Price: $85 USD for tiles and all books
Overall Rating (1-10): 5
Value (1-10): 5
Flexibility (1-10): 9 Ages/Grades: PreK- Age 8
Review: Have you ever been to a Discovery Toys home party? I went a few years back and was totally wowed by a demonstration of these Think-It-Through tiles. I didn't have the cash to dole out for the entire set at the time but picked some up from a friend who was moving and selling off her stash of goodies recently.
The tile system is a series of 12 numbered tiles that fit into a case. Inside the case are 12 matching alphabet letters. The workbooks all work a little differently but the gist is the same. Your child works through a problem, for example Problem #1, and finds the answer which they match against a code on the page that gives them a Letter. You match your problem number tile (The Tile with the number 1 on it, in this example) with the letter given in the code that matches against your child's answer. If the letter is B, you put your number one tile on the B in the case. When all 12 problems are complete, all tiles should be matched with all letters. By closing the case and flipping it over and reopening it, you will reveal a special pattern - a different one for each set of problems. If this pattern matches the pattern in the workbook, all the problems were done correctly!
You can purchase the tiles alone and buy the books separately or you can purchase the entire kit for under $100. The kit contains 17 books of different levels focusing on the subjects of Math and Reading. The books start for ages 4 and up and end for ages 8 and up. In my opinion, the books border on the basic side, my seven year old has already outgrown them.
What they do offer is entertainment appeal. I think the concept is a little involved and complicated for your average PreK child to do alone or even with help, even if the workbook problems are not difficult. Older kids will quickly catch on, though. All of my older kids were interested in working through the books, no matter how simple, so they could match the tiles and discover if their end-result pattern matched the book's pattern.
However, they quickly bored of doing the work just for the pattern results and started using the tiles to create their own patterns. It still got a lot of use but not $85 worth! It would have been more productive to just buy some pattern tiles and let the kids at them. But for those who want their child to work through a series of math and reading workbooks and whose children are motivated by little games like this, it may be worth the investment.
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