Shop smart for the holidays: LearningRx offers advice on toys and games that build brainpower

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Is Santa Claus missing the mark when he places those items under the tree? Maybe it’s time to trade in that big bag of toys for a “smart toy box” – filled with toys and games that can build a child’s brainpower.

Kim Bellini, owner and director of The Woodlands LearningRx, says shopping for holiday gifts for a child can often seem overwhelming.

“With aisle after aisle of choices, it can be difficult to make a decision,” she said. “Why not buy something that is fun, but also improves problem-solving skills?”

Bellini has assembled a list of fun, educational and affordable toys and games.

“These toys will help strengthen a variety of cognitive skills—like 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,” Bellini said.

Here are few of her favorite gifts:

1. Balance Benders by Fun Physics Toys ($9.99). Solve these quick, fun logic problems that develop deductive thinking and pre-algebra skills. Ages: 9 and older Cognitive skills: logic and reasoning, math, attention.

2. Math Dice Jr. by Fun Physics Toys ($8). Roll the 12-sided die to get your target number, then roll the five 6-sided scoring dice. Add and/or subtract the scoring dice to match the target number.

Ages: 3 and older Cognitive skills: math computations, planning, visual processing, attention.

3. Meet the Phonics—Blends Coloring Book by Preschool Prep Company ($4.95) Using characters, this book teaches phonics to early learners.

Ages: 15 months and older Cognitive skills: phonemic awareness, sound blending, visual processing, attention.

4. Superstructs Custom Kit by WABA Fun ($10). Create a personalized building set by choosing from eight different models and creating a personal message for the recipient on the cover of the box.

Ages: 3 and older Cognitive skills: visual processing, planning, logic and reasoning, attention.

5. Magnetic Chess by TravelKiddy ($6.99). Use strategy and planning to take down your opponent’s king. Magnetic to use in the car.

Ages: 6 and older Cognitive skills: visual processing, strategy, planning, attention, logic and reasoning.

6. Feelings by Little Pim ($9.99). Learn to describe your feelings in three languages: Spanish, French and English.

Ages: 6 months and older Cognitive skills: auditory processing, sound blending, phonemic awareness, language development.

7. Dr. Funster’s Think-A-Minutes by Fun Physics Toys ($7.99). Enjoy this collection of thinking puzzles and games. Ages: 9 and older Cognitive skills: language development, writing, visual processing, spatial relations, math skills, logic and reasoning.

8. Clumsy Thief by Melon Rind ($13.99). A fast-paced card game requiring a mix of strategy, addition skills and luck.

Ages: 8 and older Cognitive skills: strategy, planning, math computations, attention.

9. Distraction by ThinkFun ($12.99). Memorize the numbers on the cards as the sequence of digits continues to grow. Draw a Distraction card and you must answer a question before reciting the cards’ numbers in order. Get it wrong and you have to collect all the cards. The player who gets rid of their cards first, wins.

Ages: 8 and older Cognitive skills: memory, attention.

10. Show Me the Kwan by Griddly Games ($19.99). Roll the dice and be the first to choose the letter that matches the category for that round. Then earn points as you call out words where either the first, second or last letter corresponds to the letter that was rolled.

Ages: 8 and older Cognitive skills: auditory and visual processing, attention, processing speed.

Creating fun ways to build cognitive skills is one of the key objectives of The Woodlands LearningRx, a brain-training center that offers one-on-one programs to transform a student’s ability to learn at a core level. To learn more about The Woodlands LearningRx, call (832) 482-3082 or visit www.learningrx.com/the-woodlands or or http://woodlandsenespanol.com/learning-rx.html.