My children and I have been enjoying working on Timberdoodles, Extreme Dot to Dot: Baby Animals over the summer. This dot-to-dot book is part of the Timberdoodle, 2019 Third-Grade Curriculum Kit. There are 32 puzzles in this paperback book. Even though this is part of the third-grade curriculum kit for 8 year olds does not mean that it cannot be enjoyed by older children and even adults. The suggested age is 8+. These puzzles are definitely challenging and take concentration.
Some of the baby animals that will emerge from the hundreds and sometimes even thousands of winding dots are:
lambs
elephants
koalas
hippopotamuses
kangaroos
giraffes
ducklings
penguins
The smallest number count puzzle is the hippopotamuses with 549 dots. The largest puzzle is the elephants puzzle with a mind blowing 1,536 dots! There are several puzzles that take up a two page spread. You will find that some puzzles contain open circles. When this occurs you stop, pick up your pencil and find within the picture where the next consecutive number is. The number may be close or far way.
At the end of the book you will find a Solutions section. This section gives you what each puzzle should look like once completed. Underneath the picture it give the dot count as well as an informative paragraph about the animal.
I worked on a few of the dot-to-dots myself. I will admit that a couple of times
I would be on let's say number 459 and I would accidentally go to number 560 next.
560 was so close to 450 that my brain got confused and it wasn't until I got further
along that I realized that something was off and I realized my mistake. The fixes
where not difficult which was nice. I found these puzzles to be very relaxing.
They take so much concentration that you really have to zone out everything else.
It really is great therapy and great for relieving stress too!
Completed dot-to-dot of lambs and penguins.
Completed dot-to-dot of kangaroos.
My 11-year-old working on what looks to be a tiger.
A close-up of the dots.
The complete dot-to-dot of the bunny.
The bunny mid coloring.
Wow! The picture truly changes once it is colored. Some of us found it helpful to look at the
solution pictures to color the animals. It helped to see what was what.
Isn't this bunny so adorable!
The howling wolf complete.
The howling wolf once it was colored.
My 13-year-old loves animals and was so excited about getting this Extreme
Dot-To-Dot ~ Baby Animals Puzzle book! She could not wait to tackle this
two page spread.
She was so excited when she realized that it was ELEPHANTS!
Here is the finished dot-to-dot picture, all 1,536 dots in all! This is the largest
dot count puzzle in the book.
My daughter did say that it is a bit difficult to figure out where to start coloring.
She said, "It is a bit of a guessing game at first until you figure it out."
Working on page two.
A close up.
The finished creation, Elephants on the Move!
Here is the solution for the elephant. Did you know that, "Elephants travel in lines holding
on to each others tails with their trunks for protection from danger?"
Timberdoodle has a handful of other dot-to-dot books available on their site. We have really discovering what baby animals will emerge in the Extreme Dot to Dot: Baby Animals from Timberdoodle. Whether you are looking for fun entertainment or for a full curriculum kit for your child Timberdoodle has you covered. Check all of the amazing products that Timberdoodle has to offer.
Color Thru History™ - The People of Early Civilization is a Learn & Color Book where students learn about the top historical figures in early civilization while coloring. With 30 historical figures such as Noah, Hatshepsut, Ramses the Great, Homer, Daniel, Esther, and Solomon each figure from history has a brief overview of their life, an image related to them, and a timeline showing where in history they fit. This paperback workbook has thick pages with a blank page opposite the coloring page so that whatever coloring tool you choose to use you do not have to worry about bleed-through. The workbook is 96 pages in length. The cost for the book is $17.95. You can also choose to subscribe to Learn & Color Books. Each month you will receive that month’s coloring book by mail. Subscription price includes all charges, shipping, and handling. Cancel at any time. Us addresses only. The subscription price is $12.95/month.
Color Thru History™ - The People of Early Civilization would be suitable for school, homeschool, and home use. “Learn & Color Books launched in 2018 to develop coloring material for children and adults. What sets up apart is that our coloring material is educational as well as fun!” Learners of all types can benefit from this workbook. Dr. Nikki Martinez, Psy.D., LCPC said, “Coloring utilizes both hemispheres of the brain, right and left. When we are thinking about balance, color choices, applying coloring pencil to paper, we are working on problem solving and fine motor skills…Imagine all the areas of retraining of the brain and skills training that can be accomplished with coloring.” Students can work at their own pace through the workbook. Because there are no assignments, questions to answer, or tests to take students can relax and enjoy learning about each historical figure and then coloring something related to their life.
To give you an idea of what the workbook is like let me walk you through the life of Abraham. Abraham lived from (c.1996 – 1821BC). I will summarize the description given. “Abraham, born Abram, was the tenth descent from Noah. He married Sarai, who was barren…teacher of one God…God makes Abram three promises: a relationship with God, uncountable descendants, and land…’I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.’…Sarah conceived a child, whom they named Isaac…Abraham is known as the Father of Israel.”The page that the summary is written on is in full color with pictures and a map. The timeline is at the bottom of the page. This page is similar to a page from a history textbook. The colors are brilliant. Opposite this page is the coloring page. The coloring page has a written text in bubble letters that says, “I will bless those who bless you” and around the wording is a series of patterned squiggly lines, detailed flowers, detailed shapes, etc. Once all of the coloring pages are complete the coloring pages can be taken out and you are left with a great history book, if wanted.
