Mindware Games & More -- Perfect Gifts for Tweens

Disclosure: Mindware sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was hoping to get this post written before the holidays, but I got the items a bit late and then went on vacation. However these products are wonderful gifts for birthdays or other occasions as well as just great additions to your family games and activities or home school. One of the many things I love about Mindware products is how they are fun and educational. All of these fit that description. Three of these products are games that are fun additions for family game night. The first is Leaps and Ledges. 

This is your board game in 3D. Before the game begins you put together the tower which is your game board. It is in rainbow colors and clicks together easily. Then the players choose a color. Each color has four little player pieces that look like men. 

The play is done by using cards. The numbers can be split and some have special instructions. There are ways to knock each other's players down and so much more. It reminds me of a new version of Trouble or Sorry but going up instead of around. The goal is to get all of your men to the top first. 

Hazel and I really enjoyed playing Leaps and Ledges. It has strategy, logic and other problem solving skills involved.

Our next game is addictive. We brought it to Cape Cod for Christmas and even my sister who doesn't like games played and my mother who also does not like playing games was interested. The game is What's It? This game is fun. There are cards with doodles on them, a timer, a die, and white boards and pens.

This is a cooperative game. One person rolls the die to choose the category. In the beginning Hazel and I did not play with the die. Then someone flips the card over and someone else flips the timer. All the people write down what they see in the doodle in the category from the die. The goal is to get matches. 

The players get points for each match. The doodler gets points for the words that don't match. However we only gave the doodler a point for rounds where we didn't get any matches. Oops!! When we played with more people it was even better. Sometimes we used the die and sometimes we didn't. We also didn't really worry about scoring. It was about having fun. 

Our third game is Invisible Think. This game is like Pictionary with a fun but hard twist. There is a spinner that determines who has to wear red glasses: the drawer, the guesser(s), or both. Then a card is picked. There are two categories of cards. The first just has words to draw and the other has a word to draw and a word that cannot be said (guessed). The drawing is done on a white board with red ink so whomever is wearing the glasses cannot see the ink. If the guesser(s) have the glasses only the hand motions can be seen. If the drawer has the glasses he or she cannot see what he or she has drawn. It is hard to draw without seeing what you are doing and it is hard to draw purposefully so someone who can only see your hand motions can know what you are drawing. This game was a bit hard for Hazel.

We however had a lot of fun playing around with it. It is definitely one we need to play some more and get use to though. All three are great additions to family game nights and each teaches different skills. 

Our next product is perfect for adding STEM to your home. It is Science Academy: Robot Lab. Yes, you get to learn about and build/use a robot at your house with this kit. We have unfortunately not had time to actually try this one yet, but I cannot wait to try it.

It of course comes with an instruction manual that has many different projects in it. 

It looks like so much fun!! Won't your kids enjoy this.

The final product is a favorite of Hazel's. We were lucky enough to review the first deck last year. This time we got both the set of Bella's Mystery Deck. 

Now to be honest I have not gotten to see Bella's Mystery Deck 2. Since we got them Hazel took Deck 2 and has not let them go. She pulls them out and works on the mysteries and I am not allowed to talk to her during them. They work like the first ones and come with the mirror to see the correct answers. The mysteries require logically thinking and teach problem solving. Hazel LOVES them. 

So if you are looking for great products that are educational and fun, be sure to check these out.