Sudoku for Kids

I have tried Sudoku. I really hate it, can't do it, it hurts my head, and I just don't have the patience for numbers. (I am very intelligent- it's just that I have a mental block when it comes to numbers and stuff lol) A co-worker (we work with students with disabilities) told me she had a children's Sudoku that she likes to use with her students- we decided you can't go wrong with colors and animals. Well- for the first time, I was able to complete a puzzle even though it was a child's toy :)I tried it with some of the students I work with. The first student was a 5 year old girl. She caught on in a flash! Of course I have to sit with her and give her hints, and do it along side her- but it was really fun. I bought my own game, and I have found it very handy with a lot of my language disabled students. It works on so many skills, problem solving, following directions, prepositions, colors, animals- you name it! I am very happy with the game- and the kids love to hear my story about how hard the puzzles were for me- until I tried this game- and they feel really good about themselves when they complete it.I love this game, and some of my students do too (there are some kids who have too many processing problems along with other difficulties where this game makes them frustrated, but if you work close with them and give them good hints- they can get through it nicely).The one and only problem I have is that I am so afraid of losing any of the little pieces to it. I wish they had put extra ones in- because they are small and easy to lose.

Great game - my daughter got this game a few years ago and still loves to play with this game. Nice twist on the classic Sudoku game, especially for young children.

It has been somewhat challenging for my 6 year old but she enjoys the animal pieces in place of plain tokens.

My daughter loves it!

great variation for kids

This is a great way to introduce kids to critical thinking. It's fun and great for helping kids learn to solve problems.

I got this game as hand-me-down from a friend. We have been playing with it for about 2 weeks, every night. What I like about it:1) My daughter likes to place the animals for the initial layout illustrated on the card. That alone for a 3 year old takes a lot of spacial coordination, and is fun in its own way. Sometimes she just likes to do that.2) My son and my daughter like to play the game together (key!), taking turns (key!), and performing logical analysis. It's cute how they reason together, and I just play a facilitator, "What is this house missing" (I call a 2x3 a "house", where animals live)the only thing I don't like about the game is the fact that the pieces are so easy to loose. But they can be replaced, I suppose, by just about anything of the same color - paper or plastic.

I happened upon this game at my local major discount chain and picked one up for my four kids. I love Sudoku puzzles and I really loved that this set uses colored animals to completely eliminate the "math-aversion" that so many people get when they first look at Sudoku. Sudoku is a logic puzzle and has nothing to do with numbers. This set comes with six animals (for example, green turtles, yellow dogs, blue rhinos, etc) so you can use the colors only, or the animals only to solve the puzzle. I imagined I would have to spend a lot of time doing the puzzles with my twin 7 year old girls, explaining the logic of not duplicating colors/animals in rows/columns/quadrants, so I was blown away when they immediately took over and solved the first puzzle quite easily! As twins, they really like that they can play solo, since they are often relegated to entertaining each other. My 16 and 12 year old sons also enjoyed the challenges. The pieces are small, but come with a handy storage bag, so I'm pretty sure it will give us a lot of use over time. I am thrilled by my kids' response to this puzzle/game and I highly recommend it to others. The ability to successfully use logic is a great skill to hone, for all ages. This would also be a great set to include in the vehicle for road trips.