Dice, Decks, and Boards: Dungeon Drop

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

Adventurers! Are you ready to explore an ever-changing dungeon? Then you'll love the game Dungeon Drop from designer Scott R. Smith and Artist Marília Nascimento. This game allows you to create the dungeon as you go using small cubes of varying sizes which serve as pillars to form rooms, the monsters guarding the rooms and treasure, as well as treasure of various value. 

What Is the Game Dungeon Drop? 

The game itself is self-contained in a small box, but the playing field will encompass your entire table as you drop the dungeon. One to four players will enjoy three rounds of dropping the dungeon and looting the dungeon over the course of about twenty minutes.

"Venture into an ever-shifting labyrinth teeming with untold treasure. Colorful cubes represent gold, gems, goblins, and more. Raid the rooms that best suit your hero's quest, but stay alert – the dungeon changes with every drop. Grab the most loot and become the Dungeon Drop Master!" (from the box) 

During Dungeon Drop, you assume the role of a brave hero who takes turns with the other players to explore the dungeon. You select your hero by choosing one random Race card and one random Class card. Race cards include humans, Boblins, high elves, dwarves, and others. Classes available include mage, cleric, bard, beastmaster, and more. These cards give you different choices of actions you can make, as well as your initiative score.

One player sets up the game by dropping all of the small cubes (plus the large dragon cube) on the table from about 6 to 12 inches in height. Be careful you don't lose any cubes! This is the dungeon where players will add additional cubes on their turn and then create rooms to loot.

What Do You Get? 

Dungeon Drop includes everything you need to play the game. The box contains the following: 

• Four player aids
• Four turn order markers 
• One score tracker
• Four Meeples
• Four solo tokens
• Four teamwork tokens
• 87 cubes
• Six custom dice 
• Fifteen Race cards
• Fifteen Class cards
• Ten quest cards

How Do You Play Dungeon Drop? 

After the dungeon is set up, initiative (that is, which player goes first) is first determined based on the initiative number on the Race card. In the next round, it will be determined based on the weight carried (how many cubes you have collected during the previous rounds).

During a player's turn, there are three things to do:

1. Explore: Draw cubes from the box without looking at them and drop them into the Dungeon.
2. Act: Use either their Race or Class ability. 
3. Loot: Form a room using the gray, shiny cubes as pillars and collect the cubes. 

The quest card selected helps players determine which cubes they want to try and collect. If they have a quest card where the clear cubes are worth more for scoring, they might want to focus on only collecting those particular cubes. Or perhaps they want to have the fewest number of cubes because they receive extra points for having the lightest weight. 

Players play three rounds and then everyone counts up their score based on their quest card and the scoring information in the ruler booklet. The player with the most points wins. 

What Do We Think? 

This is an easy game to set up (as long as you don't lose any cubes off the table) and clean up. As long as you have a large, flat surface, you can play this game almost anywhere. The box itself is rather small, which means it can fit in between your larger game boxes and tuck neatly in a bag to take with you. 

We haven't played the Heroic "Teamwork" Game Mode or Solo Spelunker versions yet, so I can only speak to the basic game. In general, I think this is an enjoyable game. There is competition, but it is not "in your face" and the points can fluctuate depending on which new cubes are adding to the dungeon or if any of the pillars are moved.

Our daughter who does not enjoy competitive games played this one rather readily without any tears. She and I played as a team (there were five of us at the table), and even though we went last, she was very patient. Each players' turn can take a while as they try to line up the pillars to create rooms in the form of triangles. Everyone definitely wants to see if they can collect the cubes most important to their quest. Sometimes, players get to flick cubes around the table in attempts to better their loot scoring!

Overall, I think this is a very fun game and I would recommend it. Is it educational? Well, any game helps you work on compassion, teamwork, and good sportsmanship. This one definitely helps you think about triangles as that is how you form rooms with the pillars. There is also some arithmetic involved on a few of the quest cards due to varying gem cube bonuses and values. Beyond that...I think it is just a fun game to bring families and friends together.

Interested in More Game Reviews? 

We play a lot of games in our family. Some are ones that I have reviewed in the past for Timberdoodle such as Penguins Huddle Up™ or for HomeschoolingFinds.com such as Math Sprint while others are ones we have picked up over the years. Here are a few favorites:

• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Mermaid Island
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: The Oregon Trail ®
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Raccoon Rumpus
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Tenzi Game and Tenzi Card Deck

Crafts: Wisdom Keepsake

 

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Are you looking to be more purposeful in your life? The Canadian Schoolhouse is hosting its second Virtual Family Retreat: A Purposeful Life. This virtual retreat is perfect for homeschoolers. Each day focuses upon a different aspect of living a purposeful life and features speakers, a devotion, crafts, and more. I was fortunate enough to design and create several different crafts for the retreat, including ones based upon learning. 

