Home School Product Reviews

Great, like everything Timberdoodle sells!

Surprise, another great find by Timberdoodle!  I got this (Trucky 3) for my 3 yo to give us something fun and new to do during Christmas break.  He likes it a lot, but it’s a bit hard for him.  I think 4 and up will probably be better.  It’s very nicely made.  The only thing I can say is the games from this company (Smart Games) don’t come with good storage.  With all these little parts, I’m going to need to make a bag or something.  They come in a cardboard tray, but you’ll never get them back in the trucks like they were, at least I won’t, lol.  If you have a child who has done vision therapy and needs more work on visual perception, they’ll find this very challenging and beneficial, even if they’re older.

Logic fun for everyone

Anti-virus is fun as well as attractive and interesting.  It wraps up concepts from science in a logic challenge.  Our 4 year old is able to complete the starter challenges, and our older ones are challenged by the upper levels (our 3 year old just likes to play with the colorful pieces).  The way the pieces move diagonally as well as in groups adds to the challenge and makes it different from other logic puzzles.  The game provides an opportunity to discuss disease at the cellular level.  We added this to our “logic before lunch” sessions when we all take a logic game and complete as many levels as we can in a certain amount of time.  I wish we had 2 of every game because they especially enjoy competing against each other.

I bought Imaginets for my newly 3 year old son. He calls it his ‘shapes game’. He mostly uses it in free play, but has completed the first couple of pictures from the cards. Looking at the complexity of the harder cards, this is definetly a game that will grow with him! I like that it closes into it’s own carrying case, a feature that really cuts down on ‘missing magnets’. This game is solidly built and has a good size work surface. I would recommend it to others.

I discovered Thinking Putty just a few weeks ago & ALL three of my kids (ages 10-18) LOVE it. My oldest son is 18 & uses it to keep his hands busy as he studies for College CLEP exams! My youngest son, 10, loves to play with it while I’m reading allowed. Who am I , kidding he JUST loves to play with it anytime! I just bought one to check it out, but he wants to spend his OWN money & buy his own! He has renamed it his “Study Putty.” I’m also planning to order a few more to use in our church Children’s Ministry. I think it will be great for those kids who just can’t sit still through a lesson! I’m SO glad I stumbled on Thinking Putty while browsing the Timberdoodle site & would definitely recommend purchasing it!

This (miniLUK Starter Pack) came with our first grade package for my 7yr old, but my autistic 5yr has claimed it as his. He absolutely loves these MiniLuk games. Once he figured out how the game worked he proceeded to sit down and work thru an entire book, which is a rarity for us. For those of us with special needs kids finding something they really enjoy is such a special moment. Had it not come with the curriculum package we would of never known about it. Thanks much!

Challenging but not frustrating

I got this(miniLUK Starter Pack) for my 5 1/2 year old who will be starting kindergarten at home this year, and she LOVES it. We haven’t even officially started school yet and she’s done half the puzzles. I was concerned they would be too frustrating for her, but she enjoys them very much and is always excited to see the pattern match up. The one thing I think is a bit misleading is that they count each tile moved as one exercise–I didn’t read it carefully and so thought there were 168 total puzzles that came with it. There are 168 tile moves, but only 14 puzzles. That aside, it just means I need to buy more books because she is going through it so quickly!

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.

Challenging and fun

I bought this logic game (Titanic) with my 13 year-old in mind, but sadly, it never made it that far … my 9 year-old snagged it, and hasn’t let his sister get hold of it yet! This is a challenging, thought-provoking game that uses a neat historical tie-in to spur interest even in kids who don’t normally “go for” logic puzzles. The card challenges progress in difficulty, and many at the upper levels have left our older family members stumped. Definitely a winner!

My 5 year old loves to complete these logic problems.  For the first five or six problems I read the clues and helped to guide her through the deduction process.  Now all I do is read the clues to her and she is able to solve the problems on her own.  I appreciate that the problems slowly get harder and that the order or content of the clues are not predictable.  Through this my 5 year old has started to grasp other concepts, such as the oldest child may not have the biggest dog – something she would have previously assumed.

I saw this (SepToys Design Blocks) in the Timberdoodle catalog and decided to add it to our repertoire of thinking skilly activivities.  Smart choice!  Our oldest (17) has some challenges with visual-spatial skills and this is proving helpful  I have this assigned to each of our children 1-2 times per week.  To them, it’s not “school”, but a fun diversion from the books.  They delight in showing me their newest creation and I’m thrilled in knowing that they’re developing critical skills!