Customer Reviews

Cranium Big Book of Outrageous Fun!: The Write-It, Draw-It, Sculpt-It, Act-It Game-in-a-Book-in-a-Game!

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered and The Frugal Book Promoter and a chapbook of poetry called Tracings

This may be the most colorful, most useful, most fun little 10 x 10 cube a parent will ever run across. The Cranium Big Book of Outrageous Fun may also be the best 20 bucks they ever spent. It terms of entertainment. In terms of education. If I still had elementary kids living at home, I'd buy a half dozen or so of them and keep them on a closet shelf as a year's supply of birthday and Christmas gifts!

As a former teacher, I have always had a thing about education being fun. I also believe that children should think so, too. Ideally, they should be having so much fun at learning they won't know that they are being educated. This is the item that will do it. Billed as "The Write-it, Draw-it, Sculpt-it, Act-it Game-in-a-Book-in-a-Game," it includes a great guidebook full of fun stuff like maps and fascinating tidbits all beautifully put together with color tabs and great illustrations by Baseman. It also includes "Cranium Clay" for sculpting, a miniature hourglass timer, game cards, a spinner (that you can see through a cutout on the front of the box), an erasable marker, game pieces and game board and a marker in this toy/book's fave color, purple. How the publisher, LB Kids, stuffed all this into one box is part of the fun.

Cranium is suggested for kids seven and up. I'd say way up. It's been awhile since I did homework with kids. Some of this information was very good review for me, too. And there is no age limit on creativity.

The Cranium Big Book of Outrageous Fun is a game that is also a book. The game container opens like a book and is kept shut with a magnetic strip. The book includes a pull out Mini Conga game board and clay, a timer and game pieces, along with 40 rewritable activity pages and a sign-in book where kids can ask their friends and family questions and record the answers.

The activity categories include: creativity, words, data and active play (they call this Star Performer). This is one busy book and lots of fun.

The stated reading range is 9-12, but we successfully played the games and worked the activities with my four and seven year olds--with a little adult reading help. A great game-in-a-book-in-a-game that works on many levels: kids can complete the activities alone for quiet time or in groups for outrageous fun. The Mini Conga game and the activities are thinking games, but they are also pure fun. Kids will learn and use their minds without even knowing it. And, mom and dad can play too.

I think this is an excellent "road" game, perfect for car trips, long visits at the doctor's office...or anyplace else that a little activity would liven things up.

Jam-packed with activities, this family FUNderful game-in-a-book-in-a-game is perfect for independent readers (or smaller, good listeners who will accept an adult reader's help.) This product will be released on September 7th, and would make a great holiday or birthday gift.

Highly recommended. My kids won't put it down!

See my reviews at YABooksCentral

This big book is loaded with activities that has been keeping my six year old engaged for weeks. The book resembles the original Cranium game. The chapters are divided among Cranium's categories: Star Performer, Data Head, Word Worm, and Creative Cat. Within each section, there are open ended pages that incorporate clay, cards, dry erase pen, spinner, and more. What I like about the book is that it's open ended enough that children can read, interpret, and tackle it in multiple ways. There are countless approaches to each page. For instance, "Star Alert" in Creative Cat asks children to create constellations by their own design or by the questions on the page. My daughter worked on this page multiple times and every time produced entirely different results. This book is a great travel companion. Its firm, neat,and compact design provides entertainment all contained on her lap! It's definitely coming with us on our Thanksgiving road trip!

It just so happened that I got the Cranium Big Book of Outrageous Fun! the day that my daughter was having a friend over for a sleepover. They got home from school, it caught their eyes and they were entertained until I insisted it really was time to go to bed!! It works great for a group or for one on one play. The girls loved the "Super Sign-in Book" that is included since the question and answer part of it really let them get to know each other even better!
I highly recommend this fabulous book/game. My daughter is almost seven but my 4 year old son loves to make up his own games with all of the fun and enticing props. I think this is something that kids of ALL ages would enjoy...I know I did!!

The title pretty much says it all with this one! This game in a book is loaded with hours and hours of learning fun. Whether you write-it, draw-it, sculpt-it or act-it this one of a kind collection has tons of outrageous fun for you and your family or friends! The kit includes rewritable activity pages, game cards, game board, spinner, timer, clay and more! If you love the cranium game then you will love this kit.

Our family has long been a fan of Cranium products, and this is no exception. Our Big Book rarely makes it back to the game closet as we play it so much. We are always looking for games to play with our kids and this one is one of the best; the kids love it, feel successful at it, and it's not boring for adults (if I have to play one more game of Monopoly...!). Our kids are 8 and 10, but I'd highly recommend this game for any family.

I'm a pretty big fan of Cranium's games, and since this was touted as a write-it, draw-it, sculpt-it, act-it game for ages 7 and up, I was looking forward to using all my talents. The first thing I noticed is that this probably isn't a book/game for anyone over 15, and my guess is even early teens won't get much use out of it. Once I got over my disappointment that it was truly geared for a much younger audience (than me, anyway), that's when I let go of my preconceived notions and started to play around with the game.

I particularly enjoyed the "Data Head" section as they had lots of fun "science" activities for kids, including a mold experiment that calls for the study of mold in various stages. Your kids can then rank the mold on various sub categories, including a "Stink Factor." Parents may be none too thrilled with this activity, but it should make for an interesting couple of days.

The book also contains a game (get it game in a book in a game) the "Conga Mini Guessing Game." The game is also somewhat simplistic so adults probably only want to invest them time if they're joining their younger family members, but in all this is a nice, self-contained package that has a lot of fun activities and room for creative expression. This is a must-have for your child's bookshelf/playspace, and it also does carries well on the dreaded road trips.

Spent a whole day with 5 granddaughters ranging in age from 5 thru 12. The book was appropriate for ALL of them!!!
I highly recommend it

This book is great! I bought it for my 6 year old. She loves all the cranium games and books. We have the original cranium, but when I saw this I thought it would be perfect for her. She can do some of the activities on her own and there is also a game to play. It is fun and easy.

This is a great activity book that you can take with you anywhere and will keep all involved entertained. There are many different activities in this book and a game nestled in the book. If you are a Cranium fan you will love this book. Kids love it, too.