Fish Crackers!

Fish Crackers is a lovely interactive jigsaw. There are a number of levels, to be honest I didn't go through them all before I thought this should go on the blog so find out for yourself. The pieces are allowed to be rotated. 

Maths Dice

It's amazing what you can do with a cube. Think Fun takes the possibilities to the limit with the simple maths game Maths Dice. 

They suggest four different games with four levels of difficulty within each one. Great for mental warm ups at all levels. Comes complete with very clear, child friendly how to instructions that can be shown through the projector.

Interlocked

Another great game from Smart-Kit is Interlocked. Your goal is to unlock a combination of complex cuboids. This needs to done in sequence. The cuboid can be rotated so you can see the required sequence. There are twenty challenges to solve including six that are "hardcore."

Click to play game

Rocket Play

During my regular trawl through puzzles.com I came across another smart game from Smart Kit Puzzles - funny that. Your task is to help the scientist to find an engine for his rocket. Click on image to play.

Out of Balance

This is a great maths game from Smart Kit.
Each level asks that you pick the heaviest object based on the relative weights shown on each seesaw. The levels get progressively harder, adding more seesaws as you advance. At the end, the 6-seesaw puzzles may have even the adults scratching their heads. Great addition to school games collection!

Oh my goodness! This recently released game from Thinkfun is truly going to send me round the bend, grow grey hairs, deepen the wrinkles and keep me awake wondering. Check out the video below. Can't wait to get my hands on the game - quite a different one from Thinkfun.

This game would be excellent to develop childrens' understanding of translation, rotation, reflection.

Not quite a logic, problem solving puzzle but this classic game is a great one to keep the brain focused during the colder months. Follow the pattern for as long as you can.

Click to play

It's been a while but ThinkFun have just made some amendments to their site and two great new games are up and running.

Click to play

Zingo and Zingo 1-2-3 are ideal for the three to seven year bracket. The game is a simple shape/word matching game in the style of Bingo. Zingo 1-2-3 is an excellent game for the reinforcement of basic addition facts. A nice feature is the parent's control which changes the difficulty level.
The Rush Hour version is the same as Rush Hour Minimum moves where the goal is to solve the puzzle most efficiently by removing the red car by covering the least distance.
Play the games by clicking on the image above.

Create Your Own!

Mainly aimed at teachers this one, sorry kids. Edhelper.com has a large range of puzzles that you can customize. These are ideal ways of presenting activities to children that are engaging. Get the children to create their own and challenge the class!

Logic Problems

Click to play

The ability to analyze and organize information, and present it in a logical, mathematical way is, for some children, and adults, an extremely difficult thing to do. These sets of logic problems are an excellent resource to develop this skill. As a teacher it is worth visiting the solving tips link to prepare the children.

Tic Tac Toe in 3D!

Puzzling Nelson has seen tic tac toe (noughts and crosses for us Kiwis) in circular form but 3D? Play the computer or play a friend, rotate the cube to view the entire playing space.

Click to play

QR Code

This is a bit of an experiment. Puzzling Nelson was wondering how this maze like image could be used as a form of progressive puzzle. Answer the problem and get a piece of the final answer. A bit like a web quest really. QR codes are a bit like a bar code but contain a lot of information. It's pretty to easy to create your own. Visit this site to have a play. The image is scanned by a mobile phone that has a qr reader downloaded on it. The scanned image can contain text, a map, url, sms or phone number. Probably lots more that Puzzling Nelson is not aware of.

Solitaire Chess

Love Chess or wish you knew how to play? Here is a great new game from Thinkfun which challenges both the chesspert and the novice just learning to play. Using standard chess moves the goal is to leave 1 piece remaining. The catch - every move must result in a capture. Four challenges are available on this taster. Choose from the options on the notepad top right corner.

Not sure how to play

SET

One of the most popular maths card games is SET - a highly addictive, original game of visual perception; a fascinating challenge for either solitaire or competitive play. Players are challenged to identify a set of three cards that fulfill three or more of the four variables - colour, number, shape and fill. As an early morning starter activity the SET daily puzzle is a great activity to show through the classroom projector. Simply check the boxes under the cards that make a set.

QWIRKLE!

The lovely Elsa at Crackerjack Toys has just lent me QWIRKLE. How generous. This seems to have similarities to the card game SET, dominoes, even scrabble! I'll be interested to get the feedback from the children.

Invent Your Own!

While trawling through Think Fun's youtube channel I came across this home made adaptation of Rush Hour. Most puzzles are simply adaptations on existing themes. Puzzling Nelson was very impressed at the potential of this game. Does anyone else have any great ideas? Let us know.

German Marcus Gotz created this online version of the game. Not sure which came first the online game or the childrens' game.

New For Teachers

The great folk at Think Fun have now made it possible to teach Rush Hour and Chocolate Fix strategies without having to buy loads of games. Available to download are game boards and pieces for both popular games. In addition creative ways of how to use the games are included. Puzzling Nelson suggests these be printed onto thin card or laminated. To view these click on the image below.

Spin Out

The very first puzzle that Think Fun made, (they were called Binary Arts back then) was Spin Out. The goal is to slide the ruler out the sleeve by rotating the dials on the ruler. It's quite tricky. Click on the image to play.

Interactive Tangrams

There are some great polyform puzzles around - shape by shape, lokulus. The tangram is the one that most people are familiar with. Here is an interactive site to test your skill. Click on the image below to play.

Brain Labs are Here!

Brain Labs are an innovation of Think Fun, the US educational toy manufacturer. Since I'm teaching at St Josephs School in Nelson this term I thought I'd register the class to take part for a month of thinking skill development. In order to take part in brain labs it is necessary to register an interest first then set up an account for your group. I'll see how it goes this year then spread the word well before next year's event. 

The players are allowed to practice as many times as they like before they enter the tournament. Their results are analysed in conjunction with a US University.