Brain building games suggestions?

[Korrale4kq]

We bought Hi Hi Cherry-O at a thrift store as James' first real structured board game. He loved it. But he outgrew the difficulty within a day, and that was with my creating some variations. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for games  preferably something a little more structured and turn taking or brain building.

[Korrale4kq]

I did want to mention this games that we did get this morning though.

Rush Hour by ThinkFun.

I was able to get for $1 this morning at our local thrift store. It is under $20 on amazon. And I think the price is good. It says it is for ages 8+ but I think that is too high.
It is a 1 player game that builds logical thinking and spatial awareness. James is only 3 but he is loving it. And is surprisingly adept at playing. He might not be able to use the least amount of moves but so far he has been able to get the red car out without help. I highly recommend!

http://youtu.be/f8i1Ij1LPik

[Kerileanne99]

Games, Games, Games!

Korrale4kq-
We love Rush Hour as well! I too was surprised by how well Alex could figure it out. And, in case you need an on-the-go distraction, there is a Rush Hour App for IPad:)
In fact, we like just about anything from MindWare, ThinkFun, or FoxMind...
Okay. Here is a list of some of our favorites inhabiting the games closet. I am going to post prior to listing them all as I am on the IPad, and my post deleted itself when I opened another window to retrieve Amazon links argh, I REALLY, STRONGLY, VEHEMENTLY dislike that!!!! (Note: realized I have to remove the word hate from my everyday language when Alex decided it was a GREAT word!

Blokus
Animalogic
Zoologic
Mindware Skippity
Quirkle
Perplexus (highly recommend, very entertaining! We keep one in the car and one in the house. Need 15-20-? Minutes of quiet? Perplexus is your friend!)
Blink card game
No Stress Chess
MindWare Q-Bitz
Tangrams (started with Tangoes, Jr when Alex was 2)

[Korrale4kq]

Ooh lots of good suggestions for birthday/Christmas this year.

We have perplexes. It is tough!
We do have a tangrams book that insterests James. My husband and James are good at them. Me not so much. I didn't k ow there was an easier version.

[Frukc]

Thank you!

My 3 year old has some limited access to computer. After setting strong time limits and website blockers he get this
http://boowakwala.uptoten.com/kids/boowakwala-games.html
where he gets games I find useful.
Labyrinths, form sorting, diference finding, route finding etc.

[Kerileanne99]

Ooh lots of good suggestions for birthday/Christmas this year.

We have perplexes. It is tough!
We do have a tangrams book that insterests James. My husband and James are good at them. Me not so much. I didn't k ow there was an easier version.

Yep! Tangoes Jr is a great starting point, although I suggest you get an expansion pack to go with it... The best part is that they are kid-friendly pictures (we have an animal expansion pack), and they are magnetic so that they don't slide everywhere when little hands are trying to do it. I will say that this is a skill easily taught-even to frustrated spacially-clueless (apparently!) mothers like myself who watch as daddy whips out the most complicated of structures!
This is why he is an inorganic chemist and can see all those rotations, flips, inversions, and the  other symmetry of group theory that left me with glazed eyes and drool on my desk
Sure wish I had played with these a lot sooner! I would have been better off to skip the fruitless studying and played with Tangrams!!!

[Korrale4kq]

The magnetic thing is a huge plus for me. We have the Melissa amd Doug pattern blocks and they frustrate James because they move too easily.   His tangrams book is pretty cute and has the shapes cut out so they can't move as much. But they are limited to about half a dozen shapes.

[MarthaT]

Great suggestions!

[Skylark]

We use different ones from Nikitin Materials (http://www.herfast.de/Nikitin-Materials/)

I can not recommend these enough. They are actually used in Shichida classes in Japan as well, but were developed by Russian family .

The beauty of it -- you can start with real simple tasks and it would grow with your child. Some tasks are even difficult for adults.

We have a few sets, and we regularly use these:

Pattern cubes http://www.herfast.de/Nikitin-Materials/Nikitin-Materials-N1-Pattern-Cubes.html
Squares http://www.herfast.de/Nikitin-Materials/Nikitin-Materials-N3-Squares.html
And also a few other ones not shown there.

A couple of others are still too challenging for my 4 yo

[Skylark]

It must be a mommy thing      We have the same story here re: tangrams    My hubby can create any shape, animal or figure our there without even a second thought, me... I wait for my kiddos to figure it out!

[Korrale4kq]

I have read that it is a male vs female brain.... But I don't think that is any more true than girls being worse at math.
I think development makes a difference. My husband grew up loving Legos, and building things and playing odd shaped puzzle games. He still loves tha stuff. Me not so much. I didn't like it as a kid and I don't like it now. The bane of my playtime with my son? Making blasted train tracks all fit togethers in a complete loop. Frankly James can do it better than me. But he loves to play together. Whatis a mother to do?
Daddy gets Lego fun. It is their special thing. Brilliant

[BTBVEN]

There's some lovely links and suggestions on this thread. Thanks very much.

Would anyone happen to know if Tangoes Jr was available through any online retailer within the UK? I looked up and found that it mainly retails in the US and so I'd be looking at additional shipping costs.

Thanks so much.

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