Where does wisdom come from? Do you consider yourself wise? One of the most important places to find wisdom is in the pages of the Bible. 

Each day of the retreat focuses upon a different quote from the Bible. The quote associated with "Purposeful Learning" is: 

"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance." Proverbs 1:5

Let's remember to look in the Bible for wisdom. We can also seek help when we need it from our grandparents and parents. They can guide us using the wisdom they have gained over their years as well as the wisdom they have gained from reading the Bible. 

Today, we will learn how to create a keepsake where we can keep the Bible verses from this week and others that will help us grow in wisdom. 

Let's gather our materials! 

This project will allow you to be really creative. You can use an old DVD or CD case, or you will create your own small book with the quotes you write down. If you are going to create the same keepsake as me, gather a piece of construction paper for the cover, a pencil, markers (or other supplies to help you decorate your cover), and notebook paper.

Materials 

• Construction paper 
• Empty DVD or CD case 
• Pencil
• Markers
• Notebook paper 

Steps 

1. Use the original cover of the DVD or CD to help you trace a piece from the construction paper for the case. Write on the 'binding' (or spine) your title. 

2. Write a title on the front and draw a picture on the front. What images or pictures come to mind when you think about wisdom? You and your children can draw your own picture or use clip art from online or cut out pictures from magazines. 

3. Don't forget to add artwork to the back. I drew a book and included at least two of the books from the Bible where I plan to pick my quotes from my book. I drew first in pencil and then added color with my markers. If you are creating a book from paper, you don't need to write on the spine. 

4. Take your notebook paper, and write out your quote. You may have to trim the notebook paper beforehand to make sure it fits in your case or the mini-book that you are creating. 

5. If you are using a DVD case, you can tuck the paper under the flaps.

6. Add to your quotes...I asked my children to each pick quotes from their homeschool curriculum to add underneath the one I have already written. You can keep adding quotes and pages all year long as you complete homeschool lessons or Bible studies. 

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

We love board games in our house, especially cooperative games! We haven't been able to play a lot of games as a family lately but as our home life and homeschool shift, we will be playing more games together. Perhaps even instituting a family game night. 

Family Game Night Ideas 

Speaking of family game night... do you hold one with your family and friends? There are so many great ways you can get together for games and there are so many games! We enjoy everything from board and card games to roleplaying games to video games, and we have played all these different types of games together. Here are some ideas you can try with your family and friends. You can host:

• A game night featuring cooperative games only 
• A game night featuring competitive games 
• A game night with family and friends where everyone brings their favorite short game to play 
• A virtual game night where you play video games remotely with your family and friends 
• A game night for roleplaying - create pre-generated characters or start an epic dungeon campaign 

A Few Favorites 

In the past, I have shared many games that our family enjoys from one of our favorite video games to how we used roleplaying games to inspire a birthday party. Games provide a great form of entertainment that allows our family to not only spend time together but work together too. 

On my blog, you will find a variety of favorite types of games including: 

Tenzi Game and Tenzi Card Deck (a review courtesy of Timberdoodle): This is a fun dice game taken to a new level using the deck of cards which changes how the game is played.  

Roleplaying: Our family enjoys roleplaying games, so much so that we have hosted roleplaying birthday parties for our oldest son.

Cooperative Games: Our daughter loves games where we all work together to win the game. She loves games like Mermaid Island because we have a common goal and we either win or lose together as a family.

Video Games: As much as we enjoy board games, dice games, and card games, we also love playing video games together. Minecraft has become a family favorite because we can all play together in one world.  If your child is a fan of Minecraft, I have shared several posts over the years including crafts featuring the letters of the alphabet or pixel art and a Minecraft-themed birthday party.

Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters 

While searching for unique Christmas gifts, my husband found Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters on a recommended list of cooperative games. As we like to purchase at least one game for Christmas each year, this seemed like the perfect game to purchase. Each game playthrough is different as you and your teammates draw cards, place ghosts, collect treasures, and make decisions. So, it has immense replay value. And the fact that we work together cooperatively also meant that our daughter would be more willing to join in our first play-through attempt. 

What exactly is Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters? 

