Home to School Connection: H2SC Series – Parental Involvement

 

Everyone; parent & schools alike talks about the importance of including families in students’ school lives, but most school, either through neglect or a sense of being overwhelmed—relegate it to only 2 major events

• Parent-Teacher Conferences (PTA)
• Parents’ evenings.

That is just not enough; all schools can improve on this vital relationship by strengthening its communication with parents.

There are ways to make parents feel included in their child’s school life, and it’s always good to start at the very beginning, at the start of the school year; this will go a long way toward building positive relationships which will have a positive  knock on effect and will immensely benefit your students in particular and the school in general.

Building a positive relationship with families takes forethought and energy, but the payoff is enormous. It generates positive benefits for their own children and for the school environment at large. Parents who feel comfortable and included in their child’s education will be a bonus to everyone: you, the school, and, most important, the child.

Some ways to improve parental involvements:

Customer Service in Schools: Schools like any other business needs to adopt a friendly and supported customer service model, which is welcoming and relaxing. So how can school adopt and communicate a customer-friendly atmosphere? This we agree could be challenging since not every “customer” comes to the school, but it is not impossible. It starts, with the little things perhaps, in the car park, security guards/personnel’s, the front desk, and these progresses outward to those who do not come to the school.

Make the initial contact positive. Your first direct communication with a family should be 100% positive. It’s not advisable to have the 1^st contact a negative one, don’t wait for a problem to arise before reaching out. First impression they say…….

Whether it’s to welcome parents to school, share a positive anecdote, or simply say it’s a pleasure to have their child in class, you want to start on an optimistic note. Especially with students who seem to be struggling academically or behaviorally, it’s crucial the first contact is encouraging as this will help build a trusting relationship with families, because your next conversation with the parents may not be as sunny, grab the opportunity as early as possible.

Keep parents updated on classroom life. School can be downright mysterious to parents because so many kids return home with few details. The simple question from parent to child “How was school today?” is often met with the most unrevealing answers, namely, “Okay”, or a list of playground activities. Encourage parents to ask open ended questions – send them a list of leading questions; some examples of questiona for parents to ask their children, which stimulates conversation

• What was the best part of the day?
• Who did you play with today?
  1. Leading on to the next question why did you play with the child (make a note of who your kids play with week on week) show me your friend and I will tell you who you are.
• What was the worst part of the day?
  1. And Why (helps catch bullying on time)
• Best subject for the day
  1. Celebrate that achievment
• Rank each subject 1best 5 not so good (see how many times a particular subject comes up and you know where your child is struggling)
• Awards – Talk about it no matter how small – a sticker or compliment

Information overload: The Information Age has brought with it a lot more options for communication or lack of communication amongst parent and child too. Teachers and schools now more than ever, have more avenues to communicate and connect with parents. Are you using the available platforms?

You can help parents by sharing details about classroom life that will jump-start end-of-day conversations. This information must be clear, concise and educating. Schools should have a parent communication strategy, is it weekly, monthly or half termly?  What’s the content?  – Fund raising only or other educational aspect

If you have a class blog or website, let parents know how to access it and encourage them to use it by creating a platform for them to interact. This will help them feel more involved and encourage them to ask direct questions about goings-on in the classroom.

Not too late to review, implement or enhance your parent involvement strategy this school year.

“In this complex world, it takes more than a good school to educate children. And it takes more than a good home. It takes these two major educational institutions working together”. Dorothy Rich

Teachers, Even Superhero Teachers Can’t Do It All!

We all believe in the power of teachers, both positive and negative, on their students. I do think that teachers make a difference – but I cannot put all of my faith in these “superstar teachers” to reform the education system the way that is truly needed, or be the sole reason for my child’s performance this new school year and here’s why:

1.    Limited superhero teachers for the growing number of kids and schools.
The schools that desperately need some sort of superstar superheroes are often unable to pay them and cannot attract the skills into the areas they are needed most to make the change. If with some stroke of luck they do find this superhuman, they do not last and school cannot retain quality, teachers.

2.    Superhero Teachers can fix most problems, but poverty is not one. Location! Location!! Location!!!.

Schools located in poverty and less access to basic amenities, have higher percentages of students living in poverty and have fewer resources available for teaching. They often have a persistent achievement gap and cannot afford superhero teachers to help bridge this cycle, cache 22 situation.

3.    Teachers are normally only temporary fixtures at a school.
All good things must come to an end and superhero teachers are no exception. Teachers good or bad come and go, moving from school to school or on to different careers. As with all things in life they will be at various stages of their teaching career (early years of teaching or nearing retirement) and that do have an influence either directly or indirectly on student’s performance.

