Clumsy Thief Junior Review

I have a fun card game to share with you today from Timberdoodle, Clumsy Thief Junior.  Clumsy Thief Junior is manufactured by Melon Rind and is a 2-4 player game geared for ages 5 and up.

What's included in our game?  Our game contains 76 cards - 70 of them are food cards, 4 of them are thief cards and 2 of them are trap cards.  And there is also a small pamphlet of game rules.

 

Above you can see the food cards.

And above you can see the thief cards on top and the trap cards on the bottom.  The sneaky raccoon will try and steal your food while the buckets can trap him or keep him from taking it.

 

Game Rules

What's the object of this game?  Basically all players add two numbers together to make 10 in order to collect food cards.  The player that ends up with the most food cards wins, that's it!

How do you play?  Each player is dealt 7 cards with the remaining cards placed in a deck face down.  All players look at their cards looking for two food cards that add together to make 10 (9 and 1, 6 and 4, 2 and 8, etc.).  They place these cards face up in front of them.  After everyone has made their own stacks, players can get more stacks from other players.  They can do this if they have a card that when added to the top card of a stack will make 10.  So if another player has a stack with a 2 and 8 on top, you can take that stack by placing a 2 on top of the 8 to make 10.  After all the stacks are made and taken, players replentish their hands by drawing from the draw pile until they have 5 cards for the next round.  There are special thief cards that can be used to take any stack.  A trap card can be used to take a stack with a thief on top.  When the deck is gone, the game is over!

I love that young players use mental math in this game.  Cards are constantly switching hands so you never know how things will end up and who will win 😉.  I like that all players are playing at the same time so there is never a lull.  This is a fairly fast paced game and it generally takes ~ 10 minutes for us to finish a complete game.  Clumsy Thief Junior is currently included in Timberdoodle's Kindergarten Curriculum Kit and we definitely recommend it.  Just watch out for that sneaky raccoon 🦝.

 

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  I received Clumsy Thief Junior in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Timberdoodle Show Me Science: Slime, Crystals & More Review

Our Science Kit

Today I want to share with you a fun product from Timberdoodle, Show Me Science: Slime, Crystals & More!  These experiments are geared to be a bit messy.  As someone who does a lot of science at home (including dissections), we didn't find these activities to be super messy (or maybe I'm used to it 😉).  Our kit includes 30 child-friendly experiments with practically everything we need to complete them (minus an occasional household item like water or a plastic cup).  This kit is specifically geared for students age 5 and older or Kindergarten and beyond.  I have been using our kit with E, F and G (9, 7 and 5 years old).

 Kit contents

What's included?  Our kit includes a test tube holder (holds 4 tubes), 4 small test tubes, 1 large test tube (I think it's more of a bottle), 1 funnel, 1 pipette, 3 Petri dishes, 1 yellow measuring spoon, 1 beaker, 2 stirring sticks, 1 test tube keychain, 20 Litmus paper rounds, 1 purple string, 1 test tube connector, 1 notebook, 1 pack of colored polymer beads, 1 pack of white polymer crystals, 2 food coloring (blue and red), 1 foaming agent pack, 1 purple sweet potato powder, 2 packs of urea, 1 pack of Borax, 1 PVA glue, 1 bottle of glow powder, 1 pack of cornstarch, 1 pack of citric acid, 1 pack of baking soda, several storage bags and 1 instructional manual.

As previously mentioned, our full-color instructional manual includes 30+ STEM experiments with step-by-step instructions to perform with your child or children.

What topics are covered in the experiments?  Students will learn about polymers, the fact that water and oil don't mix, density, PH, acids and bases, slime, crystals, etc.

The first experiment is for students to create expanding beads.  We love water beads so my kids were familiar with this concept but I love that they learned about polymers in the process.  Afterwards, you can shrink the beads back, which is also fun.

 

The kids watching our beads.

 

About polymers...

 

In our next experiment, the kids made crystals and even got to layer them.  They thought their tube looked like cotton candy.

Above you can see the kids with our crystals and layered tube.  We ended up making a lot.

And here you can see the step-by-step directions for this experiment.

 

The kids really enjoyed making the glow-in-the-dark keychain. 

