Solitaire Chess... A New Favorite Game

Timberdoodle has amazing products and games. We love so many of their things and are super excited that we get to review some of them. Timberdoodle provides curriculum and games for all ages and when we received a box of goodies my 8-year old went crazy. He was happy about everything, especially this Brain Fitness Solitaire Chess game.
Mr A has been wanting to learn how to play chess for years. I am no good at it and don't really understand the game. I've never taken the time to learn so I could teach it to someone else. So, when Mr A saw this tiny version of chess he immediately opened it to figure out how to play.
Solitaire Chess is a single player game with 80 challenges to strengthen mental speed and focus. You are given 10 pieces with a challenge booklet and solutions pages. Challenges range from Beginner to Expert. Mr A has begun with the Beginner levels to get used to how the pieces move around on the board. He is doing a great job at these early levels. The Movement Rules page shows how each piece can move and has helped him become familiar with what each one does.

Basically, with this game, you are playing against yourself. You are trying to eliminate one piece with every move. I love watching and listening to Mr A play this game. He talks himself through the plays and resets when he doesn't get it right. It's a process of elimination with one last piece standing. Some challenges take one try and others take over 10 until he gets it right.

I love things that can be taken on-the-go. This is probably one of our new games to take in the car or to the restaurant. Small, individual games are great for road trips or just quiet time.

Mr A is happy to finally be learning a little bit more about chess. This Solitaire Chess game is great for strategic skill building and becoming familiar with the game before moving to a real board. It would also be good for individuals who just love chess and want to play more frequently.
We are happy to have this game in our cupboard now. Mr A loves the progressive play and working his mind through the challenge until he gets it right.
Solitaire Chess is included in the 2018 6th Grade Curriculum Kit from Timberdoodle, but would also be great for any chess lover or a simple gift idea.
Have fun with this single player game... because we are.

Kwik Stix ... The Best Paint Ever

Timberdoodle sent us a set of Kwik Stix, a pack of 12 solid tempura paints. I have to say that these are the best paints in the world. My kids like painting, but I hate the mess. These are a fantastic alternative to wet paints with a brush. It's paint in a solid state that looks like a glue-stick and feels like a smooth crayon while drawing. It only takes about a minute to dry too.

Little Miss loved them and of course, only wanted to use pink.

Mr Z wanted to join in the painting fun too. He immediately started saying things like, "This is paint!? ... How do they get the paint in there?... It looks like a glue-stick... Wow, this is paint!?"

Mr Z was busy filling his entire paper with Kwik Stix paint.

The two of them also painted together on the same sheet and I was surprised that the paint didn't smudge or transfer.

I had to try them too and made a simple picture. I was amazed at how quickly the paint dried. No paint smears or any left on my finger about a minute after I had finished.

Kwik Stix can be found in the 2018 Preschool Curriculum Kit from Timberdoodle as well.
These Kwik Stix will be a go-to favorite for gifts and I can definitely see them being completely used up very quickly. I love that I was completely stress-free from start to finish during their painting time.
These Kwik Stix are my favorite craft/art item now. I love them... and my kids do too. I totally recommend these to anyone that wants stress-free and limited mess for any project.

Stages: Emotions Cards review for Timberdoodle

Timberdoodle sent us these Stages: Emotions Cards that are included in the PreK Curriculum kit. We've been having a good time with them. Included in the box are 3.5x5 inch cards with photos of people showing different emotions and a set of scenario cards.

The emotions cards include photos of sad, disgusted, angry, surprised, and happy. I do wish there were more emotions. The 5 that there are, have several different people showing the emotion. We were able to match the emotion in games of Memory or Ispy.

The scenario cards were fun to engage in conversations about feelings during certain situations. We also talked about our memories and emotions when talking about the photo. There are conversation questions on the backs of these cards to encourage discussions which does help guide you.

Also, on both sets of cards are columns for noting when the card or emotion was introduced and when it was mastered. Its a good way to track the development of your child and their understanding of their own and other people's feelings. I'd say, we have a lot more work to do before my kids understand their own emotions and that of others.

I've mostly used these emotions cards with my 5 year old. He has extreme explosive emotions and is quick to react. I was hoping using these cards with him would help relate to how other people feel when he does something or reacts with a temper, but I haven't seen any change quite yet in his behavior. He is able to connect with the photos and match the emotions or feelings when we play games with the cards, but actually applying what we talk about does not always stick in his brain.