4.    First teachers; should not be last teachers; parents need to become more involved.

 Parents are key to supporting, if not inspiring, life-long learning. When parents get involved with their children’s education, they tend to succeed academically and perform better on exams. Conversely, children, whose families are not as involved in their school experiences, are often unable to compete academically with peers.

Superhero teacher or not, I think it is unfair to blame teachers solely for the performance of their students. I agree they play a critical role in shaping the young minds in their classrooms and should they be held accountable for that  O yes! But so as long as some children are routinely assigned the least-prepared teachers, attend schools in disrepair, make do with outdated technology and instructional materials, and have limited access to a broad and rich curriculum, our nation is still at risk.

However, it seems to me that the root of issues in classrooms that tend to cause the most problems for students failure (like poverty and ill-equipped or uninvolved parents) should be the target of any true reform.
Teachers cannot do this alone, there is a lot all parties involved (Government, Parents, School educators/ owner, teachers) can do to help eradicate the profound inequities among schools and students and to fulfill our great country deep need for reform. Are you working at this for this new school year?

Leaving you with this question? I TEACH SO WHAT’S YOUR SUPERPOWER?

Have a Happy new school year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Puzzlextra’s Maths Lessons & it’s All Fun and Games

It’s All Fun and Games at our Maths Lessons   

This blog will introduce Five Games for teaching Math Facts to kids while having fun.

Practice is not what you do when you are good, it’s what makes you good, so Practice! Practice! Practice!

That’s how most students learn their addition facts or times tables.

At our Puzzle challenge club, we teach maths as part of our curriculum and it’s OK to lighten up and add some fun to math-facts learning. 

As phonics and learning the alphabets are fundamental to the ability to read, so knowing math facts is the foundation to future math learning.

The basic for maths are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Accuracy and speed are the goals. Work sheets and timed tests and games are all okay and abound in many schools and parents table but what of games! Yes! Games — are often the tools.

This week, PUZZLEXTRA LIMITED – an edutainment company working in Nigeria, with an aim to develop critical thinking skills and cognitive abilities in school learners of all ages, offers you…

FIVE GAMES TO ENGAGE STUDENTS AS THEY LEARN MATH FACTS

Math Dice
This fun math Dice reinforces math facts in a very visual way.  Also have variants – Power dice and Junior for the younger kids

Conceptual Bingo
Adapt the BINGO game to reinforce multiplication table skills. Addresses various maths section – factorization, multiplication, additions 

                                          

                                                             

Equate
This fast-paced team board game, is a fun way to practice math facts. Also have variants – Junior for younger kids

Zingo 1-2-3
This fun math game reinforces math facts in a very visual way ideal for younger kids.

Prime Pack

Adapt a traditional card game to practice math facts. Factors, division and multiplication.

                                                                  

Games –card games, and computer games — actively engage students as they reduce stress and make learning fun

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 Our products are available on Jumai and key retail stores.

You can also follow us on Twitter or like us on FB

Mail: service@puzzlextra.com

Telephone: 08033149298/08071501361/+447840026549/08063386464

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Nigeria’s first 21 Schools adopting 21st Century Learning

Puzzlextra Limited is thrilled to announce our first 21 Exemplar 21st Century Learning Schools in Nigeria.

We advocate for 21st century readiness for every student, just under a year of introducing this learning style in Nigeria, we are proud to name our first 21 schools in 4 major towns in Nigeria.

Skills

Puzzlextra have collaborated with these schools and have established a working relations with either one or a combination of our products and services listed below

1.       Puzzle challenge club (PCC)
2.       A puzzle challenge  workshop  (PCW)
3.       21st Century Teachers training
4.       Core curriculum Events– week  (Science, maths, literacy etc)
5.        Extra-Curricular or Library update

We have chosen our first 21 just to coincide with our 21st century learning platform and we will be celebrating all schools which sign up in groups of 21 as we continue to grow and works in more schools across the country.

