Hasbro Gaming Connect Four
Mindprint Rating
Tags
Skills
Mindprint Expert Review
Pros
- Simple game that can develop a variety of skills with elementary students including visual scanning, attention, and inhibition.
- Though not the most exciting it will have long-lasting value---even teenagers will sit for a game or two of Connect Four.
Considerations
- The assembly can be challenging for elementary school students.
- Once a student drops his chip it is hard to fish out. This keeps the game fair but could be problematic for students with inhibition or other behavioral weaknesses.
Mindprint Expert Review
This classic game is an enjoyable 3-D version of tic-tac-toe where players alternate dropping in chips trying to get four in row while trying to stop the opponent. This game can be good for elementary ages through adult, but as a learning tool it is best for early elementary students. The game is easy-to-learn and relatively quick to play. It can help young children begin to think flexibly as they need to develop a strategy and then be able to shift to respond to an opponent’s move. For students who still react before giving sufficient thought, this may be a great tool to teach them to stop and think before dropping a chip. This game also develops visual scanning skills, although very young students and those who are easily overwhelmed by visual stimuli may find this game too much. This is a game that can be a great development tool for younger children and yet have long-lasting value.
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
- Self-regulation
- Multi-player activity that requires cooperation or has potential for disagreements
- Multi-player activity with a clear 'winner' and 'loser'
- Assembly is difficult or product may break or fall apart easily
- Social Awareness
- Multi-player activity that requires cooperation or has potential for disagreements
- Multi-player activity with a clear 'winner' and 'loser'
- Visual Discrimination
- Requires scanning in multiple places for words, objects or numbers
- Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
Manufacturer Description
The vertical four-in-a-row checkers game!