Academics' Choice Award™ Winner
Geometiles™
Ages: 6 and upPrice: $85.00
Type: Toy
By Geometiles
Description
Geometiles, a fun, yet sophisticated tool that aims to spark an interest and lifelong love of math in kids in grades one through 12.
Geometiles, created by Yana Mohanty, Ph.D., a former mathematics instructor at the University of California, math coach and mother, is a versatile set of interlocking tiles which helps children discover mathematical concepts through hands-on exploration and play.
With a variety of colorful triangles, squares, rectangles, and pentagons, kids can develop several skills at a time, from fractions to volume to the Pythagorean theorem. Furthermore, the tiles are carefully designed to help enhance fine motor abilities and hand-eye coordination. Even when not directly studying or exploring geometry, kids can use Geometiles to create 2D and 3D shapes, and let their imagination run wild.
The purchase of Geometiles gives the user an unlimited access to this resource filled with hundreds of problems, downloadable workbooks, instruction manuals and lesson plans that meet Common Core standards in mathematics.
Review Highlights:
Geometiles works on math, geometry, problem solving, and critical thinking skills. I loved the creativity it spurred in my kids! They played together for 45 minutes without stop. The tiles were colorful and durable.
What a fantastic (yet simple) product! Geometiles deliver on their claim to make exploring math and geometry fun. There are limitless possibilities for making 3D shapes. I have watched my kids (ages 7 and 4) play with these for hours! I had to drag them both away when it was time for dinner (this never happens). Honestly, I got carried away with the fun of these shapes, too. Not only were my kids interested in building the shapes from the instructions, but they built wildly imaginative structures that needed new names. These shapes challenge kids to problem solve in 3-dimensions and use their knowledge of shapes to think "outside the box." Over several days, I've watched Geometiles transform our play space into a very personal expression of creativity with shapes. My kids do not always relish playing together, but Geometiles have allowed both children (in different stages of math and shape knowledge) play together to create a shape town, complete with buildings, houses, roads, and bridges.
As an educator, I am excited to bring these into my classroom and share them with fellow teachers. I see endless opportunities for building and enhancing geometry skills but also for center/choice time where creativity and sharing within small groups of students would be ideal. iMathgination has done a fantastic job of making a product that fits the needs of teachers, fills a gap in math education, and is easy enough to use on the day you get the product.
As soon as we opened the box, my kids wanted to play with the the Geometiles. They looked at the suggested structures for some ideas, but pretty quickly started working on building their own creative designs. The shapes let them work to figure out how the different geometric figures fit together to form more complex possibilities. My son is interested in architecture, and I think this toy will help him develop the part of his brain that he would use to design buildings, bridges and other structures. What kinds of shapes make the best supports for a firm foundation? This toy lets you work to figure out the answer to that problem, and many others as well.
I loved taking the shapes and seeing how I could put them together to make something larger. My kids want to build with them again and again, seeing if they can create structures, animals, or even people out of the tiles. They were much simpler to pop together than I thought they would be. Thankfully, they provide instructions for how to pop them apart. I love watching to see what my kids can create when they sit down with these. I know they are developing parts of their brains that they will need to be involved in STEM fields in the future. This is definitely a toy that can grow up with them. They will enjoy playing with it for years and years to come. This toy is very well made so it will definitely last for the years they want to play with it, and for the grandkids too!
My kids are getting to those ages where they still are playful, but they feel too old for toys. Geometiles is a great product to satisfy the needs of that awkward age. They can enjoy the tactile experience of putting the tiles together, using their creativity to come up with the new and interesting designs, and problem-solving how to use the geometric shapes to put together what they have imagined. For those looking to keep their children interested and focused on STEM fields, this is a great product. It will last for a long time, and hold kids' interest for many years.
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