Building Logic And Independent Thinking

When learning to become a mathematician, two important skills to develop are logical and independent thinking.  One of the best ways to develop both of these skills is through games.  One of the reasons that games are so powerful for the development of these mathematical skills is that playing games is simply fun.  When we are having fun, our brain releases endorphins that make more active and learning more effective.

We’ve been trying out a ton of different logic games with our kids and below I’ll share with you 5 of my favorite games we’ve tried so far that not only build logic and independent thinking, but also are super fun!

Kanoodle, Kanoodle Extreme and Kanoodle Genius

This group of puzzle games are great for not only spatial awareness, but also for confidence and perseverance.  They are games that can be accomplished by the youngest beginners and challenge the most advanced experts.

As a family that travels frequently, one of my favorite features is that it is small enough to take and play on trips and fun enough to hold their attention for a long time.

These games are highly recommended!

Clue Master

Not to be confused with the mystery game Clue, Clue Master  is a game where the object is to correctly identify the position of the different magnetic pieces on the game board.

It starts simply and then escalates in difficulty quickly.  It is not a game I would recommend for really young students, but it is a game I would recommend for students who are ready to really start developing their logical thinking skills.

The magnetic game board with magnetic pieces also makes it a great game for traveling.

Three Little Pigs

Inspired by the popular children’s story of the same name, there are two different types of puzzles included with this game and two different objectives.  The goal of the first type of puzzle is to place the houses and with their attached lawns so around the pigs.

These are the daytime puzzles.  The goal of the nighttime puzzles is to hide the pigs on the puzzle in order to keep them safe in the houses and away from the wolf.

This is a great game for really young mathematicians.  My kids both loved it! It also comes with the three little piggies book and I have found with my own kids that they like to tell little stories with the piggies as they play which only increases their learning and development.

Camelot Jr.

My favorite logic game for young mathematicians has to be Camelot Jr. The goal of the game is to use the wooden pieces to help the knight save the princess or (for your more strong-willed girls) for the princess to save the knight.

The wooden pieces are fun to build with even outside of the puzzle solving, which makes the game fun even when all of the puzzles have been solved.

This is definitely a game that I highly recommend!

Logic Links

I love Logic Links!  The goal of this game is to use a set of given clues to deduce a sequence of colored tiles. For example, a set of clues might include “the purple is between the yellow and the green” or “the red is not touching a blue.” There are a ton of puzzles, more than150! I also like that it comes with extra little tiles so that if you lose some, no big deal. The game is small and ideal for travel as well! If there was a flaw, it is that the player really does need to know how to read well in order to understand the details of the clues. Other than that, I love this game and highly recommend it!