 

Next, we put oil and water together to see if they would mix.

G was surprised because he thought that they would.

Show Me Science: Slime, Crystals & More is currently a part of Timberdoodle's Kindergarten Curriculum Kit and we definitely recommend it.  I super love how easy it makes performing experiments and having everything included and located in one convenient spot makes me so happy 😀.  This kit is a great way to ignite the wonder and love of science in your younger child.

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  I received Show Me Science in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Apple Twist Smart Games Review

I have something to share with you today from Timberdoodle, Apple Twist!  It is a single player game manufactured by Smart Games geared for children 5 and up or Kindergarten and beyond.

What's included?  This game includes 1 apple shaped game board that is divided into 5 rotatable segments making it double-sided, 3 bendable caterpillars (yellow, green and blue) and a booklet with 60 challenges and solutions.  The front sections of the apple board have numbers on them (1-5) while the backside of each segment has letters (A-E).

 

Above you can see how the segments rotate so you can have numerous game board set-ups.

 

The caterpillars are cute and bend at certain places.

 

There are a few segments that are fused and they won't bend at those locations (see the red circle above).

 

There are 4 levels of challenges: Starter, Junior, Expert and Master.  As expected, the increase in difficulty as you go along.  Each challenge has one unique solution and they can all be found at the back of the challenge booklet.

How to play?  Children choose a challenge.  Next, they turn the apple segments as indicated on the challenge card (set up the board).  Now they have to fit the caterpillars in the dimples of the board.  The caterpillar heads need to be placed as shown in each challenge.  That's it!  Basically the caterpillars are competing against each other for the same apple.  Each challenge has only one unique solution, which can be found at the end of the booklet.

 

Above you can see some of the challenges.

 

After setting up the board, all parts of the caterpillars must fit inside the dimples of the apple.  A yellow, green or blue head lets you know that the head of that specific caterpillar must be placed there.  A white head indicates that one of the caterpillar heads must be placed there but it doesn't tell you which one.  It is not uncommon for a few of the dimples to be empty once the challenge is complete.

 

In some of the harder challenges you only get the board set-up and no hints about caterpillar heads.

Above you can see Starter Challenge 1 completed.

 

G after solving Starter Challenge 2.

F with his finished challenge!

E with her completed Challenge 17 (Junior Level).

It's hard to think that we weren't familiar with Smart Games ~ 3 years ago.  Now we own a plethora of them 😉 (including Asteroid Escape & Walls & Warriors).  Smart Games encourage planning, problem solving, spatial insight and flexible thinking and we 💕 them.  It's so great to have a selection of creative and quality single player games in our home.

 

 

Apple Twist is currently included in Timberdoodle's Kindergarten curriculum kit and we highly recommend it!

 

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  I received Apple Twist in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Inchimals Review

I have another product to share with you from Timberdoodle, Inchimals!  Inchimals is manufactured by Fat Brain Toys and is geared for kids 3 and older or toddler through Kindergarten/First.  This fun and colorful block set is a great math introductory tool for younger learners.

What's included in our set?   There are 12 wooden Inchimals blocks, a dry-erase marker, and a spiral-bound dry-erase book containing 100 math puzzles.

Each wooden block is a different length and represents a different animal.  There is the one-inch ladybug all the way to the twelve-inch giraffe.  I really like that one end of each block has the number of inches, and the opposite end has the corresponding amount of dots.  The sides of the block have the unit measurements marked as well!

 

Above you can see one end of the blocks that has the numbers on it.

And above you can see one of the block ends with the corresponding amount of dots.

And here you can see the side unit measurements.

There are so many great things about this set.  It's very hands-on and the younger boys love to play with it.  It helps encourage creative thinking and dramatic play and the boys love to build towers and creations.

Above you can see that G created a staircase for his figurine.

The spiral math puzzle booklet helps children explore counting, number value, addition, subtraction, multiple numbers, etc.  The puzzles continue to increase in difficulty so kids will be challenged as they progress through the booklet and there is an answer key for all the puzzles.  Puzzles 1-25 use the addition of two numbers and only use the first 10 wooden Inchimals blocks.  Puzzles 26-50 are subtraction problems that likewise only use the first 10 blocks.  Puzzles 51-58 uses the addition of three numbers.  In the last few puzzles, students will find multiple ways to create a given number.  Let me show you some examples.

