Tag Archives: problem solving for kids

Extraordinay Problem Solving with The EXTRAORDINAIRES

Eva working on her EXTRAORDINAIRES

At Blogger Bash, Sweet Suite 2016 I went by the booth for The Creativity Hub. I saw The EXTRAORDINAIRES and was so impressed, I knew that it would be something perfect for Eva. So, I requested the The EXTRAORDINAIRES Design Studio to review and we had one sent to us for free to review. Opinions about it are 100% our own.

I had Eva help me with a quick video intro and we didn’t have time for her to play with the design studio that day, she was bummed out, she wanted to dive right into it. The Design Studio is a self contained design product for kids. The game centers around The EXTRAORDINAIRES, 15 characters with very special needs. The challenge is to create different objects for these characters. Objects like an item to wash with for a Fairy who is a detective or spy. A special chair for a ninja who is also a drummer in a band. These characters are on beautifully illustrated cards. Their images are on the front and their special needs are on the back. Players choose a card with the object and then they can use additional cards called Think cards. Designers need to think about three basic things when creating their objects or gadgets. Those are Research, Design and Improve. The actual Design Studio case is so well designed. It is almost like a laptop in the design. There are spaces for all the cards and a place to put the design paper, plus it comes with a pen to use to create.

I was right about Eva loving this product. She dove right in and started designing. She’s done one a day since I gave her the studio. I can see how her thought process and problem solving skills will continue to improve as she challenges herself to create even better objects for The EXTRAORDINAIRES.

There is also this great research project that The Creativity Hub did with The EXTRAORDINAIRES.