From the back of the box: "In a dark and dreary house, every sound sends a cold chill through your bones. A door opens - is someone there? You hear whispers, but no one answers when you call. Your eyes and ears may deceive you, but the hair on your neck tells you what you already know: there are ghosts here." 

You and your teammates are on a quest to discover the 8 treasure jewels that are scattered throughout the haunted house. As you draw cards, you will either advance without adding any more ghosts or haunts, or you will add ghosts to the different rooms in the house. By adding ghosts into the house, you will be increasing the haunt level. If the house is fully haunted before you get all the treasure out, you will lose the game.

What Comes with the Game? 

With your game come all the necessary components to play Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, including a set of instructions that provides you with the information to play the basic game and the advanced game. The advanced game adds in a few extra cards which will advance the haunting of the house as well as lock doors to the different rooms. 

Also included is the following: 

• 1 Game Board
• 4 Treasure Hunter Movers 
• 19 Cards 
• 24 Ghost Movers 
• 6 Haunting Figures
• 1 Movement Die
• 2 Fighting Die
• 8 Treasure Jewels 

What Do I Think? 

Due to the cooperative nature of Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, this is a big win for our family. I love the fact that winning the game requires players to talk to each other and strategize. During one game session, we talked about who would team up with whom in order to defeat ghosts, to be able to escape rooms with jewels. (If there are two Treasure Hunters in one room with a ghost, you can roll two battle dice, giving you a better chance to succeed.) 

I am impressed with the quality of the pieces and the cards. If one plans on playing a game multiple times with children, it is nice to find all the pieces are well-made and have a sturdy box for storage. Each item goes in its own spot in the box which makes cleaning up rather easy, too. 

I would recommend Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters to families who enjoy playing games together. If you enjoy cooperative games, then this is a good challenging game for you and your family. In the half-dozen or more times our family has played the game, we have only won once. While it is difficult to beat the game, it is not difficult to learn how to play. No one was so disappointed in our previous losses that they didn't want to play the game again. I think this speaks volumes about the re-playability of a game.

It's not a scary game, only takes about 30 minutes, and is perfect for two to four players. I think you will enjoy playing Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, too. 

Wordless Wednesday: Mini-Golf and Arcades

 

Everything Pumpkin

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

With the arrival of Autumn, many yearn for pumpkin spice, visiting pumpkin patches, pumpkin pie, pumpkin decor, and everything else pumpkin. But why the pumpkin? After all, wouldn’t life be just as "gourd" if this season celebrated the cucumber or the cantaloupe? Perhaps not.

Pumpkins can be grown all over the world except for Antarctica. So while they may be native to the Southern United States and Central America, you can find them in gardens all over—yet Morton, Illinois is considered the “pumpkin capital” of the world because it is home to the Libby's corporation, whose canned pumpkin puree has become a part of the preparation for many American families’ Thanksgiving meals. With pumpkins being a winter squash, it makes sense that they are popular during the autumn season.

Pumpkins are interesting in that most parts of the plant are edible such as the shell, the seeds, the leaves, and even the flowers. Green ones can be eaten like summer squash while ones that are ripe can be used not only for pies but also soups. How do you like to enjoy pumpkins? It is amazing that they can be baked, roasted, steamed, or boiled or included in part of another dish. Personally, I enjoy pumpkin seeds. They are a lovely treat.

The pumpkin is also part of American folklore as it figures in the story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. If you or your homeschooled children wish to learn more about American folklore, you might want to take a look at the American Folklore course at SchoolhouseTeachers.com. While learning about the Northeast, your middle school or high school children will learn more about legends and spooky folktales in lessons six through eight. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman is said to have a pumpkin atop his shoulders instead of his head. Whether Irving pulled this idea from American tales or European folklore, it is interesting to note that the pumpkin plays a role in this American classic.

For many, pumpkins make them think of jack o'lanterns and decorating for Halloween. The history of jack o'lanterns goes back to Ireland, where people would carve turnips and potatoes to scare away evil spirits. Today, people carve a variety of designs into pumpkins to decorate for the season including individuals from favorite movies. So, not everything relating to jack o'lanterns today is about the scare.

Do pumpkins play a role in your celebration of Autumn? Do you enjoy a hot cup of tea or coffee flavored with pumpkin spice?

Creativity in Your Homeschool: A Review of Mixed by Me Glow Thinking Putty® Kit

I received a FREE copy of this product from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Our homeschooled children are very creative. They love arts and crafts, writing stories, and creating new games. When presented with the opportunity to review the Mixed by Me Glow Thinking Putty® Kit from Timberdoodle, I was very excited to see what creative colors they would design. We had already purchased our daughter a container of Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty previously, so I knew that when she saw this kit, she would be SO thrilled!

