Toobalink Starter Kit
Mindprint Rating
Tags
Skills
Mindprint Expert Review
Pros
- Connectors are easy to manipulate even for younger children.
- There is an obvious benefit of teaching children to reuse household items rather than throw them away.
Considerations
- Children are limited in their ability to get started by the number of empty rolls they can find at home although manufacturers were clever enough to include 9 rolls in each starter kit.
- The one example on the website is a sword rather than something more innocuous and useful like a fort.
Mindprint Expert Review
Toobalink is a “green-alternative” construction set that allows students to work on their visual-motor skills while developing a healthy sense of the value of reusing household materials. The set comes with 30 different connector pieces and nine starter tubes with the intent that the child will collect additional paper towel and toilet tissue tubes to build bigger and better “things.” The connectors are brightly colored blue and orange and are appropriately squeezable where needed so they seem to fit all standard rolls. Using the tubes is actually less cumbersome than the thinner sticks used in most construction sets and the use of bendable paper tubes may allow for a greater level of creativity although could create some frustration with stability in the structures.
Academic Benefits
Improves academic skills
- Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
- Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
- Presents educational concepts accurately
- Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
- Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
- Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
- Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)
Fun
Engaging for the Mindprint recommended age range
- Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
- Visually appealing to children in the target age range
- Adults would enjoy playing with a child
- For electronic games, gives positive or encouraging feedback
- Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
- Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option
Easy to Use
Understandable for children in the Mindprint recommended age range
- Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
- Student should be able to use independently after first use
- Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
- Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
- Does not require excessive set-up time after first time use
- Can be fun as a single player game
- Multi-player game which fosters collaboration or cooperation
- Well-made for the cost
- For electronic games, can play without sound
- For electronic games, allows user to save work
- For electronic games, voice/sounds are appealing and pronounces words properly
- Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
- Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
- Overall - Easy to use
Manufacturer Description
Toobalink is the construction toy that works with paper towel and toilet tissue tubes. Collect and save tubes to build bigger and better things!
Made in the USA.