Manhattan Puzzibits Prehistoric Predators
Mindprint Rating
Tags
Skills
Mindprint Expert Review
Pros
- The pieces are well made, come in child-friendly colors and give directions for objects that are of interest to children.
- Gives children who want a challenge the chance to follow multi-step visual instructions and construct something they will be proud to show.
- The use of hexagons can be an interesting way to introduce children to geometric 3-D concepts.
Considerations
- Snapping pieces can be a challenge for even adults--definitely not for the manufacturer's age range of 6+ and probably best only for students who are naturally interested.
Mindprint Expert Review
This Puzzibits can be a great choice for a patient child who like building, art, and animals. However, for students with weak visual and/or fine motor skills or who are prone to frustration there are definitely better choices. The kit comes with 450 rubber hexagons, identical except for the colors. A child can create anything he chooses, but the instructions show how to construct a 3-D shark, an alligator and a dinosaur. The instructions are mostly just a visual rendition for the child to follow with some accompanying text to create the 3-D portion. The pieces are well-made: they will not break and will generally stay together for the child to proudly display his creation. Unfortunately, this also manifests in the pieces being a challenge to snap together for those who are not determined. A good, sturdy product but it might be best only for the most patient students.
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
- Abstract Reasoning
- Directions may be confusing for students using independently
- Requires remembering and completing a sequence of visual steps
- Attention
- Directions may be confusing for students using independently
- Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
- 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)
- Assembly is difficult or product may break or fall apart easily
- Self-regulation
- Assembly is difficult or product may break or fall apart easily
- Spatial Perception
- Requires remembering and completing a sequence of visual steps
- Visual Discrimination
- Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
- Directions are visually difficult to read
- 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)
- Assembly is difficult or product may break or fall apart easily
Manufacturer Description
Chomp,?chomp,?chomp!?With?Puzzibits,?you?can?imagine,?connect?and?create?a?scary?alligator,?3-D?shark?or?dinosaur puppet. ?