COMING MAY 2021
Game Review: VALENCE {Science}

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}
Valence is available on Amazon HERE.
{I purchased this game myself. All opinions are my own!}
I bought Valence when my son was doing elementary level chemistry. I thought it would be a fun way for him to learn the periodic table of elements, {and it was} but it turns out, Valence does much more than that. It does so much more that we plan on playing a lot more of this game when he ventures into a live, online Chemistry class for his Sophomore year. Check out this review of Valence to see if it might be something fun for your budding scientists, both little and big!
In addition to reviewing the
FUN FACTOR and the
EDUCATIONAL VALUE,
I will also include info on the
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT,
TIME COMMITMENT,
CLARITY LEVEL
and an OVERALL SCORE.
NAME: Valence
PUBLISHER: Science Ninjas
CATEGORY: Science
SUB CATEGORY: Chemistry
TIME COMMITMENT: Minimal {20+ minutes}
PLAYERS: 2-4
AGES: 8+
HOW TO WIN: Be the first player to collect enough molecules to earn 10 points!
CLARITY LEVEL: ♥♥♥♥♥ I won’t lie and say Valence is the easiest of games to understand. I mean, really, it’s chemistry after all! Nothing related to chemistry is easy in my mind. But, I will say that considering the topic and the educational objectives, the directions are clear and concise. My only issue, and this is totally just because I need a new contact prescription, is that the font on the instructions is fairly small. But, that’s on me! And, it just means my kid has to read it all to me! CLARITY LEVEL SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
FUN FACTOR: ♥♥♥♥♥ Valence’s tagline is “Advanced Chemistry+Simple Rulses+Ninjas!” They don’t actually say what those three things are supposed to equal but my son and I both think they equal fun! I will admit that my son has more fun than I do because he gets all tricky and uses the “attack cards” and “vulnerable cards”. This allows him to increase his chances of winning by planning ahead and making strategic decisions. For me, it’s too much thinking to try to use those against him so I stick with the easy way. But that’s fine by me! He has to apply more chemistry knowledge to make it work so that’s a win-win! FUN FACTOR SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
EDUCATIONAL VALUE: ♥♥♥♥♥ Just about any resource that attempts to teach chemistry while having simple, safe, unmessy fun is a winner in my book! And Valence does just that! As mentioned above, I tend to play the easy way while my son uses more advanced tactics. But, even if you just stick to the easy way, you can’t help but learn some important base-level chemistry along the way. With every turn, you have to try to make molecules by balancing out the valence numbers. Then, if you accomplish that, you get to see which kind of molecule that is {acid, base, salt, etc. } And if you use the more advanced route, you have to apply your knowledge of which elements will cause detrimental changes to others. Like I said, it’s a wee bit too much thinking for me, but my kid manages it just fine. If you can read and follow directions, you can do it! And, there is lots of dtailed information on each card. It would be super easy to add extra learning by insisting kids read the info out loud before they can play the card. Or keep a Table of Elements close by so the player has to locate each element before he/she can play it. And, finally, there is lots of math taking place with each turn! EDUCATIONAL VALUE SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT: ♥♥♥♥♥ Valence comes in a cute sturdy little box with a simple divider insert and two stacks of durable cards. Add in the instructions, and that’s all ya have to worry about! Easy, pasy and organized! My kind of game for sure! I will note that the box color in the Amason picture seems to have changed. My version is white and the current one is blue. I am assuming the quality is still the same but can’t know for sure. ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
OVERALL SCORE: ♥♥♥♥♥ This is an all-around winner in our home! I’m not sure my son could’ve played it or enjoyed it at 8 {like the box says} but he has been playing it since he was 10 and loves it! And, like I said in my intro, we plan to play a lot of it while he’s taking Sophomore-level chemistry this fall! OVERALL SCORE: 100% ♥♥♥♥♥
If you think your kids would enjoy “Advanced Chemistry+Simple Rules+Ninjas” now, you can buy Valence here on Amazon.
