Tag Archives: maze

Phoenix Rising

20 years or so ago, the Phoenix area was widely considered a cultural wasteland. Those days are long gone. Today, the greater Phoenix area is home to some fantastic museums and other educational venues, many of which are quite family-friendly. This week we look at several must-see Phoenix experiences.

Musical Instrument Museum

walking stick violinHumans are hard-wired for music, as evidenced by the existence of music and musical instruments in every human culture going back thousands of years. This dazzling museum’s collection of more than 10,000 instruments is guaranteed to engage, entertain, and impress. It features exhibits organized by instrument (guitars, violins, trumpets, percussion, etc.), geography (Asia, Middle East, US and Canada, Latin America, etc. There’s a special exhibit of Treasures from Central China going on now) artist (Elvis, Taylor Swift, Tito Puente, and dozens from around the world), and more. There’s also a fascinating exhibit of mechanical instruments (nickelodeons, music boxes, player pianos, etc.) and you won’t want to miss the Experience Gallery, where you and the kids can strum, pluck, stroke, bang, stomp, and otherwise play instruments from every corner of the world. For all ages. One-day and two-day passes available, including a self-guided audio tour. https://mim.org
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Get a Move On

One of the biggest challenges parents face is finding ways to get the kids to put down their tech and get moving (as you know, most pediatricians recommend that children get at least an hour of exercise every day). Here are a few great ways that are guaranteed to get the kids rockin’ and rollin’.

 

Space Scooter X580 (SpaceScooter)

space scooterRegular kick scooters are great fun, but it’s hard to make them go really, really fast. Plus, unless your kids are ambidextrous, they’re exercising only one leg—and wearing out their shoes unevenly. The Space Scooter, which you propel by rocking back and forth on the platform, teeter-totter style, assures an exhilaratingly fast ride and a more symmetrical workout. Just pump, and you’re flying (well, scooting). And with its 200-pound capacity, you can get in a workout of your own. Ages 8+. About $149 at Amazon and other retailers. https://spacescooter-usa.com

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Sometimes You Just Want to Be Alone. Or Not.

Although our focus here at Parents@Play is on games, toys, and activities families can do together, we all have days when we just want to be alone. That’s especially true during the Holidays, which are prime time for stress and family tension. This week, we take a look at four excellent games from ThinkFun (http://thinkfun.com). All of them are challenging, relaxing, and can be (or are intended to be) played by one player.

thinkfun amazeAmaze
Amaze is almost Zen-like in its simplicity. No batteries, no parts to lose, just a tablet with an attached stylus. And the goal is simple too: trace your way from Start to Finish without lifting the stylus from the surface. There are 16 different mazes to choose from and we recommend that you go through them in order, from easiest to hardest. What makes Amaze different from ordinary maze games, is that you can rearrange the maze itself as you go. But you’re not just making holes in walls. Creating one opening closes off others, so instead of taking a short cut, you could end up boxing yourself in. For ages 8 and up.

thinkfun knot so fastKnot so Fast
On each of the 40 challenge cards, there’s an illustration of a knot. Some are made from one piece of rope, other require two. Pick a card and all you have to do is use your rope to re-create what’s on the card. And by “all you have to do,” we mean “Good luck with that.” The knots are, thankfully, divided into beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert categories. But even the beginner knots are quite challenging. There’s also a bit of trivia about the origin of each knot and what it’s used for. This is a fantastic way to brush up on your fine motor- and spatial reasoning skills, whether you’ve used them recently or not. For 1-4 very patient players, ages 8 and up.

thinkfun gravity mazeGravity Maze
This is another engaging, meditative/frustrating (in a good way) “all-you-have-to-do-is” game. In this case, you’re building mazes out of color-coded towers of different sizes with the goal of carrying a marble from top to bottom. Cards (again, thankfully, in four levels) tell you where to put a few of the towers on the game grid, and give you hints as to which colors you’ll need to add to complete the marble run. But it’s up to you to figure out how all the pieces fit together. Comes with three marbles and 60 challenges. You simply provide logic, spatial awareness, and serenity. For one player, but you could certainly add a timer and compete head to head with one or more others. For ages 8 and up.

thinkfun visual brainstormsVisual Brainstorms
The 100 brain teasers included in this game will keep you captivated, entertained, amused, relaxed, and challenged for hours and hours. On one side of each card there’s an illustration and an explanation of a particular problem. On the other side—which you’ll need to restrain yourself from looking at—is the solution. There are logic puzzles (five guys run out of mine, A is not in the front, B is two behind C, D is neither here nor there, etc.), spatial puzzles (looking at a bunch of gears and pulleys, if you turn the first one clockwise, what direction will the last one turn?), and many more. For pretty much any number of players ages 10 and up.