Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia Product Review

Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia

I have a fun Timberdoodle product to share with you today, Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia!  This Dot-to-Dot book, done by award winning dot-to-dot artist David Kalvitis, was created to honor the centennial of Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a mile long cultural boulevard in Philadelphia.  This book includes 23 challenging dot-to-dot puzzles of museums, public art, architecture, fountains and various attractions in the Parkway Museums District.  There are one page puzzles and two page puzzles included ranging in size from 156 to almost 1700 connectable dots.  There is a puzzle key located in the back of the book that identifies which Parkway attraction is being featured.  Note however that pictures of solved puzzles are not included in this key.  This book is recommended for ages 8-108!

Prepping for our homeschool year

I have been working on preparing for our upcoming school year and this has been such a fun book to have to relax, destress and take a break.  With all of my medical stuff that crept up this summer I am finding that I need to have more down time than I did previously.  This book was fun and relaxing for me and it was rewarding to see my completed puzzles.

Our Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia book

I used a black, fine tipped pen and ruler on occasion

This is the first puzzle in the book and the first one I completed myself.  I used a ruler for every line in this puzzle.  I like the way it turned out but I didn't like the way that some of my ruler lines smeared (not much but enough to make me prefer freehand).

Here are the directions for the above puzzle.  Every puzzle except one in this book has the above directions with a different end * number.

Can you guess what this dot-to-dot will be?

I still didn't know here.

It was here that I had a pretty good guess.

If you guessed The Thinker you were right.

This was one of my favorite dot-to-dots so far.  Unlike my first, I did not use a ruler at all for this one.  It was so relaxing to sit on my back porch and complete this puzzle.  I had fun guessing what I thought it might be and then I saw The Thinker emerge before my eyes.  The Thinker by Auguste Rodin can be found at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia.

Remember when I said that one puzzle had different directions?  That would be this puzzle for The Thinker.

Completed puzzle of Fairmount Water Works

(Special note: this puzzle said it ended with *797 but I ended with *793)
Update: Thanks so much to the commenter who told me where the remaining dots are located - to the very right of the page, they are part of the roof line of the building.  I now see them!

I don't want to give away all the featured attractions in this book but I did want to show you what a two page completed puzzle looks like.  Even though this puzzle spanned two pages I found that I really enjoy freehand more than using a ruler (no smears).  I used a ruler for one line and then decided to just do my best and have fun.  So please know that you may have a preference to use a ruler but you don't have to have one.  Also I chose to use a fine tipped, black pen but you may prefer pencil (in which you can erase).  Just have fun!

This is such a fun and inexpensive book.  It's a great add on if you are studying the United States, planning a trip to Philadelphia, or just want something to help you relax and destress from the busyness of life.  I am planning on having A and B complete a few of these puzzles throughout the year as a fun component of their homeschool curriculum.  I would highly recommend it.  Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia can be purchased individually from Timberdoodle and is also part of their 11th Grade Curriculum Kit.

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  Timberdoodle sent my family Dot-to-Dot Philadelphia for free in exchange for our honest review.  All opinions are my own.