Creative and Critical Thinking Review

We’ve been taking advantage of our summer break to try out some amazing new products Timberdoodle sent us to review, including this fun Critical & Creative Thinking Activity Book from Evan-Moor:

These books come in six different levels, but we started with Level 5. I was impressed with the variety of activities included. They provided a nice mix — not all math, not all writing — but all lots of fun and definitely challenged you to think through your answers.

Level 5 seemed to be a good fit for my 10-year old. He needed a little help with a few of the activities, but was able to do others all on his own.

Although the workbooks are consumable, teachers are granted permission to make copies for single classroom use. That’s what I did, since my fifth-grader’s siblings wanted to try their hand at the challenges, as well.

My older kids breezed through the activities, no problem. It was hit or miss with the younger ones, who got frustrated when they couldn’t find the solutions as quickly as their older brothers and sisters.

They still benefitted from the discussion and from thinking through the problems with a little guidance…

… but I think I’m going to have to order a couple of the lower level books for my younger students, since they are motivated to do the activities — and they obviously are strengthening their critical and creative thinking skills by working through the activities.

Each book contains over 140 pages divided into 46 themed units. It has been a great choice for keeping my kids engaged this summer, but it will make a great enrichment activity during the regular school year, as well.

If that sounds like something your family would enjoy, I urge you to visit Timberdoodle to view sample pages from all six levels of Critical & Creative Thinking Activities and pick the one that’s just right for your child.