 

Puzzle 1

Puzzle 27

 

Puzzle 53

Puzzle 65

 

Puzzle 97

This is such a fun way to do math with young kids.  One frog plus one snake is equivalent to one ostrich.  I like that these blocks help children learn sequencing, shortest to longest.  They can also be used to guess measurements of household objects.  There are so many games you can use these for.  You can even discuss the animals on each block and learn basic zoology facts 😉.

G wanted to see how much taller all the blocks were than him!

 

Check out the Timberdoodle video on Inchimals below to see more for yourself!

 

 

Inchimals is a great hands-on resource to have in our homeschool that can be used both at home and on the go and if you can't tell we highly recommend it!

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  I received Inchimals at a discount in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

BJU Press Focus on Fives Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum from BJU Press Homeschool Review

{Disclaimer:  I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.}


I have a Christian Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum to share with you today, BJU Press Focus on Fives from BJU Press Homeschool.

Our BJU Press Focus on Fives Curriculum

What's included in our curriculum?  Everything is the 4th edition and we received The Teacher's Edition Part 1-6 (six books), the Worktext, Phonics Practice, Phonics and Review Cards, Write Now! Handwriting, Phonics Flip Charts, Teaching Visuals Flip Chart and Reading Books.

What subjects does this curriculum cover?  Again this curriculum is Christian based and includes science, social studies, handwriting, phonics and reading.  It is geared to help students learn the necessary skills for 1st grade, thus it's a K program. 

 Biblical Worldview Themes

There are 4 key themes that are used throughout this course and they are God is great and God is good, God created me and all things, the Bible is God's Word and it is true, and I learn in order to serve God and others.

 A closer look at the six different Teacher Edition books

 A look at the contents of our Teacher Edition Part 1

A peek inside the front of our Part 1 - Goals section

 I absolutely love these lesson overviews.  If you know me I really appreciate the at a glance look at what we are learning and where we are going with the material.

 These overviews can be found for every week.  Our Teacher's Edition Part 1 covers through week 5.

The Worktext and Phonics Practice books both have specifically made spines to be open, making it super easy to remove pages.  I love this!

Above you can see how easy it is to remove a page.

 F working on a Phonics Practice worksheet from lesson 7.

 The back of the worksheet.

Finished making a tent.

F with his homemade fort/tent in the play area.

 

F working on a Phonics Practice worksheet from lesson 27.

The back of the worksheet.

Finished making a web.

 Taking a review

 Reading the sentences and marking the correct sentence for each picture.

A flip chart for how to properly hold your pencil.

Inside our Write Now! Handwriting.  Unlike the other books, these pages are all in black and white and most of them are designed to be cut in half.

F working on a handwriting sheet for lesson7.

 

 

Completed handwriting worksheet from lesson 10.  This one was a full page.  F wanted to color the i's yellow.

 

Our Reading Books, there are 34 in total.

Here you can see a great example of the Teacher Edition walking your through this reading lesson.

It helps you point out things prior to reading - cover, title, page numbers.  Helps you ask your child questions like What do you see?  Do you have a guess at what the surprise might be?  This book is mainly a picture book so it guides you with questions to ask with your child as you go through the book.  And then it gives you questions to ask after picture reading.

The Teacher Edition books really make using this program a breeze.  They show you how to use the material, provide all the lesson plans and help you see where your child is going and what they will be learning.

 

F was near the end of his Kindergarten year when we received this program and G is a bit too young for it.  So while I haven't used this entire curriculum with F,  I have gone through various topics and lessons to cover with him.  And it's been fun!  This was super easy to do with the great organization of this curriculum.  I am really looking forward to using it in its entirety with G in another year!  If you are looking for a complete, faith-based Kindergarten curriculum I would highly recommend this one.

There are videos for this course that will become available in July.  I'm super excited about this feature!  Check out a sample video of what's to come for yourself here, it looks awesome.

Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read even more reviews of BJU Press Homeschool.

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