An activity and toy that teaches kids the phases of the moon. The kids got a ‘remote controlled moon in my room’ over the summer. It’s pretty cool. It changes phases which prompted Wes and Rems to start learning the phase names. We took this learning opportunity one step further and set up a lamp + globe + styrofoam ball in the living room and let Wes play around with how the phases change as the moon rotates around the earth. I’ve since bought this toy for numerous friends. The kids love it, and we love it.
Rush Hour Traffic Jam Jr. is a game that teaches kids problem solving skills. A deck of cards displays various "problems" and the kids have to figure out how to move the vehicles around the board so that the ice cream truck has a clear path to make it's delivery. I've recommended this game to a couple families and it's been a hit everytime.
This toy teaches:
Problem solving skills & pathfinding. It can take anywhere from 2 to 20 maneuvers to get the ice cream truck from point A to point B. This task involves problem solving such as being aware that moving one piece in a certain direction may affect how another piece may be moved. It also involves pathfinding as kids must look at the whole board and plan out a series of steps that will maneuver the ice cream truck to where it needs to go.
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Robots, turtles, lasers, hidden gems, puzzles, and programming -- what's not to love?
Robot Turtles is a Kickstarter game that has been hugely popular, and not just because some of the turtles have lasers strapped to their backs. The game is designed to adapt to the ability of the players; young kids can give one direction at a time, older kids must plan out 'X' number of steps in advance and incorporate programing concepts such as functions and recursion to move the turtles through complex paths. There are no words, letters, or numbers on the game pieces so being able to read or count is not necessary, meaning even the youngest of turtle masters can play this game.
For our review, I had both my 4 yr old and 2 yr old play the game with me. The 2 yr old wasn't interested, but my 4 yr old did an excellent job of telling me where the turtle should go. Of course, Wes typically runs by his own rules so getting the gem wasn't on the top of his to do list, but that will change as we play the game.
This toy teaches:
Computer programing & coding skills. Kids give the turtles directions and the turtle mover must follow the directions on the card, in order. This is great practice for coding and thinking ahead in a serial fashion. The function frog teaches kids about functions and recursion.
Pathfinding. Also known as planning ahead, kids will need to look at the whole board and decide on the fastest, easiest route to take. Not quite as complex as the traveling salesman problem, this is an area where humans typically beat out machines in being able to determine, quickly the best solution.
Persistence. It can take a long time to get to the gem, and it can be pretty frustrating when the turtle goes where you tell it to go instead of where you want it to go. And sometimes, this requires persistence on the adult's end too. However, as long as you make it possible to get the turtle, you can encourage your kids to keep trying for their goal.
We picked up a microscope for our kids. I admit, it took me a while to figure out how to use it, (I probably should have read the instructions first.) The microscope works, and you can certainly see some neat things though they are not as clear as the images in the booklet.
I think the real magic to this toy is getting your kids to be curious enough to look at things under the microscope. Sure, a chunk of potato may not look that interesting, but a shredded carrot does. It's the act of searching for that next ,"Cool, look at that" moment, where kids find their curiosity. Personally, I think that is far more important than being able to recite the names of the organelles and the difference between a eukaryote and a prokaryote. Not that knowing those things are bad (Yay, if you or your child knows them!) it's just that teaching kids to be curious is super important, and that's what this toy does.
Snap Circuits is an electronic kit, which teaches kids about electricity through a variety of projects.
Hey fellow nerds!
I just posted my first ever youtube video. I'd throw confetti and glitter around to celebrate, but I don't want to have to clean it all up afterwards.
Snap circuits is W's favorite toy so far. It's also been a great way get some daddy-son or mommy-son time. The kit comes with a booklet of fun and interesting projects to do. He definitely needs an adult to help him with the projects, if for no other reason than to read the instructions. However, W is pretty good at following the schematic, and he can even tell you how the electricity flows. The only downside with this toy, is that it doesn't go into much detail about what some of the components are. For instance, what is a resistor, and why is it necessary?
None the less, this is a great toy to put on anyone's christmas list.