If you want to look more closely at HOW to play Valence, keep reading….
STEP ONE: Organize the MOLECULE CARDS into stacks in the middle of the table. You should have 8 stacks with varying amounts in each.
STEP TWO: Shuffle the ELEMENT CARDS.
STEP THREE: Deal each player 6 ELEMENT CARDS.
STEP FOUR: Each player places their cards face up in a row and familiarizes themselves with each one.
STEP FIVE: Place the remaining ELEMENT CARDS face down in the center. This will be your draw pile.
STEP SIX: The player with the highest atomic number goes first {don’t worry, they make it clear what that means in the instructions.}
STEP SEVEN: Player One draws the top of the draw pile. He now has seven ELEMENT CARDS.
STEP EIGHT: Player One looks over his ELEMENT CARDS to find combinations that equal 0 {don’t worry, they make it clear what that means in the instructions.}
STEP NINE: Player One then finds the MOLECULE CARD that matches what he just created {again, this is easier than it sounds…it’s actually color-coded, no worries!}
STEP TEN: Player One takes that MOLECULE CARD and places it in front of him {this is the start of acquiring points…10 is needed to win.}
STEP ELEVEN: Player One discards the ELEMENT CARDS he used to create that molecule {this is the start of the discard pile.}
STEP TWELVE: Player One continues to make as many molecules as he can/wants to in that turn.
STEP THIRTEEN: When he is finished making molecules, he discards one ELEMENT CARD.
STEP FOURTEEN: It is now Player Two’s turn. He can draw either from the draw pile or the discard pile to begin his turn.
STEP FIFTEEN: Repeat Steps 7-14 until somebody acquires 10 points.
NOTE: There are other plays that can be made…these are the advanced moves I spoke of above. The instructions provide a lot of details on how to make those moves!

Game Review: SPEED {Math}

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}
Speed is available on Amazon HERE.
{I purchased this game myself. All opinions are my own!}
My affinity for EDUCATIONAL GAMES began with this game, Speed! I bought it on the recommendation of a friend after discovering how unfun learning multiplication was going to be for my son. He was a young, wiggly boy who needed more than flashcards and worksheets. So, Speed it was!
But that was years ago! As a matter of fact, I was shocked when I sat down to write this post, that I bought Speed seven years ago! But, guess what?!?! We still play it! Not because my son still needs to work on his multiplication facts but because we both find it fun! You might find it that fun too!
Here’s my speedy review of Speed!
In addition to reviewing the
FUN FACTOR and the
EDUCATIONAL VALUE,
I will also include info on the
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT,
TIME COMMITMENT,
CLARITY LEVEL
and an OVERALL SCORE.
NAME: Speed
PUBLISHER: Highhill Educational Supplies
CATEGORY: Math
SUB CATEGORY: Multiplication Facts
TIME COMMITMENT: Minimal {15+ minutes}
PLAYERS: 2
AGES: 3+ {that’s what the box says, but I’d say more like 5+}
CLARITY LEVEL: ♥♥♥♥_ It’s a very simple game. Very. It’s basically skip-counting up and down and playing cards that match those numbers. And trying to do it quickly. The instructions are clear and fairly concise. But there is one thing that is not very clear with this game…the font! They chose some rather fancy font for the numbers in the corners of each card, which is what you need to reference constantly and quickly. The combo of the fancy font, white text and thin black outline makes some of the numbers hard to read. And it was not just my tired, older eyes that found this true. My son, with his perfect vision and stellar sleep habits, had a hard time reading them too. CLARITY LEVEL SCORE: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥_
FUN FACTOR: ♥♥♥♥♥ The tagline is “Learn Multiplication the Fun Way,” and I gotta say this is a fun way to practice those pesky multiplication facts! It’s speedy and simple! My son and his lack-luster multiplication skills would not have found it fun to be slaughtered by me each time we played but, because all of the increments are shown on each card, he could keep up with me quite easily! FUN FACTOR SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
