I am always looking for new ways to occupy my kids, so I was especially excited to try out my new Early Learning Game Cards made by Child Up. I strongly believe that one of the keys to keeping young children engaged is by making learning fun. Sometimes, that means disguising it as a game to grab their attention.
I had the Math & Logic Learning Game Cards, a series of educational tools for parents, caregivers, and early teachers who intend to develop the learning and intellectual skills of their children. By playing in an interactive way, these cards can prepare them for school. My daughter, Biz e-Baby1, will go to Kindergarten next year and my son, Biz e-Baby2, will start Pre-K in the fall so they are the perfect demographic to test drive the product.
I was skeptical as to whether or not my son would maintain his attention span long enough for us to run through one of the prepared lessons so I started with my daughter. I sat her down at the kitchen table and handed her a set of cards. As I fanned them out on the table, I noticed that these were not ordinary flash cards – they were much more developed. Each set of cards were coded with bright colors to represent a family of animals such as mammals, African animals, domestic animals, reptiles, insects and so on. The illustrations were well-drawn and the animals chosen were unusual. On one side of each card was a number, and on the other side were interesting species of animals representing that number. The card sets come with several suggested age-appropriate lessons for parents to use with their children. However, if you simply wanted to use them for color sorting, animal identification or number sequence you could do that too. They are very versatile.
Immediately, my four-year-old daughter began pointing at the animals on the cards. She spotted ants (which just tickled her), and then a platypus and a toucan. “What’s that?” She asked curiously. The animals are not ones typically used in child learning materials so she was fascinated with that element alone and eager to keep playing.
Confident now that my son could get into the action, I shared some cards with him and asked him to identify the numbers he knew. Right away he joined in at the table and started arranging the numbered cards in sequential order. All the while, he would ask “What animal is that?” if he saw something for which he didn’t know the name.
Once the initial excitement of the cards had passed, I started with the more structured learning techniques provided. We played as a family for thirty minutes straight (trust me — that’s a long time for kids age three and four) using the ChildUp cards and even missed our regularly schedule TV time – no arguments from me or the kids!
Already, preschool has begun laying the foundation for math skills in my children, but I know from first-hand experience that education taught at school needs to be reinforced at home. I was a child who always struggled with math growing up. I was too embarrassed to admit I needed help even when my parents offered to get me tutors. Now that I am a mother, it’s important for me to assist my own children to develop their math skills any way I can early on, and ChildUp’s Cards were truly impressive.
Whether you are a stay-at-home parent, working parent or home school educator, the cards offer multiple uses for teaching or reinforcing learning in your little ones. I can’t wait to use them again at home and they are definitely on my packing list for our next road trip or airplane ride. Although I had the traditional learning cards, ChildUp also has game apps for those that you prefer to use a mobile or tablet.
For more information on learning tools mentioned in this product review visit the Child Up website.
Disclosure: ChildUp provided www.bize-mom.com with complementary Early Learning Game Cards for this product review. The opinions expressed are completely those of Biz e-Mom and were not dictated in any way by the product sponsor. This product was given for review. No other compensation was given.