At these schools, we work with both Staff and students’ to transfer their learning and improve their academic performance by incorporating our skills for life curriculum. This curriculum has 6 main areas, 4 out of these areas are not delivered in today’s school environment but are required in today’s employers’ market. These areas are:

Logic, Strategy, Team building, Maths, Literacy & Critical Thinking

21st Century

The 21 exemplars schools represent a wide range of learning environments, instructional frameworks and school cultures, reflecting the diverse settings in which the Puzzlextra can contribute to both updating teachers teaching skills & student success. In no particular order below is a list of schools we currently collaborate with:

 Kaduna

 1.            PANAF Schools

2.            Hakda International School

Lagos

1.            Abiola International school

2.            Childville School

3.            Amville School

 Enugu

1.            Solid Base

2.            Prime Academy

3.            Good Hope Stars School

4.            Evergreen Montessori

5.            Early Dew Montessori

 Abuja

1.            Esteem int’l school

2.            Baliz trust school

3.            Redeemer Teap

4.            Famaks school

5.            Abigail school

6.            Lightway Academy

7.            Florence Ake-Akodu

8.            Rightway Academy

9.            Queen Esther school

10.          Covenant Foundation

11.          American International School

We are thrilled to share what’s working in education through the stories of these tremendous schools, these exemplars show how dedicated, accomplished educators and school’s administrators and leaders are creating 21st century learning environments to prepare their students for college, career and life success.

We hope that interested teachers and school leaders will find ideas and inspiration for helping students build 21st century skills through our 21st Century learning platforms, products and services.

Puzzlextra wants to extend this good work and we are always looking to partner with schools to ensure no African child is left behind.

About Puzzlextra Limited

We are an edutainment company working with an aim to develop critical thinking skills and cognitive abilities in school learners of all ages.

Our aim is to work with the educational/academic institutions to create platforms where children can learn and be challenged differently but in an overall relaxed, stimulating and engaging way. We believe we are the first company in Nigeria to offer coordinated support to the basic educational journeys of our children by helping them to achieve their potential through play – using educational puzzles, strategy games and unique learning resources.

While leading private schools are in partnership with us and adopting this approach to learning, Puzzlextra advocates for local, state and federal schools to join in and support this approach in every school, where we use our unique range of educational puzzles, board games and resources.

We invite and work with schools and educational institutions across the country to create platforms that support the educational journey of the African student through curriculum based coordinated and competitive fun-filled activities.

We are open to sponsors both private and government initiatives, as our products and services will fit company’s corporate social responsibilities (CSR) criteria. Last year, we partnered with LEPA Africa on their creativity secession and also participated in COWBELL summer holiday program in the East.

“We believe that education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school, every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it”. – William Haley

School administrators, we know you are providing excellent service to your kids but let’s challenge you and your staff to think about what and how we think and s-t-r-e-t-c-h to new ways of knowing,  For further details or enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us,

You can also follow us on Twitter or like us on our Face book page

Mail: service@puzzlextra.com

Telephone: 08033149298/08071501361/+447840026549/08063386464

 

BRAIN WORTHY GAMES – Pathword

Happy New Year All.

Welcome to the first week of the first month of a new year! 2014 is a year of great things, we hope in 2013 you enjoyed our products highlights: BANANAGRAM, EQUATE, RUSH HOUR & RUSH HOUR JUNIOR

This week is all about showcasing one of our bestselling products that enhances core curricula subject English in the African brain industry; our product of choice is the Pathword.  An original idea, if you like Scrabble and Word Search, you will love this game!

Literacy and Fun

Literacy and Fun

This is an educational game that will sharpen your literacy skills whilst having fun doing it. This product offers a fabulous linguistic challenge for friends and family friends.

This is a highly recommended international award winning game and a perfect fits for all ages, there are junior tiles caters for ages 5+ too.

Who is this for you ask?

It is ideal for

• Home – Home Schooling
• Children with Special Need
• Schools – Inter-house sport events, Interschool competition and could be an new twist
• Corporate organisation
• Family events- (Game nights, Gatherings)
• English or Literacy competition:  Spelling B, Literacy Challenges, Debating week, Scrabble event/competitions.

Students at our Puzzle Challenge day (see pictures below) have discovered that it all starts off as an easy peazy, lemon squeeze challenge and do incredibly well and then SLAM, it really became a challenge.

  Looking for clues

Schools – Students can use this product during school indoor recess time and will enjoy the different level of challenges.

It will add a new dimension to spelling and in addition to finding the words, which improve spelling and language skills, players also have to make sure the pieces match.

Skills set: 

All our products have gone through a rigours selection process to ensure that we offer our customers products that meets the 3E’s Criteria– Educational, Entertaining and Exciting.

Pathword is an excellent educational game from which you learn the following skills: Literacy , Verbal reasoning, thinking skills, Tile placement, learn success &failure, problem solving, strategy formations, communication, & Team Work

What’s in the box?

