Customer Reviews

Learning Resources Dino Math Tracks Place Value Game

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

 

 

The upside:

If you're looking to get your kids excited about math, this works. My girls loved the dinosaurs and the Action cards sent them into giggles.

If you're looking to get your kids to understand the different place values in a multi-digit number, this works, i.e. within a half hour of play, my 6-year olds were able to read 5,425 as five thousand, four hundred and twenty five. Before we started the game they could not.

The downside:

There are errors in the instructions. The colors/place values described do not agree with the board. We found another similar error in the "Action cards". To me, it is not acceptable to have careless mistakes in a math game.

Educationally, it just doesn't make sense that 1s, 10s, 100s, and 1000s all appear as roughly equal footsteps on the board. Yes, they are marked as 1, 10, 100, and 1000s on the footprint, but moving ahead 1 step for 1 moves your dinosaur the same distance as moving forward 1 step for the 1000. It just gives you no sense of the relative values.

The board gets too crowded with even 2 players but with 4 it was very hard to keep track of your pieces (16 total on the board.)

Perhaps because I have been "conditioned" by so many other games (like Trouble or Sorry) I was used to looking for "my color" and not "my dinosaur". Every player gets 4 different colors of 1 type of dinosaur. I'm sure its something you get used to but it was yet another annoyance.

The cards that came with the game are very flimsy, barely a heavy cardstock. They do not look like they will hold up to much use.

This game is great! The tiny dinos spark my 5 year-old son's imagination and enable him to have so much fun that he does not realize he is learning. Furthermore, he does not want to stop!!! He learned place value up to the thousands during our first game. After each roll of the dice the player uses all four dice to make a number and then s/he reads the number aloud (i.e. if you roll 6666 you say six thousand six hundred and sixty six). As we move our dinos around the board T.R. looks forward to our pieces landing on the same track so that we can have a "Showdown". In a "Showdown" you simply have to roll a dice and the person who gets the larger number wins. However, we move our dinos to the middle of the board and have a miniature battle. The player who rolled the larger number wins the battle. The loser is sent back home and the winner gets to move ahead. After playing the game a couple of times without using the cards - which is the simplest level of play with this game - my son asked to use the cards. So on Day 2 we began using the cards. Again he uses his imagination and does a great deal of role play as he carries out the instructions. It fills my heart with delight to see his excitement and to see that he has truly learned how to read numbers up to the thousands. (T.R. learned to read when he was 4 so he independently reads the dice and reads the cards.)

As a parent I highly recommend Dino Math Tracks because kids quickly learn a lot while having loads of fun. This game can be played at three levels, so it grows with your child.

I was not too excited when my kids got an educational board game as a gift, but my kids took right to it and still ask to play it on a regular basis a year later. They have learned a lot, and I am buying this game as a gift for our school friends this year. My only gripe is that the numbers wore off the dice, since the kids played the game so much!

My child loves this game! Each person has a single type of dinosaur in four different colors. Each color represents one of the placement values; Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands. The dinosaurs, as determined by roll of four dice, have to walk their color-coordinated path from start to finish. But look out! If an opponent lands on the same space, a die-rolling duel ensues, with the high-roller prevailing. This basic game is a lot of fun for young children. Then there are two decks of cards, one more advanced than the other, which enable the parameters of the game to expand with the child's developing math skills. My child and I can play on even ground - a rare trait in today's games. This comes highly recommended!

I just purchased this game and my 6 year old son loves it. We played it for the first time today. I believe that he likes it because he was able to beat mommy. He did really well on picking up on the concept of the game. We played with the "action cards" and without the "problem solving" cards and I can see the value of the "problem solving" version once we reach that point. An example problem solving question is-- your dinosaur gallops forward 40 miles and back 20 miles each day -- how far does he get in two days?

As another reviewer mentioned, the action cards had a lot of errors. For example, yellow dinosaurs are 1's, yet one of the action cards tells you to move the yellow dinosaur 3 thousands. The blue dinosaur is actually thousands so you have to modify the cards so that the kids don't get confused. I agree that the price of the game is too much to permit such mistakes. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would only buy the game if it were a lower price (we paid $18.99).

This game has great potential; the version we got is backwards which is confusing to my kids. For example, the directions say yellow represents thousands, blue hundreds, green tens etc but it's obviously opposite, so a serious flaw in the actual production of the game. We just changed it as we played but it's a drag. My son (7) loves it though.

I purchased this for my daughter to help her with place value. She loves the dinos, but when we play with the action number cards there seems to be a lot of mistakes. For example, the yellow dino starts out in the 1's positions, but the cards and the directions both have the yellow dino in the 1000's position. It is confussing for her since for example, she is looking to move the yellow dino back 3 thousands with an action number card and it is actually in the ones position. I've tried calling the company to see why the differences in the game board, directions and cards, but have received no answer. I'm rating the game a little higher, because she loves the dinos and if you don't play with the cards it makes sense.

My 5 year old who likes dinosaurs LOVES this game. Basically its a racing game that teaches math. It has 3 different levels of learning/difficulty, so he will be able to play it for awhile! It goes by quick enough that he doesn't loose interest. Great game!

This is fun for my 8 year old. Good concept and she is learning without even knowing she is doing math. An overall winner. Different levels allow for advancement extending the amount of time this game is useful for leaning. Good investement.

Board and dinos are durable and good quality.

Board footprints are close together and get crowded. Sometimes it is confusing to know what line to follow, expecially when there is a showdown.

Card stock thin but not unlike many other board games sold.

I bought this because of the math factor and was pleased that it is also fun for the whole family.

I got this board game as a Christmas gift for my 5-year old son. I had been having a hard time getting him to recognize any numbers outside of double-digits but this game had him reading numbers in the thousands in no time.

As others have mentioned, the board can get crowded with more than two players however.

We're moving our way into the more advanced versions of the game and this simple $20 board game has turned into one of his favorite Christmas gifts.