Great Games and Puzzles to Keep Brains Sharp Over Summer Break
Background on Sherry:
Sherry Artemenko, Speech Language Pathologist and Toy Expert is here to share super fun games and puzzles to build language skills, keeping brains sharp over the summer break.
Today I am featuring some of the PAL Award’s latest winners that spark smart play.
Magicube Story Building by Geomagworld, 3 and up, ($34.99)
- Dream product for a speech pathologist as it provides 143 characters and props for telling “The Three Pigs”
- 5 pages of clips attach to the cubes to tell the story, changing characters’ faces as the story progresses
- “Where is the wind blowing?(wolf’s huff and puff)
- Builds understanding of important elements of a good story
- Prepare for reading and writing
Bright Lights Soccer Ball by VTech, 6 months and up, ($14.99)
What’s summer without a game of soccer with your baby or toddler?- Toss the ball: encouraging phrases, songs, directions, activated by motion
- Learn rhymes, vocabulary, concepts, opposites, counting, social language
- Babies talk more to a face
Available at VTech. Click here
ARTributes by Simplyfun, 7 and up ($33.00)
Kids pick 2-3 attribute cards and draw image representing that word- players guess, my 7 yr. old drew “sweet” which we guessed, ice cream/strawberry
- From jumpy, cold, gloomy, tall, busy to sparkling, wet or lazy
- Learn vocabulary, all about adjectives and how word is associated with their drawing
Available at Simplyfun. Click here
Acorn Soup by Peaceable Kingdom/MindWare brand, 2 years and up ($17.95)
Best beginner games for preschoolers encourage pretend play- Let’s get out our recipes and make some soup for squirrel
- Follow the recipe, by category, counting, matching, sequencing
- Stir it up for some pretend play
CODENAMES: Disney Family Edition by USAopoly, 8 and up, ($24.95)
Loved Disney movie illustrations in a grid for game board- Key Card shows location of their Treasure Cards to be guessed
- Cluemaster gives clue that applies to several cards to be guessed by their teammates
- “amber” “sizzle” “submerged”
- “competitor “ described Merida from Brave and Lightning McQueen.
- A mom said, “Look at the words you’ve learned!{
- Vocabulary, association, description skills, critical thinking, all to crack the codes
Available at USAopoly. Click here
Ravensburger VW 3D Puzzle, 10 and up, ($29.99)
Kids couldn’t wait to assemble this puzzle- Wonderful opportunity for several generations to talk and assemble together
- Play began to resemble a team as we gathered numbers by section, “I’ve got the 20’s”
- Some were assembling by the numbers on the back of pieces while others were matching the illustration
- All of a sudden strips of flap sections went 3D
- Had fun as kids were surfers
Available at Amazon. Click here
Otrio by Spin Master, 6 years and up, ($34.99)
Kids and adults quickly became addicted to this game- Seems simple at first but really requires concentration, critical thinking, strategizing offensive and defensive moves to build one of 3 configurations to win
- Have trio of large, medium and small colored rings, ascending descending order, 3 of the same size in a line, or 3 co-centric circles on one space
- Players shocked when someone won, everyone started explaining their strategy–one Dad teamed up with his son when mom was the biggest threat
- Tapping language, visual memory, spatial and critical thinking skills
Available at Spin Master. Click here
Long and Tall Puzzle 123 Rocketship by The Learning Journey International, 3 and up, ($14.99)
love puzzles because they have so much learning potential- draw the whole famiy together as being assembled
- This 5’ rocketship was constructed by 4 year-old, siblings, grandma and mom
- Calling out pictures from each stage associated with 1-10
- Looking for astronauts’ feet, wrenches and “Where do the paint pots go?”
- Identifying, naming and sequencing numbers, dscribing sections of the puzzle, using positional words: higher, top, under, next, last
- Finished and said, “Blastoff!”
Available at The Learning Journey International. Click here
