I have said it numerous times, our family loves games and I especially love educational ones like Smart Cookies!
What's included in our game? Our game includes 1 playing board (3 x 3 tic-tac-toe style grid), instruction booklet, puzzle booklet with 64 puzzles and their solutions, and 9 cookies.
Our cookies
There are 9 cookies in 3 different shapes (square, triangle and circle) and 3 different flavors or colors (red, blue and yellow). This is important because these are the factors that are needed to solve each puzzle. I also want to note that our cookies have a great feel to them and the kids adore playing with them. They are perfect for tactile learning.
How do you play? In this single player game, a player uses visual clues and logic principals to place the nine cookies on the playing grid in the correct location. There are 8 evolving levels/sections, that gradually becoming more challenging as new concepts are introduced. At the beginning of each of these sections, you will find explanations for the new types of clues you will see. The clues you are given represent a simple logic statement whether positive or negative. It will give you information on where cookies must go in the grid (positive) or must not go in the grid (negative). Because the puzzles evolve as you play, I would recommend solving them in order. You will most likely find the first few puzzles too easy as they basically tell you where to place every piece but I think it really helps for you to solidify how the clues work if you solve them in order - it helps prevent confusion. And the "easier" puzzles are perfect for younger kids. I also want to note that each puzzle has only one unique solution! Let's dive into a puzzle.
Above you can see steps 1-4 for Puzzle 17.
Likewise, above is steps 5-8 for Puzzle 17.
Our solutions booklet proves that we got the correct solution.
G does really well with the easier puzzles.
Smart Cookies is geared for ages 6-99 but even G (who will be 4 in a few months) can play it with a bit of help. Smart Cookies is a perfect hands-on introduction to logic for younger players. I appreciate that it has a vast age range and that it can be played and enjoyed by everyone in our home (including me!).
F helping G play Smart Cookies.
F really enjoys our game and he is pumped that this was in his curriculum kit!
D working on Puzzle 26.
What do we think? We really love this game! The only think I would change (and it's minor) would be to have the pages in our puzzle booklet laminated. This booklet is used a lot and it would just increase its durability, especially when younger kids are playing the game. That's it though 😉.
I have an idea as well. If someone was wanting to put a different spin on this game, I could see this sold in multiple packs so that students could race each other to see who could solve the puzzle in the shortest amount of time. Just a thought. I love that Smart Cookies helps develop and strengthen reasoning skills and critical thinking for younger players and older players alike. Smart Cookies is part of our Timberdoodle's 1st Grade Curriculum Kit and we highly recommend it!
Disclosure: Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger. I will be refunded the purchase price of our curriculum kit in exchange for my honest reviews. All opinions are my own.