 

The game consists of

A Game Grid This is a plastic storage container that doubles as a word-search grid

Puzzle Pieces: Coloured Tetris-like pieces, 6(Junior)/8. Pieces de out of Coated and Sturdy cardboard and have different levels, Original, junior and advance tiles.

Puzzle Book: A Spiral-bound Booklet with 40 Challenges – Beginner to Expert

Storage Bag: To store away puzzle pieces

Ready, Set, Play!

Gameplay and setup is very easy (and one can also easily modify rules for simpler play).

The game begins; choose a Challenge Card, each card tells you what pieces you will need to finish the puzzle, then select the indicated pieces.

To play, you cover the words with the appropriate shape.

You win if you cover the entire grid. Words can be either backwards or forwards, but not scrambled

Super simple in concept, and beautifully designed levels make this game irresistible! If you’re into word games, the spatial challenges will give you a run for your money. Builds vocabulary as occasionally, there are words used within the game that might be a bit obscure for some. A dictionary is important as occasionally, this question comes up during a game…. “Is that a word

According to R. Kimmerer: “With words at your disposal, you can see more clearly. Finding the words is another step in learning to see.”

Hope you buy it! It’s a great educational and family friendly game.

Where to Buy in Nigeria:

Lagos: Mega Plaza, The Hub, Ebeanor

East: Eastern Supermarket, Living Source Supermarket, Pentagon

North: Glory Plaza Abuja and Kaduna

Check out our website www.puzzlextra.com, we are also on Twitter and Facebook; you can always emails us at service@puzzlextra.com.

BRAIN WORTHY GAMES – Equate Game

BRAIN WORTHY GAMES – Equate Game 

Puzzlextra Limited, an edutainment company is proud to introduce this brain worthy product to the Nigerian Market.

Welcome to the first week of the last month of the year we hope you have been exercising your brains and have enjoyed our products highlight: BANANAGRAM, RUSH HOUR & RUSH HOUR JUNIOR

This week is all about showcasing one of our bestselling products that enhances core curricula subject Math in the African brain industry; our product of choice is the Equate Game.  An original idea, if you like Scrabble and math, you will love this game!

Equate game

This is an educational game that will sharpen your math skills whilst having fun doing it. A great product, that promised to offer good and fun times with family and friends, it is a family oriented with an educational aspect to the game. This is a highly recommended international award winning game and a perfect fits for all ages, there are junior tiles caters for ages 5+ too.

Who is this for you ask?

It is ideal for Home, schools, corporate organisation, family events, gatherings, inter-house sport events, game nights,  School Maths Challenges, Maths week, Interschool competition and could be an added twist in any Scrabble event/competitions.

As maths is not a game that is liked by kids generally, most parents look for ways to supplement their kid’s education and maths experiences. This product will introduce the fun side of maths and will make kids approach and think about math differently.

When playing this board game it gives the child the much needed maths practice and other ways of brushing up their math’s skills outside the usual homework, and it’s definitely fun for the whole family.

Teachers – Are you looking for ways to enhance your maths experience amongst your students? Equate Game without a doubt, offers plenty of opportunities for critical thinking, planning, review of basic math (addition, subtraction), practice in grade-level or difficult math (multiplication, division, strings of operations).

It could also act as an ice breaker for introducing a new maths topic, it’s also ideal in the introduction of challenging concepts like equivalent fractions, multiplying/dividing fractions, etc.

Skills set: 

All our products have gone through a rigours selection process to ensure that we offer our customers products that meets the 3E’s Criteria– Educational, Entertaining and Exciting.

Equate Game is an excellent educational game from which you learn the following skills: Maths, Numerical reasoning, thinking skills, Tile placement, learn success & failure, problem solving, strategy formations and communication

It is a game for co-operative play, where all players can work together trying to use up all of the tiles filling the board out and you have less of head scratching actions by players and enhanced discussions and team work. During the co-operational type of play, players who are more advanced in math get to explain their equations to the younger ones, and everyone learns.

On the other hand, it could also be competitively amongst several players taking turns and keeping scores, a lot of head scratching actions occurs here !!!!.

Equate Game requires you to think – trying to figure not just the answers but what mathematical equation to use next.  The challenge is creating an equation out of what’s available – just like coming up with word possibilities in Scrabble.

This product is a hit and one of the most famous at our Puzzle Challenge day events and in our Puzzle challenge clubs. Look at students trying their hands on the game, learning and having fun with Maths – Can you believe these two words can be put in the same sentence?