The Mixed by Me Glow Thinking Putty® Kit is rated for ages 3+, which makes it perfect for many homeschooling families. It can be used as a separate activity or included as part of your science homeschool lessons.

What Do You Get?

In the colorful box, you will receive everything you need to make at least 5 different Thinking Putty® concoctions. (You can make more color and special effect combinations if your children subdivide the small tins of clear putty into smaller parts as our own did.)

• 5 tins of clear putty 
• 3 color concentrates - red, yellow, blue 
• 3 special effects - sparkle-izer, glow-ifier, shimmer-izer 

• 6 colored pencils 
• 5 customizable tin labels (we had labels on our tins and a set of 5 stickers) 

• 1 mixing mat with ideas for color formulas 

How Did We Use Mixed by Me Glow Thinking Putty® in Our Homeschool?

One evening, shortly after the arrival of the Mixed by Me Thinking Putty® Kit, our children had exhausted their imaginations and toys. So, I took out the box and we started looking at the mixing mat. As our children had already played with a tin of Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty® previously, they knew to a small extent what to expect. We looked at the bags of three colors and the three special effects options and talked about what colors they might like to make. We took a look at the sample formulas to decide whether or not we wanted to use any of the suggestions.

In the beginning, we rolled out the Thinking Putty® using the Measuring Bar, but by the time we had been creating our own creations for a bit, we just grabbed out how much we thought we would want or need of each color or special effect to add to the clear putty.

Because our children wanted to mix small amounts, we ended up storing some of the creations in sandwich bags inside of the tins. I think perhaps because they did not use large quantities of the colors and the special effects, the impact of them was not as pronounced as it would have been if they used 'a glob,' 'a blob,' or 'a heap' as indicated in the Measuring Bar. For example, the glow-in-the-dark special effect putty did not really glow but in the end, we were not really disappointed.

We have about five bags of small amounts of different colored Thinking Putty®

Our second grader is not a fan of other products of a similar nature. In fact, he does not even like to be the same room when his sister plays with those products but he has not had any sensory issues with the Thinking Putty® at all. I am very happy that he was able to join in the creation process to design a really stunning orange-colored tin of Thinking Putty®.

You can just see the sparkles in this orange-colored putty. When it settles, it will often stick to the lid.

I like that the more you play with the putty, the more it mixes and your color combination and special effect choices become more clear. In the beginning, our daughter did not want to really mix her combinations but the more she did, the more you could see the teal-blue of one of her creations.

The top is the clear putty, the middle is our daughter's teal-blue creation, and the bottom is the orange tin. 

How Can You Use This in Your Homeschool? 

I think there are a variety of ways you can use the Mixed by Me Glow Thinking Putty® Kit in your homeschool. You will be able to discuss the mixing of colors (and special effects), the need to measure (or not measure) when creating something, as well as cooperate if you have more than one homeschooled child using the kit. The putty also gives the child something they can play with during read-alouds or while they work on difficult assignments or projects. (Do be careful though because it can stick to things.)

While the children were picking their colors and special effects options, I thought about how perfect this would be for a children's birthday party. It would be the perfect activity for our children and their cousins to do together where every child would get to take home their own small tin of Thinking Putty®.

I would recommend Mixed by Me Glow Thinking Putty® Kit. The putty itself is fun to play with, and the idea of creating your own colors and designs is a lot of fun. While some may find the tins too small, I think they are a perfect size. I also love the fact that Thinking Putty® is produced in the United States.

If you want to read more reviews of products from Timberdoodle, please check out my reviews of the Tenzi Game and the Zig Zag Puzzler.

Wordless Wednesday: Bowling

Before things drastically changed and entertainment venues were closed, our family joined our church family with an afternoon out bowling. For our youngest two children and I, this was our first trip bowling.

Finding The Fun in Homeschooling: Adding a Puzzle into your Chemistry Course

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this puzzle from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Our family had the opportunity to review a new item from Timberdoodle – 1000-Piece Periodic Table Puzzle. This year, our teen studied chemistry in our homeschool so I thought this puzzle would be a great way to spend time together as a family and review what our son had learned in his course.

The Periodic Table of the Elements Puzzle is made in the United States from recycled materials. When you are finished, it will measure 24" by 30". The pieces are die-cut. So, they do fit together smoothly. When you open the box, you will find a poster that shows you exactly what the puzzle will look like when completed and a plastic bag containing the 1,000 puzzle pieces.

