Reviews for 8-11 years old
We love the simple premise of Family Talk and Grandparent Talk — card decks with questions that provide the perfect spark for conversations among family members and peers. The games include 100 diverse question cards clipped together and small enough to bring anywhere where it might be helpful and enjoyable to pass time or become lost in memorable conversation. The questions have been developed for ages four and up — the younger set will need help reading the cards, of course. In Family Talk, questions are as simple as, “What is your favorite color?” or can get as detailed as, “What is one of the most important things your parents taught you?” Grandparent Talk is designed to help deepen intergenerational relationships among family members and keep family history alive. Questions range from: “Did you have your own bedroom growing up?” and “Who was your favorite teacher and why?” to “Are you afraid of anything?” and “What do you think about kids today?” Writing about this makes me want to turn back time to play this game with my own grandparents. Both games (as well as a Family Talk 2 version) come in the portable clip format or in a tabletop jar format. The Founder of Around the Table Games is a working mom who enjoyed learning all she could about her grandparents and great grandparents — and who knows how today’s busy lifestyles can prevent us from enjoying these types of valuable interactions. The games are great gifts for kids and their families, or for yourself — to keep at your home for when your grandchildren visit. Your “talks” will never be the same again!
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The latest and 6th installment of the Mia Adventures is chock-full of learning objectives, cleverly layered within 12 engaging activities and one giant adventure that allows you (or your grandchild) to jump right into a movie of sorts, manipulate its main character (Mia), and play a decisive role in the ins-and-outs and outcome of her adventure. And, oh, by the way — you’re grandchild will learn plenty in the process. You can’t really compare this DVD-ROM to other reading software for this age group (grades K - 3) because the graphics alone make it stand out. It is movie-quality with unique characters, sets, props and game ideas that will make you chuckle and scratch your head, thinking, “How on earth did they come up with that idea?” Suffice it to say that the experience is refreshing. The DVD-ROM is split into 2 parts: Activities and Mia’s Adventure. The activities require less of a commitment, and your grandchild can hop from one game to the next fairly easily, choosing levels of play from 1-4. Each game or activity has stated learning objectives, such as reading comprehension, upper and lower case, singular and plural, rhyming, verb tense, word recognition, etc. We’ve found that some will be easier for the younger-aged audience (Kindergarten and Grade 1) to play than others. For instance, the activities focusing on rhyming, word-letter associations or letter sounds might be less intimidating for this set. Furthermore, they will most likely need your assistance with the Activities — even though each activity does begin with instructions and demos by amusing characters — and most certainly with the Adventure portion of the DVD-ROM. At first, the Adventure will seem like you and your grandchild are watching a movie, as it is story-based. Mia is a mouse who lives in an old Victorian house where many generations of her family have lived. The new twist in this game is a collection of amusing pests (the Bugaboo Bugs) that have also moved in. The objective is to help Mia send the bugs on their way. Each adventure that your grandchild starts can be saved and re-selected. It will likely take a little while (and viewing the demo and instructions) to get used to the nuances of the game, including how to use the mouse to manipulate Mia. Again, the younger children will need your assistance. But once the basics are mastered, it truly is an adventure! For very good reasons this collection of Mia DVD-ROMs continues to grow in size and popularity. Enjoy!
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Our family loves tangram puzzles, so we were excited to find Tangoes Jr., which is a wonderful tangram puzzle “kit” for children as young as four. What I like most about Tangoes Jr. is its packaging. The sturdy cardboard puzzle cards are neatly tucked away in a flip-top briefcase about the same size as a small laptop computer. Then a drawer slides out from the right side holding each of the seven puzzle pieces in its own place. The cards, puzzles, and puzzle pieces are the perfect size for young hands, large enough to prevent fine-motor frustrations. The puzzle pieces are also lightly magnetized — again, helping to avoid frustrations from slippage. This feature, in addition to the packaging, makes the game a perfect car and travel activity. Tangoes Jr. comes with twelve 2-sided puzzle cards (the twelfth card is blank so your grandchild can create his/her own tangram puzzle). The other 11 cards (totaling 22 puzzles), have one version of a puzzle on one side (Level 1), and another version on the reverse side (Level 2). The Level 1 sides display the seven shapes, each shape clearly outlined, with all of the shapes combined to form the overall tangram puzzle shape (such as a sailboat, a house, a cat, etc.). In Level 1, matching shapes is the essential skill. The Level 2 sides do not show the dividing lines — only a silhouette of the shape. This level tests memory skills, spatial and visual discrimination, and important mathematical principles — the beauty of tangrams! Tangoes Jr. are a wonderful activity for you to do with your grandchildren, allowing you to guide them as they move on to some of the more challenging puzzles. Some of the Level 2 puzzles may even have you scratching your head. You can also purchase extra Tangoes Jr. Puzzle Packs when the original cards are mastered. For older grandchildren, be sure to check out Classic Tangoes, and the other Tangoes sets.
