Summer vacation will be here before you know it and we’ve got some road trips in our schedule. I’m always looking for creative ways to keep my kids occupied during long car rides. Back in December, I discovered Smart Games – a company that creates challenging puzzles for kids and adults alike. My kids loved the games we received for review so I was excited to try out several new games and see if they’ll take on the challenge. Challenge accepted! My kids have been enjoying these puzzles over the past few weeks and I love watching their confidence soar as they get through the tough parts. Three Travel Puzzles from Smart Games That Will Challenge Your Kids
Asteroid Escape is a fun challenge for kids who are into space. You need to navigate the spaceship through asteroids. Placing the astroids correctly can be a challenge in and of itself but once you get the hang of it it’s simple (my five year old picked it up relatively quickly). Once everything is set up, you simply slide the pieces until you can get the spaceship out. The first few are definitely easy and don’t require much thinking but pretty quickly you can get stuck and that’s when you need to use some strategies to solve the puzzle. The game, priced at $14.99, has 60 challenges. For ages 8 to adult.
Squirrels Go Nuts! is another fun game. You simply place squirrels on the board and the goal is to get the nuts in the holes. Seems pretty straight-forward but there’s a catch – if you passed by the hole and the nut fell in you have to pick up the bottom part of the puzzle to get the nut back. This game requires more than the simple moving of objects – a planned-out strategy is crucial. My daughter, who is eleven, really enjoyed this game in particular and didn’t mind at all when the nuts kept falling in. In fact, as I watched her play I saw that she was taking her time and trying to plan it out first. I was excited right along with her as she kept moving on to tougher and tougher challenges. This game is also priced at $14.99 and has 60 challenges. For ages 6 to adult.
IQ Stars is the smallest of the three and can easily fit into any purse, or even the back pocket of pants. In the game you need to aline a cluster of stars so that they fit perfectly according to instructions. Seems simple but the challenges do get tougher and harder challanges provide very small hints so that you really have to strategize. This game will keep your kids busy with 120 challenges and is priced at $9.99. For ages 6 to adult.
Click here for more games – we also love Jumpin’ – all three of my kids have made it through at least half of the challenges on this one!
I was not compensated for this post. I received samples.
Senior Reviewer Maytal Wichman is a freelance writer and has written for several blogs, such as The Huffington Post. She has been living in the New York City area for seventeen years and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature as well as a Law Degree, but blogging is her true passion. Maytal is a stay-at-home mom to three kids (ages 11, 9 and 5) and loves finding great products for her family.
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