TDmonthly's Psychology Expert

Want an expert’s opinion on toys kids will love? Every month, Beth Carroll, Psy.D., a professional psychologist who specializes in child intervention and development, tests products with children of varying ages and shares her recommendations with TDmonthly Magazine. She rates them on a scale of 1 to 5 TDs (for TDmonthly!), with 5 being the highest score.

Cluzzle is the only product that received the highest rating of 5 TDs!
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First Impressions

What is a Cluzzle? Is it a game or a puzzle? Actually, it is both! Cluzzle is a unique board game that requires participants to create objects out of clay. Opponents must guess each player’s clay object by asking questions during each round. Points are earned by correctly identifying opponents’ cluzzles and by creating a cluzzle that at least one other player is able to identify.

Developmental Stage

Clay activities target fine-motor skills and creativity, and provide children with a valuable sensory experience. The added bonus of this game is the guessing component, which encourages children to play the role of detective as they inquire about the identity of opponents’ creations. Thus, deductive reasoning skills come into play as well.

Recommendation

I really like this game and so did the children with whom I work. The clay creations sparked a lot of interesting, silly conversation among the kids. And the entertainment continued after the game was over as some of them continued to roll and mold the clay individually.