 

What’s in the box?

The game consists of

 

A Game Board as shown in the picture. This is hard cardboard like a scrabble board.

The tiles: Made out of Coated and Sturdy cardboard and have different levels, Original, junior and advance tiles.

The tile holders: This has a two-tier design, which is great for planning out possible equations

Ready, Set, Play!

Gameplay and setup is very easy (and one can also easily modify rules for simpler play). Players do not have to be good at math, as learning occurs through play.

The game begins by each player drawing 9 tiles, which can include whole numbers, fractions, and the equations tiles : addition/subtraction/multiplication/division tiles.

You have to make an equation that makes sense, like “3 x 3 = 9 “. if you’ve got 2 “4” tiles, a “x” (multiplication) tile, a “1”, and a “6”. Each move you can use an equals tile for free.

According to G. Cantor“In mathematics the art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it”,Too often kids wants to arrive at an answer. What of the equations? This game makes player explore their knowledge of math a little deeper.

It works as a great educational gift/ present suitable for birthdaChristmas even Christmass celebrations

Hope you buy it! It’s a great educational and family friendly game.

Where to Buy in Nigeria:

Lagos: Mega Plaza, The Hub, Ebeanor

East: Eastern Supermarket, Living Source Supermarket, Pentagon

North: Glory Plaza Abuja and Kaduna

Check out our website www.puzzlextra.com, we are also on Twitter and Facebook; you can always emails us at service@puzzlextra.com

Nigeria Nuggets for Home 2 Skool (H2S) Connections:

The Home 2 Skool (H2S) Connections: We know education continues in and out of school, we understand the importance of home support or home schooling and this crucial for a successful educational and developmental experience for our kids.

We should not leave educating our kids to our teachers alone, as a #teacher opens the door, but you must enter by yourself, C. June because you can take the horse to the river but you can not force it to drink. What are we as parents/guardians doing to ensure that our kids are well prepared to take in the required learning! at school or in the world.

Puzzlextra explores the future of learning in all its dimensions, covering creativity and 21st century skills, technology and innovations in education through play. Our aim for this blog is to give a Home to school support and encouragement via our Home 2 Skool (H2S) Connections nuggets. Hope you enjoy the little nuggets.

H2S Connection: Parents you can reinforce ‘school skills’ through play at home by spending time each day to create a learning experience with a game, puzzle, book or journal, this can help prep the mind for academic work. There are new games in the Nigerian market that fits all ages, so the game can be played by several generations and all ages, none is left out.

Playing games & puzzles do not only provide a platform for learning but a good family gathering that will be remembered for a long time. It is not just the gathering for an owanbe/Party that is a family gathering but the good old days of siblings playing together – are the first taste of team building or competitive play and even problem solving abilities are most likely developed through our childhood play. 

Parents, there seems to be time spent on doing every thing else than spending some quality time with the kids in this fast paced world of us. Some of our games takes 10 minutes to play and 5 mins to calm down the excitement during the set up time. Can you spare 10 minutes – get off that phone or just delay that call, switch off the TV just for 10 mins and have fun with your family.

Parents/Guardian: Do you only evaluate your child’s school’s skill when the result’s are in? or when there is a major milestone – JAMB, GSCE or Primary school leaving?. Do not leave this evaluation to a critical time as a lot of time might have been lost by then.

Also do not leave the preparation of your child’s mind to to the  mercies of Househelp or Lesson Teachers or Private tutors, as they do it at a cost or for a business needs. Luckily for parents and guardians, we don’t need to do much in order to help nurture our children’s school’s skills. We just need to provide time and space for our kids to play make-believe, with our range of selected award winning products of games and puzzles you do not have to search so high depending on what you want to encourage we have games that fits various categories.

 

For timeless games, puzzles and brain teasers that foster play and help build school’s skills, give us a call today 2348033149298/08071501361/08063386464| or send us an email on service@puzzlextra.com and talk with one of our experts there will be able to tailor ideas specifically for your child’s age and interests. We can also give you ideas of family game nights that can be bring another angle of excitements to family gatherings.

BRAIN WORTHY GAMES – Game Rush Hour & Rush Hour Junior

Puzzlextra Limited, an edutainment company is proud to introduce this brain worthy product to the Nigerian Market.

Another week has come upon us so quickly, hope you enjoyed our product highlight of last week BANANAGRAM

This week is all about our new entry in the African brain industry, our product of choice is RUSH HOUR

Rush Hour

AND RUSH HOUR JUNIOR.

