Balance Beans game review and #giveaway

Our family recently got a real treat in the mail from ThinkFun.  They sent us the game Balance Beans to review.

Jack has experience with several other ThinkFun games, so he was super excited to get into this one.

One of the features I like about ThinkFun games is that they come with a bag for the pieces.  Boxes are bulky and they tend to get destroyed around here, so it's nice when I can fit several games into a basket because they're all in drawstring bags.  This also makes them easy to tuck into a purse, diaper bag, or carry on for fun on the go.

Setting up Balance Beans was super simple.

The bean pieces are adorable!  I love the different little expressions they have.

The game comes with 9 bean pieces (singles, doubles and triples), the teeter totter style balance, and a deck of challenge cards.

The challenge cards start out easy.  You place the pieces shown on the board, and are allowed to add the pieces below the image of the game board in any position to make the scale balance.

"I did it!"

The challenge cards get increasingly more difficult as you proceed through the deck.

Jack really enjoyed playing with Balance Beans, and spent several days going through all the cards before he was willing to allow his younger sisters to have a turn.

Balance Beans is intended for players ages 5 and up, which made Katie happy, since she is six.

Although Balance Beans is designed to be a single player game, something I really appreciate for quiet time play, my girls developed a way to play together.  They were taking turns putting pieces on their sides of the board to try and keep things balanced.

They liked the faces on the beans, and were soon developing stories and having all sorts of fun with them.  Balance Beans has been a hit in my house, and I'm guessing it would go over well in your house, too.  ThinkFun is generously offering one of my readers their own Balance Beans game!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for entering!  You can connect with ThinkFun on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, G+, or through their education blog!  Please keep ThinkFun games in mind for holiday gift giving and help entertaining the kids during holiday travel.

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Square By Square game from ThinkFun

Serious fun happening at our house!  Remember when we reviewed Rush Hour?  Jack still play that game at least once a week.  Well, the good folks at ThinkFun have asked us to play Square By Square and see what we think of it.  

It's harder than you might think!  It takes spacial awareness and foresight.  The nice thing is, it's self correcting.  The pieces all have to fit in the frame.

Square By Square is a single player game.  It comes with 14 pieces and 60 challenge cards, which store in the handy pull out tray.  The whole game fits into a blue mesh bag for storage.

Eli's favorite was the BAT card (one of his favorite shirts right now has a bat on it).

Then Jack got a hold of the game, and he really enjoyed it!

Designed for kids ages 5 and up, it still managed to hold the attention of all the older kids who tried it.

I like that the kids are working on thinking and reasoning skills... and they don't even realize it!  This would be a great puzzle to take along on your next road trip, or tuck away for a sick day.  (My grandmother had a special shoebox of "sick toys" her kids only got to play with when they were in bed for the day with a cold.)

Square By Square, as well as many other great ThinkFun games is available for sale on the ThinkFun website, and on Amazon.  And right now, zulily.com has several ThinkFun games on their site, too!  You can connect with ThinkFun games on Twitter or Facebook.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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ThinkFun Games

We have reviewed games for ThinkFun before, so when they asked me if I'd like to review All Queens Chess and Rush Hour Shift, I was all too happy to agree.

All Queens Chess was perfect for us because we learned about chess this school year, and this gave the boys another way to play.

My reviewers are 11 and 13, and they had no problems setting up, understanding, and playing the game without help.  The object is to get 4 of your pieces in a row.

Jack won this particular round.

All Queens Chess is a 2 player game for ages 8 and up.  It's like a cross between chess and Connect Four.  This game would be a great way to introduce a child to chess strategy.  I like the way that it teaches kids how to think a couple moves ahead of where they're at.  It is currently selling for $11.99 on Amazon.

Rush Hour Shift is similar to Rush Hour, but for 2 players, instead of solo play.

Rush Hour Shift is also geared toward ages 8 and up.  It is currently selling for $24.99 on Amazon.

Similar to Rush Hour, you're trying to free your piece from traffic blocking the way.  What makes this game different is that the board is made up of 3 parts, and the outsides can slide back and forth, as dictated by the cards, creating quite a challenge!

I really like ThinkFun games.  They really do challenge reasoning skills that we don't work on nearly enough.  I like to see my kids challenging themselves and each other and growing their brains at the same time.  If you missed them, we've also reviewed Square By Square, Rush Hour, and Knot So Fast.  Jack pulls out Square by Square fairly often.

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Houdini Brain Teaser

Today, I'm reviewing another game from ThinkFun!  Houdini is a single player game, designed for ages 8 and up.  My reviewer is 11.

First, you start with Houdini, who is in handcuffs and leg shackles.

See the ring of cards on the right?  Those cards have 40 progressively more difficult puzzles for you to help Houdini escape from.

He can be tied and locked into place on the base.

All locked up!

Puzzling out how to free him.

Ta da!  He's escaped!

The whole game fits inside a drawstring bag, and would be great for travel.  I think we'll be bringing Houdini along with us on our road trip this summer.  It's currently selling for $19.99 on Amazon.

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