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The Magic School Bus - Soaring Into Flight Science Kit$19.99 at Amazon.com |
We like the Magic School Bus science kit series for several reasons. First, it’s geared to children as young as 5, and, with some guidance from you, they can actually do the experiments and learn a thing or two. We also like the instruction booklets included in the kits. Your grandchildren will enjoy following along because they feature Ms. Frizzle, Ralphie and all of the Magic School Bus characters they already know and enjoy. You’ll appreciate the easy-to-understand, yet informative curriculum provided, as well as the format of the booklet. For instance, each experiment follows the same format: 1) Question; 2) Hint; 3) Hypothesis; 4) Materials Needed; 5) Methods 6) Results; and 7) Conclusions. There is also supplemental information included with each experiment in the form of dialogue from each of the Magic School Bus characters. Clever! My little scientist at home was thrilled to test the Soaring Into Flight kit. This is a perfect Spring or Summer activity — however, these experiments can also be conducted indoors, with guidelines and plenty of space. The kit is ideal for children who enjoy airplanes or anything that flies. Twelve age-appropriate experiments explore basic concepts essential for various types of flight, such as: air pressure and resistance, wings, Newton’s third law of motion, gas pressure, spinning rotors and gravity. Your grandchildren will build and fly paper airplanes and gliders, conduct a balloon experiment, launch tiny rockets, propel spinners, compare the effectiveness of different-sized parachute sails, and more. Soaring Into Flight is one in a series of several Magic School Bus science kits, including: The Secrets of Space, A Journey Into the Human Body, and The World of Germs. The Series was created by The Young Scientists Club, who also sells its Young Scientist Series and Adventure Science Series. The company’s products are designed by a team of Harvard graduates, scientists, educators and parents — and have won all of the top educational toy awards.
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What if you could buy a great gift for your grandchild (something you’ve found on Grandkids Gift Guide, of course!) — make that gift even more special by personalizing it and wrapping it in adventure — and, better, yet — make that special experience last 1 to 2 weeks, and forever in their memories? A new service called Giftventure will make that happen for you! All you need to do is go to their website and order a giftventure by choosing an adventure and answering a few short questions about your grandchild to personalize it. Choose a treasure map adventure for kids 4-8, a maze adventure for kids 8-12, or choose from several seasonal/holiday adventures. Their characters include: Captain Percy the Pirate, Fay the Fairy Princess, Gunther the Dragon, and holiday favorites — Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and Cupid. A giftventure includes 3-4 mailers to your granchild sent every three days from the character you choose. The mailers include colorful letters and posters, as well as puzzles and clues leading them to the location of your gift. Simply provide Giftventure with your grandchild’s name and address, location where your gift will be hidden, as well as a favorite toy/game and landmark to be incorporated in their special story. Giftventure will do the rest! If you know you want to give your grandchild a giftventure but don’t know exactly when — or you’re waiting for a special occasion to occur (a birthday, the holidays — or a special visit at your house or theirs!), Giftventure provides two simple options. One option is to have the giftventure mailed to you or your grandchild’s parents as a package, where everything is included, and the letters, etc. can be distributed (by grown-ups) at the most appropriate times. Or you can purchase a Giftventure gift certificate, which can be redeemed by you or your grandchild’s parents at a later date. Once you decide to give a giftventure, all you need is the gift — and you’re only a few clicks away from that! So… let the adventure and the memory-making begin!
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These live butterfly kits provide an awe-inspiring activity for children and grownups alike. My two children and I observed the butterfly metamorphosis process at their preschool last fall, and each of us had a chance to set a beautiful Monarch butterfly free. We found ourselves mesmerized throughout the entire process. This popular kit by Insect Lore comes with an observation chamber, feeding supplies for the butterflies, an instruction booklet that includes butterfly facts, and a certificate for 3-5 “painted lady” caterpillars. Once you choose the right time for the project (during warmer months), you simply send in your certificate and the caterpillar larvae arrive in a small container with all of the nutrients they need for their trip. The metamorphosis from larva to butterfly takes about 3 weeks from the time you receive the larvae. During this process, you and your grandchild will be able to watch the larvae grow, form chrysalides, and transform into beautiful butterflies that you can set free together. It’s a little bit like watching your grandchildren grow, only faster! Note: the butterflies shouldn’t be set free in temperatures lower than 55 degrees Fahrenheit. This is an intergenerational activity that’s sure to engage children of all ages!