Rush Hour Junior

This is such an original idea, very well thought out and would suit just about anyone. It’s a shame our Nigerian market had missed out good years for not knowing or having this product all these while.

We all know learning can be done anytime and every time, so it’s good to know this is not a puzzle for kids alone but a perfect fits for all ages

Rush Hour/Rush Hour junior is a simple, great, little mind game that the entire family can enjoy; there are not that many games out there that caters for all age group. Ages from 7 years up to 75 years can play this and with the junior set that age limit has just been lowered to suit 4+.

This puzzle has been used very successfully with Dyslexic children who can learn in a fun, non-threatening way. It is an excellent alternative to screen based games especially when good old NEPA strikes and there are no computer or screen to watch.

It is ideal to keep restless kids occupied during a blackout, in the car, or in a restaurant.

This game is fun and gets your mind going. It is a 1 player game, and is very satisfying when you complete one of the levels.

Rush Hour is easy to take with you, and it’s a good old fashioned puzzle that does not require batteries and there are no annoying beeping noises to be heard.

Who is this for you ask?

It is ideal for schools, corporate organisation, family events, gatherings, inter-house sport events, game nights and home. It can be played by individual pupils or competitively against the clock!

This product is a hit and most famous at our Puzzle Challenge day events.

Rush Hour @ PCD Lagos

Trying to extract one small red car from an every increasingly gird locked car park is a very simple but amazingly frustrating – brings a whole new meaning to road rage!!

Skills set: 

Rush Hr @ PCD in Lagos

All our products have gone through a selection process to ensure that we offer our customers products that meets the 3E’s  Criteria– Educational, Entertaining and Exciting.

Rush hour is an excellent educational game for children, working out the strategy of getting the red car out of the grid by moving other cars really gets them thinking. It is also a logic game that can be played by anyone and any age group.

Using powers of logic, can you extricate the red car from the gridlock?  That is the aim of the puzzle.

It is a puzzle for one player or competitively several players taking turns. It has a simple but engaging game play and in theory it’s for one person to play at a time but we quite often find that one person will play and several more will get involved leading to co-operative puzzle solving and much discussion and scratching of heads.

Communication skills are also developed and sometime not always team building but these are secondary skills sets that occur when the person standing around cannot wait their turn. Lol!!!

Rush Hour real requires you to think – trying to figure out how to work out the puzzle. It’s great fun but also can get quite frustrating as you wonder how a few pieces of plastic can have you so stumped!

This game really makes you think, we would recommend this excellent product when you want to enhance both logic and concentration skills.

What’s in the box?

The game consists of

A plastic box (the size of a desk calculator), with a 6×6 grid on it. There is a drawer holding the puzzle cards.

42 game cards, each bearing a puzzle, starting at the very easy end of the scale and going up to the level of “expert

As the name of the game would suggest a number of vehicles (4 trucks and 12 cars), that fit onto the grid and is the pieces you play with.

Ready, Set, Play!

Rush Hour @ PCD- East

Easy to set up with varying levels of ability suits everyone , the basic idea is to use one of the cards to set up a traffic jam of trucks and cars, these being variously 2 or 3 squares long of the grid, and then to free the red car and let it “drive” out of the gap in the grid.

The cards show in pictorial form how to lay out the cars and lorries horizontally and vertically. To make it easy the pieces are all totally different colours. Once you have the game set up you move the vehicles forward and backwards, but in no other direction, as much as you want until you find the sequence to free the red car.

It is something that older siblings can help set up and then enjoy playing as well as the younger ones. The older siblings can get quite competitive and then try to figure out which game card will cause the most difficulty.

A card can take about seconds or up to several hours to solve, it depends on the complexity of the card and the skill of the player.

Give up! Not advised there are solutions printed on the back if the jam becomes too much for you to handle, first stop and try again.

The set is pretty well made and well worth the purchase price in my opinion, Quality made game for all ages. Not a cheap game but worth the money, when you get all the skills sets attached to it.

It is so tactile and for screen lovers the game is available on i-Pad also but somehow in 2-D, though it is to all intents and purposes identical, is much less involving than having to physically push real pieces around a board.

Ideal for presents both Birthday and with Christmas fast approaching, it is great stocking filler for kids as you will offer something different and educational

Hope you buy it, it’s a great game, have fun.

Check out our website www.puzzlextra.com, we are also on Twitter and Facebook, you can always emails us at service@puzzlextra.com.

See our recent Blog on Partners site as well. http://www.thinkfun.com/smartplayblog/?p=3427