Mel’s Thoughts:
Timberdoodle, home of all things educational, including homeschool curriculum and educational games and toys, has sent us two more great products to review. This time they sent us the BrainBox and a Hot Rocket. Let’s start with the wonderful BrainBox.
BrainBox is a sort of trivia game based on short-term memory and good observational skills. It’s a great way to help your child develop his learning skills. BrainBox comes in several different varieties, including My First BrainBox, BrainBox World, BrainBox USA, BrainBox US Presidents, and BrainBox Animals. We chose to receive BrainBox USA. The box that the game is stored in is just a gift size, square box with a slip-off lid. The whole box is very sturdy, so that makes for great storage if your kids are a little rougher on things, as I know my boys can be. When we opened up our box, in one compartment was an hour glass, as well as a diamond shaped dice. Then in a separate compartment, we had all our game cards, all 55 of them, including 10 questions on each card, totaling 550 geography facts you and your child can learn together.
Here’s how you play. Your child picks a card and has 10 seconds to look at the picture side of the card and try to memorize the facts he observes. When his time is up, he hands the card to you or to another player, and he rolls his dice. The number he gets on the dice is the number of the question you or the other player has to ask him. If he gets the question correct, he gets to keep the card; if not, then the card goes back in the box. Then it’s the next person’s turn. Whoever has the most cards at the end of the game wins. This game can be played with 1 or more players, and it’s meant for ages 8 and up. All of the cards in our box correspond to a specific state or U.S. territory. This is going to be a great learning tool not only for school, but for us to get to know more about our country. I say “us” because I think with homeschooling, I have learned so much right alongside Jacob, things I never knew or had forgotten. It’s so amazing and exhilarating to learn and learn some more.  You can order BrainBox for $17.00 from Timberdoodle, which to me, is a very good price, for something that is going to last a very long time and provide much learning experience that is both educational and lots of fun.
Now the other thing we received from Timberdoodle was Hot Rocketz. Now this toy is a winner with Jacob; I haven’t tried it with Jaden yet….I’m not sure how he’d do with the bungee. This can be an inside or outside toy, and it’s made out of foam, so it floats, meaning it’d be fun at the pool too. It’s a very simple design. It is shaped like a rocket and has a red bungee cord inside with a handle on the outside; you grab the handle and pull, letting go as you watch the rocket launch through the room. These babies have been known to soar 100 feet. Although we haven’t gotten ours 10 feet yet, I’m sure we will, as Jacob is having a lot of fun figuring out how to make it go farther.  Hot Rocketz are for ages 4 and up. You can get Hot Rocketz for $1.95 from Timberdoodle.
Timberdoodle has graciously offered to give our readers a coupon code for a free Hot Rocketz with any order placed by Monday, December 21, 2009. When you place your order with Timberdoodle, just add the Hot Rocketz to your order, and insert this coupon code- mfreerocket - at checkout. With Christmas coming up, BrainBox would make an excellent present, and Hot Rocketz an excellent stocking stuffer, at least, in my opinion.
Melissa J.’s Thoughts:
(Disclosure: We were provided BrainBox and Hot Rocketz, free of charge, by Timberdoodle, in association with MamaBuzz.)
