IQ Block is a game that will help your child develop their problem-solving, spatial awareness and persistence skills as they try to find one of over forty possible solutions. UK-based parents can purchase it from here, while US-based parents can purchase it from here.
IQ Block is a puzzle-based game that will both entertain your child and stretch their mental abilities. It consists of a small plastic box with a flip-top lid and a set of eight brightly coloured and individually shaped puzzle pieces. The aim is simple: empty the pieces from the box, pick one and place it in the bottom left corner, and then work out how you can fit all the other pieces around it so that you can close the lid of the box. It shouldn’t be too difficult, right? But it’s more difficult than it seems, and it can take a surprisingly long time to find a suitable solution. This makes it a great game to bring out on rainy days, or whenever you need a few minutes peace and quiet.
How Long Does It Take To Play? It will typically take between five and fifteen minutes to find an individual solution to IQ Block, but this time will vary greatly from child to child. There are more than forty possible solutions in all, so the game needn’t end when the first solution is found, and can carry on for as long as your child wishes to keep searching for other ones.
Ages: The stated age-range for this game is six and older, however, children younger than eight may find this game too frustrating as they may not have developed the persistence needed to search for and find a solution.
IQ Block is played by emptying all the pieces out, and then working out how to put them all back in again so they fit within the box.
Core Life Skills It Will Help Develop: Critical Thinking Skills – Critical thinking, Spatial awareness, problem-solving; Intra-personal Skills: Persistence.
What Do You Need To Play It? To play this game, all you need is an IQ Block game set. UK-based parents can purchase one from here, while US-based parents can purchase one from here.
Preparation: No preparation is required for this game. However, it is advisable to photograph the layout of the pieces before you empty them out the first time so that you have a record of at least one possible solution in case you need to pack the pieces away at any time.
How Do You Play It? This game is simple to play, but it’s not nearly as simple to complete. First, open the IQ Block game set and empty out the game pieces, being careful not to lose any of them. Next, select a piece and place it in the bottom left corner of the game box. Once you have done this, work out how you can fit the remaining pieces around this first one so that they all fit within the box and you can close the lid. Once you have found a solution using one piece in the bottom left corner, you can start again with another one in order to find a different solution to the problem. There are at least forty different solutions, so it will take some time to find them all.
When And Where Can You Play It? This game can be played anywhere there is space to lay out the IQ Block game set and the pieces without risk of losing them. This means it can be played at home, on a train, in the car, in a restaurant, or anywhere else where you have sufficient room. It’s also small and self-contained, marking it the perfect game to have tucked away in your bag for those moments when your child becomes bored.
The IQ Block finished when all the pieces are placed inside the box in such a way as to allow the lid to be closed.
Variations: While children can be left to simply find a solution to the IQ Block, you can also make it more challenging by setting them targets. For example, if you have several children you could set up a competition to see who could find a solution the fastest, either by timing them or by using more than one IQ Block game set so they can directly compete against each other. Similarly, you can challenge your child to see how many solutions they can find within a given time period (such as fifteen minutes or half an hour). If you want to make it even more difficult, you could even challenge them to do it while blind-folded!
In addition, there are many other similar puzzle-based games available, and if your child likes playing IQ Block, then you can consider purchasing additional ones for them to play with. You can find links to other such games by clicking here (for UK-based parents) or here (for US-based parents).
Links To Purchase And IQ Block Game Set
About The Author: This post was written by Colin Drysdale, the creator of How To Raise A Happy Genius.
The links contained in this post are affiliate links. This means that we will receive a small commission for each purchase made after clicking on a link. This allows us to run this website and provide the information it contains free of charge. If you don’t want us to receive this commission, simply visit your preferred online store directly and search for the product there.