All the pieces were in the bag! I know sometimes pieces can be missing with puzzles but not in this case.

We took turns passing around the poster as we were putting together the puzzle.

It took our family of five about two to three hours to put the puzzle together. For most of the time it was myself and our teen working on the puzzle with our six-year-old and four-year-old helping (they were trying to organize puzzle pieces by color). By the mid-way point, my husband joined in to help us and he took over putting together the title (Periodic Table of the Elements) which I was struggling with due to the fact that I could not figure out which way was up on the letters. I then progressed to working on the left side of the puzzle, while our teen continued putting together the entire bottom of the puzzle.

How Could One Use the Puzzle in Their Homeschool? 

Why include a puzzle in your homeschool day? I think there are a number of ways in which you could use this great puzzle that is part of the curriculum offered by Timberdoodle.

I can easily see students who are studying chemistry using the puzzle at the beginning of the semester as an overview to the periodic table. As they complete the puzzle, they will be able to get an introduction to all the new things they will be learning.

What happens when something you had planned as part of your chemistry curriculum goes wrong? When a chemistry experiment does not go as planned, this might be a nice way to regroup and have fun. You can even ask your child to work on the puzzle while you try to 'fix' the experiment or get together the supplies you need to try again.

Sometimes you think you have all the supplies at hand but you don't. If you can't find the materials you need for an experiment, working on the puzzle together would be a fun way to spend the time you allotted to science that homeschool day.

At the end of the course, the puzzle is a perfect review. This is really how we used the puzzle with our homeschooling teen. He had already completed his requirements for chemistry this year. So, this puzzle was a really nice way for me to see that he had learned a lot more than was seen through notes, quizzes, and tests.

All three kids putting in the last piece to the puzzle.

What Do We Think? 

I would recommend the Periodic Table of the Elements Puzzle to homeschooling families whether or not your children are studying chemistry. It is an interesting puzzle and I admit to wanting to learn more about the elements after having completed the puzzle with my family. Even our younger children, who have never completed a puzzle of this size, enjoyed the experience.

I think it is a well-manufactured puzzle. I think it will last through many adventures of putting it together and then taking it apart for the next time. My only problem with trying to put it together was with the spaces where there was a lot of white space (like the text: Periodic Table of Elements) but my husband easily took that part over for me. Once I started working on the elements I found it a challenge but not an overly difficult one.

This was the part of the puzzle I was struggling with so I was very happy when my husband took it over.

I love how each piece had a picture example with a small explanation.

Our teen's thoughts: "I enjoyed putting it together. One should probably be at least 10 to complete it, as it is quite large. The different colors made it easy to figure out which pieces went where and the symbols for each element also made it easier."

Timberdoodle includes great products as part of their curriculum kits and this puzzle is just one of the many awesome resources available to homeschooling families. I highly recommend checking out Timberdoodle and the 1000-Piece Periodic Table Puzzle.

Crafts: Superheroes & Villains: Batman Paper Bag Puppet

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Like many children, our two youngest have become interested in superheroes in comics, cartoons, television shows, and movies. So much about superheroes and their villains has changed over the years. They have often become darker but it is still possible to share superheroes and their stories with our children.

We were fortunate enough to share the 1960s Television Series of Batman with our younger children. Most of the shows are lighthearted and in just two episodes, Batman and Robin get the villain. (Yes, the villains somehow escape and plan dastardly deeds again that Batman must thwart but it is all in good fun.)

Materials

• Brown paper lunch bag
• Glue sticks
• White glue
• Markers and crayons (or paint)
• Construction paper
• Googly eyes 

Steps

1. Collect materials. I pre-cut the pieces we would be gluing onto the paper bag and printed out the Batman logo for the belt.

2. Glue the cape onto the paper bag and then attach the top and pants. 

3. After the top and pants are attached, glue on the yellow belt and then the Batman logo.

4. Next attach the Batman mask onto the top of the paper bag. 

5. Glue on googly eyes or draw on eyes for your puppet. Then draw on a mouth for Batman and the puppet is finished! 

There are a great number of toys, books, games, and more for your children if they are fans of superheroes and villains. Our son has a number of Batman Lego sets, an awesome floor puzzle that was picked up at a friendly local game store, and a plush Batman doll. If you are interested in sharing Batman cartoons or movies with your children, I would recommend viewing them beforehand to guarantee that you do not find anything that your family would find objectionable. 

If you want to make a Wonder Woman Paper Bag Puppet to fight alongside Batman or perhaps a Wonder Woman Shield, we have made those in our household, too!