My last favorite Smart Kids toy is actually one of my favorite single player game brands called SMART GAMES – it’s a good name because the games really are so great for helping kids increase logic, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.
The games are all a battle of wits and there is usually more than one solution to each scenario – I find this is a great and needed aspect to games for my kids because they struggle with it. They want to know the one right way to do something and these games are great for teaching that most of the time there are many ways to solve a problem. If you try something that doesn’t work, keep trying!
This is a game called Butterflies and it is recommended for ages 6 and up.
There are 8 tiles with butterflies on them – most of the tiles have half a butterfly, meant to be matched up to the other half on another tile.
There are 48 challenges ranging from easy to expert in the booklet included with the game. The booklet shows you how to set up each challenge and then it’s up to the player to figure out how to move the tiles around until all the butterflies are matched up.
Even the easy challenges are perfectly challenging! Sometimes my boys just want to cheat and look at the solution in the back of the book, but we persevere! I want them to learn how to keep trying, even when it’s hard, and enjoy the satisfaction of solving a difficult problem. We’re working on it, and this game helps!
Sometimes they work together, which is great too.
When the game is over, there’s a little lid for the board that snaps on and keeps all the tiles in place and prevents them from falling out and getting lost. It’s compact and portable, great for playing at home or for bringing on the road. It’s a wonderful road trip game! Even my husband and I take a turn…
A second Smart Game is called IQ Blox – this one is also compact and portable. It contains 120 challenges from easy to expert and is also for ages 6 and up.
In this game, the challenge diagram shows you where to place the white U shaped pieces. From there, the challenge is to fit in all the other colored pieces around the white Us. It is much more difficult than it sounds!
This game is smaller than a bargain paperback book but contains just as much entertainment and mental engagement. My 8 year old son can spend at least 30 minutes working on a single challenge. He’s learning some tricks and is really enjoying the trial and error of moving the pieces around until they fit just right.
SMART GAMES has dozens of great games just like these to strengthen reasoning, logic, critical thinking, and more. They are very inexpensive and make perfect gifts for any child!
{Thanks to SMART GAMES for sponsoring this review.}
