Think Fun Rush Hour Jr.
Mindprint Rating
Tags
Skills
Mindprint Expert Review
Pros
- Setting--up each traffic jam, playing the game, and following the solution develop multi-faceted types of problem solving skills.
- Sliding the cars on the grid is simply fun and adds entertainment to a learning game.
- Although the age range is given as 6--8, adults can be challenged by some of the more difficult puzzles.
Considerations
- Both the game board and solution cards may be visually overwhelming because of the tightly-packed, brightly-colored and similarly-shaped cars.
- Students with fine motor issues may have some difficulty fitting the cars on the board and/or sliding them without picking them up.
Mindprint Expert Review
Rush Hour Jr. is a fantastic game for most students to strengthen a variety of visual and problem solving skills. Players try to get their ice cream truck out of the traffic jam in the fewest moves by sliding around other cars on the road grid game board. The game includes 16 cars with 40 different card scenarios, each with a traffic jam set up on one side and the solution on the reverse side. The cards are color-coded by difficulty level and provide a visual representation of the set up and solution, so no reading is required. However, players will find it necessary to follow visual step-by-step instructions in order to reach the solution. The solution follows grid-like directions (e.g. L3 for left 3 squares), which will offer a new conceptual challenge for most students. The game does not use a timer and is both fun and challenging, but students who feel overwhelmed by visual stimuli may find the game frustrating.
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
Cognitive Concerns
May not be advisable for students with the following cognitive needs
- Fine Motor Skills
- Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation
- Has small parts that may be difficult to manipulate (e.g. battleship pegs)
- Self-regulation
- Visual Discrimination
- Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
- Visual Motor Speed
- Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation
- Has small parts that may be difficult to manipulate (e.g. battleship pegs)
Manufacturer Description
ThinkFun Rush Hour Jr.