 year old and an adult) got it together.  If I had known how it was, I am not sure I would have purchased this item.

I have to say that I am VERY impressed with the 4-D Human Skin Anatomy Puzzle. I teach nursing as well as medical terminology at the college level. I planned on using this with my children, but I am going to take it in to the college students as well. The detail is absolutely amazing and will give my children and adult students a truly amazing picture of the skin. Definitely an excellent buy!

Simple, creative learning opportunity

The 3-D Feel & Find is a helpful component of our homeschool.  It has multiple uses for multiple ages.  It is a very simple toy/game, which I like, but it still provides challenge to several age levels.  My younger children use the puzzles outside of the bag to match the shapes, which include basic shapes as well as people, trees and animals, to their wooden opening.  My older children are able to match the pieces while they are still in the bag and thus unseen, developing their sense of touch better.  Additionally, the game is good for teaching shapes and colors. The pieces can be further used for role-playing with the people and the animals.   All the pieces store in a durable drawstring canvas bag.  The puzzle pieces can be used also without the wooden bases to role play.  Note that the box depicts pieces that may not be identical to the inside contents in terms of the specific shapes, but they are basically like what is shown.

This turtle maze is appealing in various ways. It is a fun quiet toy for your child to play with, without making a mess or losing pieces. It teaches good manual skills, and mental skills, as well. As they begin, they will just work on the ability to move the balls around, but eventually they will begin matching the colors and bring up the skill level a notch.

Andrea

Get ready for fun!

This (Hide and Seek Safari) is our family’s first foray into these types of puzzles and I LOVE this one! Question is, who is going to love it more, kids or parents?! My husband and I put the kids to bed and then sat and played with this game for an hour or more! Deceptively easy. The colors are bright and engaging, tiles easy to put in place, my littles (2 & 3) enjoy trying to hide different animals. The older two kids (7 & 5) are just in love with it. A family winner! A bonus is how portable it is – the top piece slides back to reveal a hidden compartment that the booklet and pieces fit in…Amazing! Another great Timber product.

Geopuzzles

Helpful with geography memorization

My 6 and 4 year-olds have both done the Asia and Europe puzzles. The six year old does it in no time at all and the 4 year old takes her time but gets through it as well. They are both in Classical Conversations where they need to memorize 165 points of geography. The puzzles have helped them memorize the geography extremely well. The six year old has it memorized completely while the 4 year old has about half of it. I have a friend who works for the foreign service who will be serving in Turkmenistan next year and my kids actually know where that is!

The Global Animal Puzzle is our first attempt at doing a “grown-up” puzzle together (parents and 8 year old daughter).  DD has already learned quite a bit from doing geography puzzles for children, so I was thrilled to see her eyes light up when she recognized the name of a country and knew which continent it was part of.  It is slow going (mainly because we have to keep stashing it in the sewing room when her younger siblings are up…they are definitely not ready for the Global Animal Puzzle!), but we are loving the time spent together and the learning involved in doing this beautiful, high-quality puzzle together.

Oberlin, OH

The Green Start Giant Floor Puzzle: On The Farm is a great floor puzzle! The pieces are nice and big for your little ones hands. They are big enough to see the details. It is busy enough to use the detail to reason where the pieces go, yet not too busy to feel cluttered. The pieces are thick and sturdy. My kids were proud of their creation and wanted to save it for Daddy to see. The only negative is that the box has a side opening, so the kids can’t just toss the pieces in. I have to make them into 2 stacks, with the pieces going long ways, and them put each stack in to the box.

Homeschool mom