My 2 year old really only understood happy and sad when looking at the emotions cards.

This is her being sad, above, after looking through the pictures of sad people.

We only get about 5 minutes of using the cards before they end up everywhere and Little Miss tosses them everywhere.

Overall, these cards a wonderful resource to connect with themselves and others. Emotions and feelings can be a really hard thing to understand and control. I'm glad to have these cards as a tool. Hopefully, we will be able to get ahold of personal feelings, though it can take a lifetime to learn. We do enjoy our Stages: Emotions Cards when we add them to our day.

All About Reading Level 3 review for Timberdoodle

All About Reading Level 3

A review for Timberdoodle

All About Reading Level 3 was sent to us by Timberdoodle to use and review. I was really excited for this experience since we have had a hard time finding a Language Arts curriculum that has worked for us.
Here is what you get with the Deluxe Kit in the All About Reading Level 3:
*Teacher's manual
*Student Activity book
*2 reading books
*Flash cards/ review cards
*Box for review cards with dividers
*Letter Tiles with magnets
*Tote Bag for easy storage
*Phonogram Sounds App

So, it's a lot of stuff and honestly it was a lot of prep to get it all set up. The flashcards come printed on sheets of cardstock and it all had to be cut apart. If I thought about it better, I would have used a paper cutter instead of hand scissors. Then all of the Letter Tiles had to be torn apart with a little magnet square added to the back. All together it took a few hours to prep all of the tiles and flash cards.
This set is included in the Grade 2 Curriculum kit. It is a great resource for reading, language arts and phonics awareness.
There is an assessment in the link of the AAR product that you can give your child to see if this is the right level for them. I actually had a hard time deciding if this was the right fit for my 2nd grader. Turns out, it wasn't. Mr A is 8 and in second grade, but he's probably more of a first grade level reading. He could read all of the words on the assessment, but slowly and the number of pages or amount of words on a page gives him anxiety.

This is a page from one of the reading books and this was way too much for him. He's gaining more confidence now, but I still have to read to him when there are pages with this many words on them. We do love the stories in the readers though.
I have noticed however, that this curriculum has been better suited for us to use the pieces individually than as a daily lesson. We use the readers for reading before bedtime. We take the Letter Tiles and a magnet board in the car to build words. The flash cards/ review cards we pull out randomly for review, but now that my kindergartener is starting to learn letter sounds, we use them more for him in phonics review.

We do love the Letter Tiles. We used a cookie sheet to stick them too for awhile, but it was heavy and luckily I found a smaller one that is better for travel. I would say a word and Mr A would use the Letter Tiles and try to spell it.

Here is a page from the Teacher's Manual. It is easy to follow and layed out nicely, but I haven't used it much. I personally, am not attracted to the book since it's all black and white. I do better with colorful pages. I get a general idea of the lesson and wing it. I think Mr A, my 2nd grader is the same way. He hasn't been willing to do the activities in the activity book, unless I color them first.

This one above, was one that I colored first. It had review words on the strip and we tried to read them as quickly as possible. You can see in his body language and facial expression that this isn't his favorite thing.

There is a of variety of activities in the Student book. This one above is a little flip book that we haven't done yet to practice the suffix ending -ness. 

The flash cards have been a great tool for practicing words, letter blends, phonics of individual letter, vowel teams etc. I love the storage box and the dividers. It's easy to find what was mastered, needs review and what is up-coming. I have been using these on occasion with the kindergartener too for letter phonics. He struggles with Language Arts, so any practice helps. 

But, like I've said before, we do love this curriculum, but as individual components. I think that is what makes learning at home worthwhile. That, you can use what is available in any way that you see fit. The daily structured lessons don't work for us as a family. We take what we are given and use it in ways that fits us. The kids are learning what they need in a way that is special for them.

Mr A says that he likes the Letter Tiles the best because "I can spell the words without writing with a pencil."

My advice also is, be careful choosing the level of curriculum for your child. Mr A was overwhelmed with the amount of reading that he wasn't quite ready for. He can read the words in Level 3, but its also too much. We are finding our way through the curriculum and adjusting accordingly.