LearningRx Builds the Smart Mom’s Toy Box {Sponsored Post & Giveaway)

{NMB has partnered with LearningRx for this sponsored post. As mamas ourselves, we know how important it is to give your children the tools to learn and improve their cognitive skills. We’re excited to offer this information on fun learning games, the book giveaway, and the discount code for cognitive skills assessments because we believe in providing local moms with the available tools to help their children love to learn.}

This holiday season, experience the absolute trifecta of gift giving (fun, educational, and inexpensive!) with this list of fun but brain-boosting toys recommended by LearningRx—all under $25!

The toys listed below help strengthen the most important cognitive skills—such as memory, auditory and visual processing, attention, processing speed, and logic and reasoning—which are the essential tools needed to learn, memorize, process, and recall information.

Thanks to neuroplasticity, we now know that the brain can change, adapt, and grow at any age. The fastest and most effective way to strengthen cognitive skills is through in-person one-on-one brain training, which produces measurable and permanent results. But on a smaller scale, parents can help strengthen their children’s brain skills by choosing games and activities that use these skills.

Are you ready to head out to do your holiday shopping? Take along this list! All 10 toys are available at Nashville area specialty retailer Brilliant Sky Toys & Books or online.

1. Robot Turtles by ThinkFun ($24.99)
   A fun way to learn to code! By making a series of decisions based on the colorful playing cards, kids help their turtle through the maze to its destination. Funny sounds and silly use of programming principals complete the fun!
   Ages: 4+
   Cognitive Skills: logic and reasoning, strategy, planning

   

2. Math Dice Jr. by ThinkFun ($7.99)
   Simple rules and chunky, brightly colored dice make this game fun! Roll the 12-sided die for your target number, then the five scoring dice. Add and subtract the scoring dice to match the target number, and move toward the finish line!
   Ages: 6+
   Cognitive Skills: math computations, planning, visual processing, attention

3. Quiddler by Set Enterprises ($13.99)
   For the fun of words! The whole family will enjoy this simple but exciting word game.
   Ages: 8+
   Cognitive Skills: auditory processing, phonemic awareness, problem solving

4. No Stress Chess by Winning Moves ($17.99)
   With an innovative deck of action cards, each depicting a chess piece and how it moves, your child will quickly learn the world’s greatest game!
   Ages: 6+
   Cognitive Skills: visual processing, strategy, planning, attention, logic and reasoning

5. Pengoloo by Blue Orange ($24.99)
   Search for penguin eggs and collect penguins on your iceberg to win this colorful all-wooden memory game!
   Ages: 4+
   Cognitive Skills: memory, visual processing, attention

6. Smarty Pants Card Set by Melissa & Doug ($12.99)
   Developed for a variety of age ranges and with an infusion of kid humor, children will have fun working games, puzzles, tongue-twisters, mazes, and brain teasers.
   Ages: 4+
   Cognitive Skills: reading comprehension, critical thinking, visual processing, deductive reasoning

7. Spot It! Freeze by Blue Orange ($24.99)
   Get ready to melt the competition! Race the timer to be the first to spot the one symbol in common between two or more cards.
   Ages: 8+
   Cognitive Skills: attention, processing speed, visual processing

8. Microbes Attack! by Daddy O Productions ($14.99)
   Solve the colorful puzzles to keep the microbes from “sneaking out” of the Petri dish! Carrying case for on the go fun.
   Ages: 7+
   Cognitive Skills: processing speed, visual processing, spatial relations

9. Ooga Booga by Blue Orange ($12.99)
   A fun memory game of prehistoric proportions! Each card has an ancient word to be repeated in sequence. Lay down your card to add on to the wild chant!
   Ages: 7+
   Cognitive Skills: attention, memory, sequencing, auditory processing, phonemic awareness

   

10. Science X Secret Codes by Ravensburger ($13.99)
    Create and crack secret messages like an expert cryptologist! Includes encoding, encryption, mirror writing, invisible messages and more.
    Ages: 8+
    Cognitive Skills: logic and reasoning, visual processing, attention, language skills

We’re excited to partner with LearningRX to  give away a copy of the book “Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart in Your Child” by LearningRx founder Dr. Ken Gibson. Additionally, Nashville Moms Blog readers who use the discount code getsmarter will receive 50% off a cognitive skills assessment at LearningRx (Nashville-Brentwood or Murfreesboro locations) now through December 31, 2014!

Bridgette Butler is co-owner and director of LearningRx Nashville-Brentwood. LearningRx brain training specializes in treating the cause—not the symptoms—of learning struggles. Contact the Nashville-Brentwood center at 615-953-8899 or www.learningrx.com/nashville-brentwood or the Murfreesboro center at 615-867-8717 or www.learningrx.com/murfreesboro.