EDUCATIONAL VALUE: ♥♥♥♥_ Speed bills itself as “a two-person game that uses skip counting to teach multiplication. Speed is perfect for anyone {ages 3 to adult} who is learning about multiplication or wishes to learn to multiply faster.” And, I would say they are accurate in their self-description. I’m not sure I’d put this game in a three-year-old’s Easter basket but I would agree that any child who is interested in learning or needs to improve their skip counting, would find this game helpful! It’s especially nice that kids can practice each set separately but I do wish they included 10’s, 11’s and 12’s. EDUCATIONAL VALUE SCORE: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥_
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT: ♥♥♥_ _ I am sad to give Speed such a low score in this area but there are three issues. First, though the game box is small, sturdy and offers perfect color-coded organization, the individual boxes that hold each set of cards are thin and flimsy. They basically came apart upon the first use and needed to be reinforced with duct tape. It’s not just a matter of preference, it’s imperative for gameplay to have the cards separated by type. Also, the instructions are small and appear to have been copied on a home printer so their lack-luster appearance makes them easy to lose and hard to find. Lastly, we were actually missing some cards from one of the sets. Not sure if it was a printing or packaging error but not having some of the cards made that particular round kind of tricky….like, it would never end! Once we figured out the issue, we could work around it, but it’s not something anybody likes to see in a game that costs more than $20. ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT SCORE: 3/5 ♥♥♥_ _
OVERALL SCORE: ♥♥♥♥_ Though this game earned some low points in a couple of areas, it is still one we continue to play and one that I still recommend all the time! OVERALL SCORE: 80% ♥♥♥♥_
If you are ready to “learn multiplication the fun way” with Speed, you can grab it here on Amazon.
If you want to look more closely at HOW to play Speed, keep reading….
STEP ONE: Select which set you want to play with. Choices are 2-9. We’re going to play with the sixes for this example.
STEP TWO: Shuffle the cards.
STEP THREE: Deal the entire deck out between the two players.
STEP FOUR: Each player turns over four of their cards in front of them in a row.
STEP FIVE: The game begins when each player flips one of the cards from his pile into the center of the two rows.
STEP SIX: From the row of four in front of them, each player uses cards to place on the two center cards. They can either go up one increment or down one increment. In the picture below, a player played a 42 on top of a 48 and then a 36 after that. Next, either a 42 could be played again or a 30.
STEP SEVEN: As soon as a player plays a card from their row of four, they replace it from their pile.
STEP EIGHT: Play continues until somebody uses all of the cards in their pile.
And that’s it! Quick, easy and fun!
{If you come across a situation where nobody can play, there is a fun way to get out of that jam but you can read about that in the instructions.}

Game Review: SCRAMBLED STATES of AMERICA {Geography}

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}
The Scrambled States of America is available on Amazon HERE.
{I purchased this game myself. All opinions are my own!}
My kid’s understanding of STATE GEOGRAPHY is well beyond mine but we still love to play this board game, The Scrambled States of America. Or maybe that is WHY he likes to play it with me, haha! Either way, I also enjoy this game. It’s marketed as “the whimsical, mad-dashing GEOGRAPHY game” and we would agree. It is fun, funny and fairly quick. And, of course, it is educational!
But, it’s not quite as educational in the area of GEOGRAPHY as The Game of the States, because it does not spend nearly as much time and energy focusing on the actual GEOGRAPHIC locations of the states. But, it does still hold a lot of educational value. Read on to see just how and why we recommend playing The Scrambled States of America…
In addition to reviewing the
FUN FACTOR and the
EDUCATIONAL VALUE,
I will also include info on the
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT,
TIME COMMITMENT,
CLARITY LEVEL
and an OVERALL SCORE.
NAME: The Scrambled States of America
PUBLISHER: Gamewright
CATEGORY: History
SUB CATEGORY: Geography
TIME COMMITMENT: Moderate {30+ minutes}
PLAYERS: 2-4
AGES: 8+
HOW TO WIN: Be the player to collect the most state cards!