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When I first played with Think-ets at the 2008 Toy Fair in NYC, what initially interested me was the game’s tiny size and simplicity — a travel pouch that easily fits in a pocket, filled with 15 intriguing little objects gathered from around the world. However, after playing it for a while with my kid-testers, I soon realized that although the game is small, and it’s materials simple, the brain-exercising activities they promote are endless. Think-ets includes a small pamphlet describing 11 games, including “What’s Missing,” where 5 or more trinkets are laid out, one player looks away while the other takes a trinket away. The player who looked away needs to guess which object is missing. In another game called “What’s Your Story,” imagination rules. The first player chooses from a few trinkets and begins a story highlighting that item. Then the next player chooses another trinket and continues the story using that item as the next subject, and so on. The inventors encourage kids and their families to devise new games and email them along to the company. The trinkets in Think-ets are purposely timeless (a tiny copper goblet, satin flower, wooden alphabet block, donut, gold band, etc.) making it a thoughtful game that transcends generations — perfect for playing with your grandchild. You can choose from one of 3 games, each with a different-colored pouch containing different trinkets — or buy all 3! The manufacturer recommends ages 8 and up (and of course, advises you to keep the game away from children under 3), but Think-ets are also fun for younger children, whose memory skills are constantly being developed and whose imaginations run wild. The game’s size makes it wonderful for restaurants and vacation travel — or for fun, thoughtful time at home with your grandchildren. Enjoy!
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Poppo is an excellent game for young children who are learning to read or learning their letters, as well as for older family members who simply enjoy fast-paced fun. Poppo is named after its “poppers” — colorful flower-shaped bases with clear bubble-like domes, each containing an eight-sided die with selected letters and a red star “wild” mark. When your grandchild presses on the dome, the die pops in the bubble and displays a letter. The game works this way: you pick a card that displays a simple word as well as a picture of it, then spell that word by pressing on the poppers and finding each of the letters as fast as you can. As you can imagine, kids love to pop the poppers, and before they know it, they’ve spelled a word! Poppo can be played solo or with multiple players split into teams, since the game comes with 2 sets of poppers. With multiple players, team members take turns spelling words as fast as they can and collect as many completed cards as they can. When playing solo or in teams, a timer is used, and if the word is not complete when the timer is up, the card goes back in the deck. What makes this game so accessible is that the 100 cards are 2-sided, with 1 side showing a nicely illustrated picture of the word, and the other side showing both the illustration and the word spelled out below it. So the game can be played by children who only know their letters and are still learning to recognize them — or it can be played by emerging or early readers, who can view the picture, spell the word themselves, and then use the poppers to find the letters for that word as fast as they can. We appreciate Poppo’s versatility, as well as the creative design of its components and quality of its materials — all three of these things can be hard to come by. My own little letter and word fans (ages 3 and 5) give it a big thumbs up, as do many school systems throughout the U.S. Poppo has won plenty of awards, and like many of our recommendations, it’s a great intergenerational activity, so enjoy some poppin’ good fun with your grandchild!
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My Heritage Book is a wonderful companion piece that helps you share your family’s heritage with your grandchild. Much research, work and heart have gone into these beautifully illustrated and descriptive pages, which can be personalized throughout with your grandchild’s name. Each book has an introduction about Americans originating from different places, and space to fill in a family tree and special family traditions. Also included is a letter from you, the person giving the book as a gift and keepsake to your grandchild. Over 50 countries have been researched (a list is included on their website), with more being added constantly. You can choose up to four countries to be discussed in each book, with each country being given an equal number of pages. There’s a sample book on the website that includes pages and illustrations on Italy and Columbia, to give you an idea of the writing and illustrative style, as well as the reading level. There’s even a glossary included at the end of each book! Of course, nothing beats time together with your grandchild, discussing your family’s heritage in person — why not use this as a discussion piece during those special visits. And if you can’t be with your grandchild as much as you’d like, My Heritage Book is a creative way to help strengthen connections whether you’re in the next town or another time zone.
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Children love rocks — collecting beautiful ones, plopping them in water, and making glorious piles of them. But building structures with them? It’s not often that you find a collection of small, naturally-shaped rocks and stones that can truly build things. Stonees are a new product made from real rocks crushed with natural pigments, that are subtly shaped so children (and adults), with practice, can build creative things with them. They are all individually shaped to enable them to build upon each other in some way, but they are still rocks, so tumble they will, especially if they aren’t balanced properly. Building with Stonees takes a certain level of motor skill development — and they’re also smallish and hard (they’re rocks!) — so they’re not recommended for children under 3, and probably best for kids 5 and over. They also require patience and discipline, as it takes a while to figure out how Stonees best fit together, and a fair amount of practice balancing them. Once your grandchild has that down, the creative options are endless. I found that sitting down and working with my son (age 5), introducing him to the concept and testing various configurations together, helped avoid any possible frustration and gave him a great basis to work from. After that, he was off and running, creating walls to complement his action figure set-ups, towers, etc. We recommend you doing the same with your grandchild. Stonees are naturally fun and challenging, and can be used inside or out.
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