Improving critical thinking skills for teens

[klmama]

My teen wants to improve critical thinking skills.  Dc has requested games, if possible.  Other ideas would be appreciated, too, of course.  Thanks!

[importswim]

Not sure if you were looking for screen games, but my kiddos (and DH) really like computer games like King's Quest, Space Quest, and Quest for Glory. They're all games with a long story-line that you have to figure out for yourself which direction to go and how to solve the puzzle. Another computer game that he might like is Kerbal Space.

[Lori D.]

Board games:
- Mastermind and Rush Hour are logic-based games -- Rush Hour is solo-playing 
- Labyrinth is a visual/3-D maze puzzle thinking game, with a maze that changes after each turn
- Set is a card game where you are looking for different types of patterns to make sets based on current cards on the table
- Chess, Go, Quoridor, Mancala, and Risk are games that require strategy and thinking several turns ahead
- Kingdom Builder, Century Golem, and Castles of Mad King Ludwig require strategy, but also making the most of what is available on your turn
- Settlers of Catan, Agricola, Carcassone, Takenoko, and Five Tribes are all "resource management" types of games
- Pandemic, Forbidden Island, and Castle Panic are cooperative games, so you work together with the other players to plan/beat the game

Other resources:
- The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten -- great prompts for critical thinking/discussion/argument around the dinner table
- Kerbal Space Program -- great solo-working software in which you design/build/test space vehicles to achieve different missions
- crossword puzzles require making logical connections through clues that sometimes can be rather oblique
- sudoku and kenken puzzles are mathematical logic puzzles

Edited July 15, 2020 by Lori D.

[klmama]

Thank you both for the ideas!  

[ElizabethB]

Critical Thinking Company!

Building Thinking Skills Verbal https://www.criticalthinking.com/building-thinking-skills-level-3-verbal.html

and Figural https://www.criticalthinking.com/building-thinking-skills-level-3-figural.html

I think you can also get them from Amazon.