CLARITY LEVEL: ♥♥♥♥♥ The instructions are very easy to read, and more importantly, they are easy to follow. After we read the directions once and then started playing, we never had to go back to clarify anything. Easy peasy! CLARITY LEVEL SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
FUN FACTOR: ♥♥♥♥♥ With a tagline that includes “whimsical” and “mad-dashing,” FUN is to be expected! We’ve played this game several times and we are never disappointed in that area. It’s always FUN and never frustrating. FUN FACTOR SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
EDUCATIONAL VALUE: ♥♥♥♥_ As mentioned above, The Scrambled States of America does not do the best job teaching your kids the GEORGRPAHICAL location of each state. It also does not do a stellar job at teaching your kids about each state {other than nickname, shape and capital}. If you are wanting a game that hits those harder, check out The Game of the States. But, what it does do is expose your kids to each state in a silly, whimsical way. It’s actually great for kids younger than the listed 8-years-old because it relies so much on the picture of the state found on each card. Playing the game gives kids a fun and firm exposure to the state shape, nickname and capital along with a decent introduction to the GEOGRAPHICAL location. EDUCATIONAL VALUE SCORE: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥_
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT: ♥♥♥♥♥ It comes in a small, sturdy box that I love! The plastic insert is also sturdy and has held up even after years of play. The cards are both high quality and very colorful. It comes with four little maps, which could benefit from being laminated, and a small “book.” The book explains the background of the game but is not necessary by any means. And it’s really just a stapled packet so if your kids are rough at all, that’ll probably be the first casualty of the game. The directions are printed on a tri-fold of paper. You may not need to reference them often but you also won’t want to lose them because they don’t appear anywhere else. ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
OVERALL SCORE: ♥♥♥♥♥ Though this is not the top game I suggest for learning state GEOGRAPHY, I do highly recommend this game! It is fun for several ages and levels and does a very good job of giving kids a fun and basic introduction to some state specifics. OVERALL SCORE: 95% ♥♥♥♥♥
If you are ready to play “the whimsical, mad-dashing geography game,” you can grab The Scrambled States of America on Amazon HERE.
If you want something that focuses solely on memorizaing state capitals, this States and Capitals Memorization Practice Pack does just that!
If you want to look more closely at HOW to play The Scrambled States of America, check out the rest of this post….
STEP ONE: Make a pile of red cards and a pile of blue cards. Place them both in the middle of the table so all players have access.
STEP TWO: Give every player a map and five blue cards.
STEP THREE: Each player makes a line of their cards in front of them face-up.
STEP FOUR: Each player spends a wee bit of time reading their state cards and familiarizing themselves with the image, name, capital and nickname.
BONUS TIP: To increase the educational value, they should also find the location of each state on the map.
STEP FIVE: One player flips over the top red card for all to see.
STEP SIX: Each player reads the red card and quickly tries to see if they have a state card that matches what the red card says.
STEP SEVEN: The first player to find a match, slaps their blue state card on top of the red card and shouts the name of their state.
STEP EIGHT: That player collects the red card and sets it aside.
STEP NINE: That player also places their blue state card aside and draws a new state card from the pile in the center.
STEP TEN: Repeat Steps Five through Nine until all of the state cards have been played. The player who plays the most state cards is the winner!
ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE: There are two types of red cards. The majority are “find it cards” and include directions like “find a state that has seven letters” or “find a state that is purple”. But there are also “go the distance cards” which require an extra step {see directions} but is where the focus turns to actual GEOGRAPHY.

Game Review: PAINT CHIP POETRY {Poetry}

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}
Paint Chip Poetry is available on Amazon HERE.
{I purchased this game myself. All opinions are my own!}
Read on for a detailed REVIEW.
My self-proclaimed uncreative teenage boy who detests writing just started a POETRY UNIT as part of his Ninth Grade English Lit course. In order to try to make it a wee bit more fun, I went on a hunt for some sort of educational game to complement the POETRY UNIT. I was not overly surprised to find that there were not many options available for a POETRY game. There are loads of other educational games out there but I could only find one kind of POETRY game, Paint Chip Poetry.
