Gifted Children's Resource Guide

Kids' Games

Each year since 1990, Mensa has solicited new games from manufacturers and selected five of them to bear the Mensa Select® seal. These games are generally challenging and fun to play time after time. The following winners are eminently suited for families.

SET (Set Enterprises, Inc) is a card game that requires players to find sets of three cards with each of 4 different attributes either all the same or all different. This makes a great family game, as after some practice the kids start doing as well, if not better than, the adults. It retails for about $12, and we've seen it at Gamers Paradise and some other stores.

Rat-a-Tat-Cat (Gamewright, Inc) is a game that combines a little memory work, some skill, and a small bit of luck. Rounds are played very quickly, and the rules were clear and easy to understand. This game is geared more for children than SET, but it is still fun for the family to play.

Fun Links

The National Gallery of Art’s interactive website gives visitors the opportunity to create collages, mobiles, paintings, and simple animated art online. When you’ve completed your artwork you can compare it with pieces from the museum’s collection. The website has challenges suitable for artists of all ages.

What happened on the day that you were born? What were the headlines on your second birthday? Get the highlights (or lowlights) of every day of the year from the History Channel.

Some of the best detective stories are found in science. If you’ve ever wondered what might be found in DNA, the National Academy of Sciences has games to help you learn how DNA is used to catch criminals and solve mysteries.

How does an archaeologist decide where to dig? Archaeologists at the Reed Farmstead Archaeological Site in West Virginia have put the process online in the “Discovery Zone”. The “Games” section has related activities for young children.

To jumpstart your brain, try one of the Two Minute Brain Quest Challenges. You can even compete with a friend. Try your parents on the Presidential Trivia Quiz.

Find a mental challenge among the list of classic “trick questions”. Once you have chosen a question, scroll slowly down the page until you have reached the final line of the question. The answers follow the questions immediately, and, if you aren’t careful, you will see the answer before you have had the time to think about how to solve the problem.

If you would rather create puzzles than solve them, make ten different puzzles, including word search, number block, and maze puzzles. You can even design puzzles for yourself to solve. Try a word search puzzle based on your friends and family, or on Mensa.

Books & Software

Giftedchild.com
Online store specializing in toys, etc., that gifted children might like.

Cuisenaire
(800) 237-0338
Math Olympiad workbooks.

Gifted Education Press
10201 Yuma Court
Manassas, VA 20108
Books.

Hewlett-Packard
Software, educational materials and hardware.

Educational Insights
(800) 995-4436
Workbooks, software, children's computers, GeoSafari products.

Knowledge Adventure
Software lines including JumpStart and MathBlaster.

V-Tech
(800) 521-2010
Educational toys, software and hardware.

Freespirit Publishing
(800) 735-7323
"Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom"
by Joan Franklin Smutny, Sally Yahnke Walker and Elizabeth A. Meckstroth

HTML Link Check