Are Critical Thinking's Mind Benders as hard as they seem?

[Melissa in CA]

I have seen several of you mention Critical Thinking's Mind Bender books, so I went in search of them. I looked mainly at the A1 book for my up and coming 6th grader. I looked at various sites with different samples, and to be quite honest *I* cannot answer any of them!!! LOL Good grief! Am I missing something? Like a brain perhaps? :eek:

Do they teach you HOW to figure these puzzles out? I think my son would just get frustrated by them if not. Is there are better book to start with, Critical Thinking books instead?

Sheesh, they wore me out! LOL

Off to take a nap, my brain's fried. ;)
Melissa

[CleoQc]

I found one sample on the Critical Thinking website
Mind Benders B2 (http://www.criticalthinking.com/jsp/catalog/product_samples.jsp?series=013&id=01310&model=01310BBP&code=c&sampleNumber=1)

Are those what you're talking about ? Or another one?

[Pegasus]

You can start with MindBenders Warm-Up. This will ease you and your DC into the thinking process necessary to solve the later puzzles.

Good luck. We find them great fun.

Pegasus

[Kathy in MD]

problem. Then each individual puzzle has a good explanation of how to solve it. I haven't seen any other publisher as clear.

It would be good to go through the warm-up book first as another poster mentioned.

I have a warning about the books. They're addictive! I now buy the Penny Press, etc, books for fun :p

[Mom2GirlsTX]

We fell flat with them when we first started, but then started figuring them out and now dd is addicted to them. She figures them out easily and then explains to dense Mom how it works. Give them a try...they are like chips, you can't have just one...:)

[LunaLee]

We went with Dr. Funsters Think-A- Minutes instead of the Mind Benders at first and now we are moving into the new Building Thinking Skills books. I liked the variety of the different puzzles.

[Kris]

My son loved them. He's done the "A" series and the "B" series. I have the "C" series, but he's got so much work to do, he hasn't been able to fit these last books in yet.

[Ferdie]

I thought the CD version was easier to use. They are a little more expensive than the book, but you can use them for all your kids and yourself.

[mcconnellboys]

Well, like working crosswords or any kind of puzzles, I think it gets easier as you do it. When you're actually filling in the little boxes of the grids, you'll begin to see that at some point there's only one box left and so you're done. If you try one and just can't get into it by the end, there are other books by Dandelion press, etc. that might work better for you.

Regena

[Melissa in CA]

problem. Then each individual puzzle has a good explanation of how to solve it. I haven't seen any other publisher as clear.

It would be good to go through the warm-up book first as another poster mentioned.

I have a warning about the books. They're addictive! I now buy the Penny Press, etc, books for fun :p

That's good to know. I was a bit worried that my 43 yo brain had quit functioning properly. :(

I think I'll buy the warm up book and go from there. I can see how they could become addicting.


Are there any other books you all would recommend from Critical Thinking?

Thanks!

[Julie in GA]

Yes, and when you change your mind, you can just "unclick" the box, instead of erasing!

[Night Elf]

My husband and two youngest children can solve these quite easily. My oldest daughter has never tried as she doesn't like puzzles like that. I cannot solve these types of puzzles. My brain just isn't wired for such logical thinking. I've actually tried numerous types of critical thinking books to help develop that part of my brain but so far have had no luck.

[Kathie in VA]

if you need them... although they reduce your score. Once you get how they work, they are doable and fun. They do get hard as you go thru the series... at least that's what I'm finding. I let my kiddos do them on their own (computer does the checking). When they get stuck (and don't want to use a hint) I'll give it a try. It takes some work but sometimes as I'm talking my way thru it to try to understand it... they get it before I do!

Good luck.
hth

[Chris in CA]

You'll get the hang of them as you go on. IOW, they get easier
I also like Perplexors, they are like Mind Benders but the books are twice as think for the same price. I can't remember the name of the company off hand, sorry

[Kathy in MD]

out of the series if you follow the teacher manual instructions. (I have the older books with the separate TM)

Ds and I both enjoy the Dr. Funster Word Benders for fun. These word benders start with one word and by slowly changing one or two letters at a time, you come up with a series of different words.