But, what I was surprised by was how much we actually liked this game! The concept is super duper simple and really isn’t a “game” in the classic sense of winning and losing but it is a fun way to explore POETRY.
Here’s a quick but hopefully helpful review of Paint Chip Poetry!
In addition to reviewing the
FUN FACTOR and the
EDUCATIONAL VALUE,
I will also include info on the
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT,
TIME COMMITMENT,
CLARITY LEVEL
and an OVERALL SCORE.
NAME: Paint Chip Poetry
PUBLISHER: Chronicle Books
CATEGORY: Literacy
SUB CATEGORY: Poetry
TIME COMMITMENT: Minimal {10+ minutes}
PLAYERS: 1+
AGES: 8+
CLARITY LEVEL: ♥♥♥♥♥ The instructions are super-duper simple. Like, five steps simple. You’ll never need to reference the instructions again. They’re that simple. CLARITY LEVEL SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
FUN FACTOR: ♥♥♥♥_ With a tagline like “A Game of Color and Wordplay,” I was not really expecting this to be a FUN game in the classic FUN sense. It’s FUN to see what people create with their chips. It’s FUN to read the interesting names on the paint chips. It’s even FUN to just enjoy the vast array of colors of the paint chips. But, it’s not the kind of laugh-out-loud FUN you might have with a speedy or silly game. FUN FACTOR SCORE: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥_
EDUCATIONAL VALUE: ♥♥♥♥_ Despite what the makers of greeting cards might have you believe, POETRY is not just an alternative way to express yourself using cute, little rhymes. POETRY is actually defined as “literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.” If you are wanting a game that will teach your kids how to formulate an AABA rhyme or how to differentiate between a simile and metaphor, this is not the game for you. But, if you are wanting your kids to explore different words and creative phrases and then to express an abstract idea with that new-found language, this is a great game for you! I think this box of 400 colorful words could also be easily used during creative writing lessons or vocabulary work. It’s also something that one child can play on his/her own so that’s also a bonus for most moms! EDUCATIONAL VALUE SCORE: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥_
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT: ♥♥♥♥♥ I wish I could find other games with a box like this! It’s sturdy and small and has no extraneous space whatsoever. I seriously love it! My only complaint would be that the paint chips are so tightly organized inside that we had to remove some in order to make enough room to easily select some for play. But, that’s just minor. The cards are made of a pretty thick material so not easily bent, though they are pretty small, so I suppose they could be easily lost. However, there are 400 of them and none are imperative to have. So, if your toddler spills milk on some or your dog eats any, the game is still just as playable as the day you got it. ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
OVERALL SCORE: ♥♥♥♥♥ Though this was not a super fun, laugh-out-loud game, we did enjoy this game. And though it did not teach us a formulaic way to write a poem, I did find it educational. OVERALL SCORE: 90% ♥♥♥♥♥
If you are ready to introduce your kids to an interesting look at POETRY through “A Game of Color and Wordplay,” you can grab it here on Amazon.
You also may want to check out this FREE Poetic Devices Introductory Pack. It’s a simple but fun three-page pack that introduces your kids to seven different poetic devices.
If you want to look more closely at HOW to play Paint Chip Poetry, keep reading….
STEP ONE: Each player grabs 12 paint chips {sight unseen}.
STEP TWO: Somebody flips over the top prompt card.
STEP THREE: Each player creates a poem based on the prompt with as many or as few of their cards as they want.
STEP FOUR: As each player finishes their poem, he/she slides it to the center for all to see.
My version of
A BIG MISTAKE
Garden of Eden
clear skies
wild huckleberry
peacock, lazy lizard, panther
first kiss, night
STEP FIVE: As soon as everybody has finished creating their poem, players take turns reading their creations.
My son’s version of
A BIG MISTAKE
evergreen
fire
fog
STEP SIX: Repeat with a new prompt and sets of paint chips!

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