In the games that I’ve introduced so far in this series I’ve introduced some pretty powerful skill-building games designed, for the most part, for multiple players.  Today we’re going solo.

Do you have a tactile learner on your hands, one who learns best through the sense of touch?  Even if you don’t, this hands-on game is great for the brain in so many ways.

Introducing Game #7: Coggy 

In Game #1 I talked about the importance of visual spatial skills.  Coggy is great for visual spatial skill development too.  Since I already addressed that particular skill, let’s discuss something else that Coggy is good for, logic and reasoning.

What Logic & Reasoning (or Critical Thinking) Difficulty Looks Like

In the early grades we typically ask our students to think in concrete terms.  That’s what their brains are wired for.  Follow these step by step instructions, for example.

As children get older, we start asking them to think in more analytical terms.  If A happens, and B doesn’t happen, do you think C is possible?

A child who struggles in this area may struggle with math, especially word problems.  Geometry and algebra may eventually prove quite difficult, as may science.

Does your child have trouble understanding the punchline of jokes?

How are those decision-making skills?  A child who is unable to think a few steps ahead of his actions may find himself making decisions that get him into trouble, and then be rather surprised by the consequences.

Developing critical thinking skills further may help.

Coggy

While Coggy certainly won’t make rocket scientists out of anyone, it does provide a fun way to practice logic and reasoning.

Coggy is made up of one strand of 16 connected gears.  The gears can be manipulated in such a way that they match an image on each of the included challenge cards.  The trick is to figure out how to get the right gears to bend and click into the right places.

What I Love About Coggy

This is a one-person brainteaser.

Kids can play it in the car, on the plane, waiting for appointments (and take a break from all of those phone apps).

It requires concentration and patience, and helps open young minds to flexible thinking.

It strengthens visual discrimination skills.

It strengthens logic and reasoning skills.

Logic and reasoning requires working memory (holding onto information long enough to do something with it), which Coggy also strengthens.

It strengthens hands and fingers.  Do you have a child with poor pencil grip or other fine motor challenges?  Coggy requires a bit of muscle to manipulate.  You can’t play the game if you don’t put in a little bit of effort, improving fine motor skills without actually “working” on fine motor.

It includes 4 levels of difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard, Extra Hard.

Coggy is great fun for tactile learners who learn best through the sense of touch.

Coggy is also great fun for the whole family, tactile learners or not.

Put away the challenge cards and you can use it as a fidget toy.

Of course, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t add my own variations to the mix.

Want to develop visual discrimination skills even more?  Show your child a completed Coggy configuration, then ask her to find the matching challenge card.

Want to strengthen working memory even more?  Show your child a random Coggy configuration.  Ask him to remember 3 specific gears in a row.  Then ask him to find a challenge card that includes those same 3 gears in a row.  Phew!  That’s tricky!  Decrease to 2 gears at a time to simplify, or 4 gears at a time to increase the challenge.

I’m sure you can create even more ways to play.

Find Coggy here at Fat Brain Toys (not an affiliate link).

Want to begin the series at the beginning?   Start with Game #1.

As always, have fun learning!