Skip to main content

Review: Walk the Dog

 Educational games are a must for us. The child gets the fun of a game and has no idea they are learning as well. We have a lot of Smart Game items because I think working on critical thinking is a super important thing for children. To add to the collection we got Walk the Dog. This one requires you to place the dog walkers and their dogs in the right spots so that the animal are not next to another animal because they might not like each other. I like that the game pieces are very well made and do not get damaged from the child playing.


What all is included in this game? You get the game board, a tree, 3 dog walkers with dogs, 2 cats and a dog. You also get a cute bag to put all the pieces in when you are done. The booklet/manual included has 80 challenges to do. Each challenge done gets more difficult as you go through them. The front 2 pages of the manual has the instructions of how the pieces should and can be placed. You can not have any animals side by side, the leashes can not cross each other, the leashes must extend as long as they can and the leaches can go around the tree/ Since our daughter is 5 I read and explained the instructions to her so that I knew she understood.


We started with the first few challenges and our daughter was able to do them with ease. After doing some of the higher difficulty ones she needed a bit of help. I gave her time to think about the problems and if she just could not get it I placed one walker and its' dog for her. I do let her chose which one I place and then she was able to get the rest on her own. With games like this I only help if she absolutely needs help. I like for her to try and think about what is the best solution to the problem so that she is really working those critical thinking skills.


At first she was not really grasping that the dog walkers' leashes needed to extend all the way. She decided that since we walk our dog and the leash is not extended that these guys' leashes did not need to be either. However, she did finally understand that it was apart of the rules. Our daughter really enjoyed this one. She even started to make stories while playing so she was also working those creativity skills. Another plus of this game is that since the manual is all done in pictures she is able to do them on her own. I can take care of some housework or tend to little sis while she is getting her learning on.


Since the challenges do get quite hard I feel this game is well suited for elementary to middle school children; maybe even some high school. Our daughter is 5 and is easily able to do quite a bit on her own with no help at all. It does take her some time on the expert and master levels but she eventually gets them with some help. If your looking for a fun and cute learning game then Walk the Dog would be a great one to get. We have a lot of the Smart Game items and we've gotten them all from Timberdoodle. They have such a variety of critical thinking items for all ages. I suggest that you check them out even if you do not homeschool. Critical thinking can help children in other areas of school because they are learning to problem solve on their own. Ready for our next review of our 2nd grade curriculum from Timberdoodle? Let's see if you can guess what it will be.

Clues:
  • Uses colored blocks
  • Fun for the family
  • Works on critical thinking


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Sensory Tissue Box

We have been trying out a lot of new baby items this year and here is another one we did not have for our first daughter. It is called  Sensory Tissue Box . What makes this toy so much fun? Let's be honest babies love to get into things. We have tried before to let her play with a regular box of tissues. Big mess. The tissues were everywhere and they have like 250 tissues in a box, she torn them up to so an even bigger mess. Our daughter even went as far as to rip the box itself up. This sensory tissue box though is made of very soft fabric so she can not tear it up, it has 15 tissues so less to keep track of and the tissue can not be easily torn up either. This is the biggest positive of this sensory box in my opinion. Another positive to having this sensory tissue box instead of a regular one is that the tissues are different colors and sizes as well as having different textures to them. There are 6 see-through ones, 6 see-through ones that have dots on them and 3 crinkly ones. T...
2 comments
Read more

Review: All About Reading Level 4

 We have finished All About Reading Level 4 ! I am so glad that we started using this program from All About Learning Press. It is hands-down the best if you want to teach anyone to read. This last level goes over the rare teams, unexpected phonic sounds, and words that are borrowed from other languages. The break down of each lesson is amazing not only for the teacher but the student as well. The games incorporated make it really intriguing for the student. I absolutely love the little readers that come with each level. The lessons are perfectly spaced out so that it isn't too much at one time. I love the way the teacher's manual is done. As a dyslexic teaching another dyslexic I couldn't be happier with the teaching method. A lot of the things taught in all 4 levels of All About Reading I learned for the first time. I had never learned them in public school but am so glad I am able to teach them to my own kids. While most American adults read at a 7-8 grade level my seven...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: 180 Days of Social Studies 1st

When I noticed that our history class did not have a lot for social studies I decided to look for something to add into our homeschool. I came across 180 Days of Social Studies  and decided to try it. So, we started with the kindergarten version and I thought it was quite well done so we have kept it for 1st grade as well. Just like with the kinder one the booklet is done in black and white and I wish it was done in color. It goes over so much but in an easy to understand way for the age group that would be using it. 180 Days goes over American things so if you are homeschooling in another country and not learning about American history then I would look for another curriculum to use. The 1st grade version goes over the systems of government, civics, economics, geography and history. The thing I like best about 180 Days is that you only do a page a day. If your school year is a 36 weeks then you are perfectly set up to do 1 page a day. Since we do a 47 week school year we only do a...
Post a Comment
Read more