I absolutely love the idea of combining education and coloring. I jumped at the chance to review this workbook for my teenage daughter who struggles with chronic, life threatening medical conditions. She often just does not have the energy to keep up with a normal school load like her peers. She deals with both physical and mental fatigue and this has been the perfect fit for learning history. Keeping up with a normal history class would be next to impossible. Color Thru History™ has been a way for her to learn about great historical figures. She loves to color and over the years has enjoyed adult coloring books. It is an activity that doesn’t take much energy and she can take it with her to her appointments and during hospitalizations. This has been the perfect fit for our family.
Color Thru History™ - The People of Early Civilization is both a fun and educational workbook that I would highly recommend to others. Definitely check out their website for their full line of Color Thru History™ series. The People of Early Civilization came earlier this year and more to the Color Thru History™ series is currently out and coming out later this year. There is also a Nature series as well as several other series.
-Product review by Jennifer Ladewig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, April 2019
Is your child curious about how things work? Turing Tumble is a way for your child to creatively take a hands on approach to the innermost parts of how a computer works. This is a bit like an introduction to digital logic, only much less intimidating. Your child will join Alia, a fictional character, and her sidekick, R.E.N. as they journey through space tackling computer challenges. Students will learn about gates, switches, bits, and binary counting. They will have to use logic and critical thinking as they build and generate their patterns in order to come up with desired outcomes for each of the 60 Challenge Puzzles included. Turing Tumble is part of the
There is very minimal set-up for Turing Tumble. You must assemble the
board and snap metal balls into ramps. Set-up took less than 15 minutes.
Going into this ADVENTURE I will admit I was a bit nervous. My 11-year-old
daughter had watched the video on the Timberdoodle site and said that it looked
fun and interesting. She was a bit unsure about the story part of it. She is not
at all into comics or Anime, and the story reminded her of both. With that said
she was very intrigued by the puzzle part.
My daughter was actually quite surprised! The story was not in her words, "cheesy," but
rather quite entertaining. The story was a fun build up to the actual puzzles.
There are 60 puzzle CHALLENGES in total. The puzzles begin easy and
continue to become more complex. Each puzzle is entitled with a Challenge name such as;
Erosion, Orbitals, Hard Reset, Exclusivity, and Quantum Number. Every puzzle has an Objective.
Here are a few examples:
Make the pattern blue, blue, blue, red, red, red.
Add A to B and store the result of B. ( Example formulas are given)
Create a path for blue balls to reach the output with only 6 ramps.
Release one red ball and then all of the blue balls.
Encode the number of the ramp flipped to the right in register A. (Example are given)
All puzzle challenges have a starting set-up. Off to the left hand side of the page
a list is given of the available parts that the student is able to use in order to complete
the puzzle.
At the end of the book there is a PUZZLE SOLUTION section. I did not
allow my daughter to check her own. I will say that there were a couple of times
that she came up with a solution that did not match the book solution but worked.
My daughter taking her FIRST crack at a Puzzle Challenge!
Figuring out exactly how the ramps work and move.
Strategizing on how to place each ramp in order to make the balls fall just how
they need to go.
Each green ramp can be placed on the board to the left or to the right.
My 16-year-old daughter HAD TO GET IN ON THE FUN! My 11-year-old
had already been working on the Turing Tumble puzzles for over an hour and
was HOOKED!! Once my 16-year-old started she too loved it.
There was a lot of laughter and "we got it!" coming from the kitchen. They were having
so much fun. I was impressed by how fast they were able to solve the puzzles.
Two minds are better than one!
We can solve this!
"Wait, I think we finally got it!"
Balls in ACTION for the win!!
Back hard a work. The endless cycle of lining up the blue and red balls into their
proper places.
In MOTION
"The anticipation is killing me. Is it going to work?"
Okay the Challenge is entitled: Total Internal Reflection
The Objective: Make the pattern blue, red, blue, red, blue, red...
Hmm...
Something did not go right?!?!
According to the solution in the back of the book all of the ramps are placed
properly and in the right direction. But as you can see the outcome is not correct.
We are completely puzzled, lol!
My daughter's response, "What, seriously, how, this doesn't make any sense?!"
We have had so much fun with Turing Tumble. I would highly recommend this fun marble powered computer board. My daughter has had so much fun working with this. I suspect that she will be spending many hours to come working her way though the Puzzle Book. Even though it is part of the 6th grade curriculum kit kiddos much older would also definitely find Turing Tumble to be both engaging and fun. Summer is not yet over! Get your kiddos off of their devices and engaged in some hands on fun! Are you looking for some fun ways to add a splash of fun into your upcoming homeschool curriculum for this next year. Turing Tumble would be a great way to get your student(s) excited about introductory digital logic. Check out all of the fun items that Timberdoodle has to offer. If you are looking for a full curriculum for your child, look no further. Timberdoodle has you covered. Maybe like my daughter, your child is going to be entering the sixth grade this year. Turing Tumble is part of the 2019 Sixth-Grade Curriculum Kit.
