silliness7 Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 So my Critical Thinking catalog came in the mail the other day. Over the years I have ordered quite a few items from them. Some of them we have loved, loved, loved and still use and many of them were just a bust. Our brains might not be wired right to appreciate some of their products. I don't know. My absolute favs are the Mind Benders and the Can You Find Me? series. The Dooriddles are fun too. We don't consume them because I think they are very expensive. I've not ever tried the software. Generally speaking, the math/science books just didn't work for me...could be my brain's wiring. But the new Crypto Mind Benders look interesting. However, the book is labeled for grade 3-12. Really? How can a puzzle book challenge both a 3rd grader and a 12th grader? I wonder if the puzzles start easy and then get more difficult. The sample I worked in the catalog seemed late elementary. And the James Madison Critical Thinking Course looks AMAZING!! Everything the logic program I purchased for my 8th grader is NOT. :001_smile: I know these are new and no one has any reviews. But it's fun to look.:D I was wondering what the Hive's absolute favorite Critical Thinking products were. Feel free to share any bombs too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamachanse Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 I'd love to hear reviews of their software. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 So my Critical Thinking catalog came in the mail the other day. Over the years I have ordered quite a few items from them. Some of them we have loved, loved, loved and still use and many of them were just a bust. Our brains might not be wired right to appreciate some of their products. I don't know. My absolute favs are the Mind Benders and the Can You Find Me? series. The Dooriddles are fun too. We don't consume them because I think they are very expensive. I've not ever tried the software. Generally speaking, the math/science books just didn't work for me...could be my brain's wiring. But the new Crypto Mind Benders look interesting. However, the book is labeled for grade 3-12. Really? How can a puzzle book challenge both a 3rd grader and a 12th grader? I wonder if the puzzles start easy and then get more difficult. The sample I worked in the catalog seemed late elementary. And the James Madison Critical Thinking Course looks AMAZING!! Everything the logic program I purchased for my 8th grader is NOT. :001_smile: I know these are new and no one has any reviews. But it's fun to look.:D I was wondering what the Hive's absolute favorite Critical Thinking products were. Feel free to share any bombs too. I would love to know what logic program you are using for your 8th grader and why you like the James Madison program more. I have planned to use the Critical Thinking Book 1 and Book 2 by Harandek, but I am unsure when to start. 7th grade for Book 1? Would the James Madison books maybe come after that? I found Building Thinking Skill book 2 at a book sale last week. I was hoping to use it with my will be 6th grader next year. We just finished the Logic Liftoff series this year, for 5th grade, and we really liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I keep getting the catalog and have been meaning to try Mind Benders for my daughter. But we started with Logic Lollipop over with the Prufock Press company and I see they just made Logic Lollipop 2. I'm torn between sticking with what we know and like or making the switch to MindBenders because I have heard so many good things about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Some of their stuff looks so good, but I hesitate to buy because they are so pricey for so little. I wonder if anyone has alternative stuff, that is available from Amazon, that they recommend. Nothing in particular, just in general, stuff that might be better/cheaper from amazon, than what's offered at Critical Thinking. My nearly 5YO son was looking at the latest catalog and going through and doing all the samples. He kept saying "I want this, and this, and this", lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 We've got the Mindbenders Software. I got it a long time ago and I didn't think my daughter was ready for it at the time. But now she is! We'll give it a try and document the experience. We have the Mind Benders Track & Field Championship Beginning 2 for Grades 1-2. It looks like the type of problems we've been working on all year, so it should be pretty fun to try out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 I would love to know what logic program you are using for your 8th grader and why you like the James Madison program more. I have planned to use the Critical Thinking Book 1 and Book 2 by Harandek, but I am unsure when to start. 7th grade for Book 1? Would the James Madison books maybe come after that? I found Building Thinking Skill book 2 at a book sale last week. I was hoping to use it with my will be 6th grader next year. We just finished the Logic Liftoff series this year, for 5th grade, and we really liked it. I ordered this Logic program for 8th grade. The book made me cry. I got so frustrated with it. The author did give us all permission to be frustrated because it was confusing stuff. But it was right close to the beginning of the book. It totally destroyed my confidence. I shelved it. The samples from the James Madison books looked much more straightforward and do-able and the crime-solving aspect of it looked like a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diviya Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 We like mind benders and balance benders. I have bunch of other stuff but we haven't tried it yet. I thought they might be good for summer work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Some of their stuff looks so good, but I hesitate to buy because they are so pricey for so little. I wonder if anyone has alternative stuff, that is available from Amazon, that they recommend. Nothing in particular, just in general, stuff that might be better/cheaper from amazon, than what's offered at Critical Thinking. My nearly 5YO son was looking at the latest catalog and going through and doing all the samples. He kept saying "I want this, and this, and this", lol. I also like Perplexors from MindWare. They are similar to MindBenders. But you get 48 puzzles for $10. MindBenders you get 14 puzzles for $10. I think they have a Grid Perplexors series that is set up almost identical to MindBenders but the link above is the series I use. I could spend a fortune on these kinds of books and never find the time to work them all. I also like Logic Links. Other than the chips being a little irritating to keep up with, its one of my very favorites. You get 100 puzzles for $10. And it is fun manipulating the chips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Another vote for Balance Benders. They are super! If you want puzzle books like Mindbenders, you should look at Mindware's Perplexors. You may get more puzzles per book, and they have a variety of presentations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Can't wait to try Perplexors and Balance Benders. We have Logic Links and enjoy that when we do it. We tried the Mindbenders software tonight and had a good time! My dd6 enjoyed it, I'll try to share a more thorough review once we use it more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diviya Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I also like Perplexors from MindWare. They are similar to MindBenders. But you get 48 puzzles for $10. MindBenders you get 14 puzzles for $10. I think they have a Grid Perplexors series that is set up almost identical to MindBenders but the link above is the series I use. I could spend a fortune on these kinds of books and never find the time to work them all. I also like Logic Links. Other than the chips being a little irritating to keep up with, its one of my very favorites. You get 100 puzzles for $10. And it is fun manipulating the chips. I agree the mind benders are pricey. But the newer versions have more puzzles in them. They combined the older books. I'll have to look at those perplexors and the chip thing. You can never have too many logic books, right? Right? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 I agree the mind benders are pricey. But the newer versions have more puzzles in them. They combined the older books. I'll have to look at those perplexors and the chip thing. You can never have too many logic books, right? Right? :D Oh, I see that they have changed things up a bit. I have an old B1 with 14 problems in it. But I've got 2 with the newer covers: Beginning Book 1 and book 2. These have 43 and 42 problems in them. Another series I like is Venn Perplexors. I really felt like I finally got a solid grasp of Venn diagrams trying to explain to my kids how to get the right answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Researcher Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 We've really enjoyed MindBenders and the Can You Find Me books. I just ordered Lollipop Logic for my younger child but haven't had a chance to try it yet so I can't compare. Venn Perplexors looks really good too. I'll put that on my list to try next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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