This game is designed to help children develop personal, social, and critical thinking skills. Players must identify a variety of colourful geometric shapes with 1, 2, or 3 dots and place them on a grid using visual clues. Children can follow the story on their own and check their work using the answer key.
Highest rating! 3 stars Canadian Toy Testing Council
Contents
1 story book
1 activity book
gameboard, 9 shapes, coloured die
9 beginner's logic games, 24 advanced games in 6 levels
answer key and multilingual game rules
Details
Age: 4-7
Language: English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese
Year: 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77205-117-9
George Ghanotakis
George Ghanotakis holds a law degree from the University of Quebec, and both education and philosophy degrees from the University of Toronto (B.Ed., M.A., Ph.D.). He has taught at the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, the University of Alberta, and the University of Victoria.
He is the founder of the Canadian Institute of Philosophy for Children. He also served as special consultant for the Ministry of Education (in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec), and assisted in implementing thinking-skills programs for grades K - 12.
He is the author of the award-winning Game of Wisdom and numerous books and learning resources.
Reviews
S. Evelyn Cimesa | April 25, 2016 | Products
The preschool and kindergarten years are filled with exploration. Educators guide their young students through purposeful play and inquiry-based learning, and incorporate peer instruction as often as possible. Interactive group activities such as stories and games have become favourites, as have sensory bins and manipulatives. Multidimensional educational tools and products are often selected because they engage children more effectively. Students' interests and desires to complete a variety of challenges keeps them motivated. With that, they further develop their critical thinking and social skills, as well as their gross and fine motor skills. Today we'll be discussing DC Canada Education Publishing's latest release, the Smarti Bear Brain Fitness program. This program features 4 kits, each with its own set of 33 logic puzzles, storybook, and activity book.
The Smarti Bear Brain Fitness program was developed by Dr. George Ghanotakis, the founder of the Canadian Institute of Philosophy for Children and special consultant for the implementation of thinking skills programs across the curriculum K-12.
The program energizes the executive functions and develops focus, attention, memory, reasoning, problem solving, processing speed, social play, and math and language skills. It also aligns with recent Ministry of Education objectives for mathematics and literacy readiness as well as the Common Core Standards for K - 3 english and mathematics programs.
Children engaged with the games, stories, and activities very well and the kits effectively got them thinking. The games are also easy to learn, and feature unique and inventive elements.
One director at the Ottawa YMCA/YWCA incorporated the kits into her curriculum for children from pre-K to grade 1.
"[The] kits allow a multidimensional approach to teaching concepts, [and] captures the interest and meets the needs of a variety of learning styles," says Angela Nadon, Director of Ottawa's Winners Day Camps.
She felt that the kits were best suited for children ages 5-7. Once the rules were explained, they were fully engaged. "They were eager to keep going," she says.
The kits will be available in May 2016, and retail for $34.95.
For more information about the Smarti Bear Brain Fitness program, email DC Canada at info@dc-canada.ca.