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Smart Farmer : Make learning fun with SmartGames



Walking down the aisle at Hamleys store, I stumbled upon SmartGames products, it looked interesting but i wasn't sure how useful it would be. So, I went back home and started to learn more about the games and the game play of SmartGames. I made up my mind to try one of the products,as it looked promising at the first glance itself. With hands-on challenges from easy to difficult ( Beginner to Master levels ) for different age groups / skill levels, I was confident that it would stretch our baby Zavi's brains and was too keen to test these out. 

I bought this game for Zavi on his 4th birthday. Zavi isn't really into colouring books or workbooks and would rather love hands on experience, let it be puzzles or any creative game which gives him some way of interaction. I believe the fact that learning tools have a huge role in making difficult concepts seem very simple and understandable. 

What's in the box ?

SmartFarmer game came with the following,
  • Gameboard
  • Two horses
  • Two cows
  • Two pigs
  • Two sheeps
  • Three fences
  • Three watering troughs
  • A Challenge book with instruction and answers. 
The product was of exceptional quality and way above my expectations. The challenge booklet has 50+ challenges and is recommended for ages 4 and above. Few challenges are quite difficult for the kids at the age of four. You might have to give them support in solving the activities. 

The game does teach them thinking skills with concentration, flexibility on planning and problem solving. Spacial awareness and the boundary management makes them engaged and more concentrated. 

Don't let them slip away just because it seems to be a little hard, be with them, give them suggestions on identifying the issue and solving the problem. 


Game play

The challenge book recommends starting from the beginner puzzle, and slowly moving to the expert / master challenges. They provide you with the game board setup, where the animals are to be placed to start playing. Consider allowing kids to identify the rows and columns from the book to place the right animal at the right spot in the game board. This will enhance spatial thinking and awareness. Once the farm game board is ready with the animals set as described in the booklet the game begins. Children should try to solve the challenge by keeping animals in their own meadows, i.e. pigs / horses / cows or sheep should be in different meadows from the other types of animals using fences. 

The challenges begin with two cows and two horses, however the challenges advance with difficulties with more types of animals and water troughs included. Possible solutions would be only one arrangement. If you are not able to solve it, the booklet has the solutions at the end marked according to the challenge numbers. 

Zavi is a total animal person. He loves his animal toys. So this farm animal set also intrigued him. In the beginning, I just showed him the challenge and asked him to place the animal accordingly. This he picked up pretty much fast. And loved placing the animals as shown in the book. I slowly explained to him the concept, that each type of animal should be separated using fences. Now this was pretty hard for him. Sometimes, Zavi would be frustrated when he is not able to find up the solution. He would even throw away the animals or fences to make sure he manages to keep at least a few in their own meadows. However, as time passed he started to make up stories and would ask a few questions which helped him to trigger his thoughts in such a way that he would arrive at the correct answers. 


















Verdict

When I first saw Smart Games, I knew it would be a great toy and pass time for my baby Zavi as he loves animals. I was right too. His little brother Aadhi who is 3 years old, has got Three Little Piggies from SmartGames. Both of them love those games as they know the rhymes / stories related to Three little pigs. Three little pigs is far easier than the Smart Farmer. I would suggest starting with Three little pigs or Sleeping Beauty as they are for ages 3+ and Smart Farmer for ages 4/5+. 

Every child is unique in their own ways and processing of thoughts. But in general kids of age 5 and above should be able to easily solve these solutions. And they could improve spatial logic and this Smart Farmer by Smart Games is a great educational toy. The exciting part is that, however old you are, be it 5 years or 50 years, this is a perfect mind game. 

It’s all about– family time with kids, enjoying games and learning new skills.
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