Science Mind Benders®: Animals Review

0 Shares

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Do you want to add variety to your homeschool and challenge your children’s minds? Do you want to encourage your children to become lifelong learners? The resources from The Critical Thinking Co.™ are a perfect fit for this! The Critical Thinking Co.™ is a family owned business that has over 600 titles in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. We were excited to try the online PDF book called Science Mind Benders®: Animals from The Critical Thinking Co.™

The Critical Thinking Co.™

The Critical Thinking Co.™ mission statement is that they are “committed to developing students’ critical thinking skills for better grades, higher test scores, and success in life.” They empower the mind without teaching through drill or memorization. They offer resources in a wide variety of subjects for children Pre-K to 12 (and beyond). They also have full curriculum options for all grades. You can also find lots of free resources on their website to try.

Science Mind Benders®: Animals

When we received Science Mind Benders®: Animals, I first had to download and activated the PDF book.

I printed the 89 pages and we started to work through the lessons. It is recommended that this book is used with parent assistance as it isn’t designed for independent study. It is intended for ages 3-8 (preK to Grade 2); therefore, it was perfect for my 6 year old.

There are lessons on:

vertebrates and invertebrates
warm & cold blooded animals
mammals and reptiles
fish and amphibians
carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
types of birds
camouflage

This book helps to teach students important scientific terms and problem solving skills using animals.

Each lesson gives some facts, terminology and information relating to the topic then there are a series of activities relating to the topic. The first lesson is about vertebrates and invertebrates. We had fun completing 7 activities, learning about some interesting animals and answering a review. We loved the Mind Benders puzzles that we would complete on each lesson. Each Mind Bender puzzle gives you a chart and a set of clues. You have to read the clues carefully and make each space with an “X” or “-“ to solve the puzzle.

How We Used Science Mind
Benders®: Animals

We thoroughly enjoyed the detailed photographs of the animals discussed. By using problem solving, it helped us gain a good understanding of the topic and learn the terminology relating to the topic.

We learned about of some interesting animals and my son enjoyed taking his learning one step further by watching some videos on the animals discussed in the lessons. There is also a glossary in the back and the answer key for checking the answers to the problems.

Our Recommendation

I highly recommend the resources that are available from The Critical Thinking Co.™. The Science Mind Benders®: Animals book is a great tool for helping teach science about animals and problem solving skills. They add variety to your homeschool while encouraging your children to become lifelong learners.

Science Mind Benders®: Animals was just one of five books that the Homeschool Review Team members were able to try. Be sure to check out more reviews of this book and the other five books: