Customer Reviews

MindWare Pattern Play

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a 4 year old daughter and a 9 year old son. Both like to play with this and make different patterns. It is a great learning tool to show sizing, fractions and spacial relationships.
It is beautifully made with vibrant colors. As my children go through different stages, the quality and style of the patterns they create changes. It is a great toy for them to use alone or with an adult.
I would highly recommend this.

This is a wonderful product for children of all ages. Your child will use creative problem solving skills to see how many different ways they can get this puzzle to fit in the square. They will also have fun just making freeform designs with all the colorful shapes. I also have an elderly mother that has mild dementia and this is a teriffic puzzle to keep her brain working and entertained, so again, it is for all ages. Don't be surprised if you find yourself on the floor playing with it along side of your child.

EDIT: Reduced my rating to 3 stars - the loose pieces make this fairly frustrating. I spent more time with the toy along with my 3 year old, and even I felt it disappointing that the pieces kept moving so freely. They should have made the board much smaller and tighter (hint to MindWare in case they check their reveiws).

Recently bought this from Amazon for my kid who turned 3 recently. But so far my 6 year old has been having more fun with it. I thought it would be too easy/boring for her, but she is enjoying making all the different patterns (she loves coloring/drawing a lot, so that might explain the interest). Not sure if her interest would continue when she has finished all 40 pattern cards. Once you get the concept, there is not much novelty left, so I am expecting boredom to set in soon.

I have tried to do some patterns with a 3 year old - he finds it interesting, but not great because the pieces don't fit tight. The board where you put pieces is half an inch bigger on each side than needed. I understand they have to leave some space, but this is way too much, so the pieces keep moving while he is trying to put new pieces, and this causes frustration. He likes to do puzzles where pieces just fit together and stay put, so this is kind of unacceptable.

Overall thoughts:
- interesting toy for kids who love coloring/drawing
- Probably better for 4-5 year olds with better fine motor skills
- Not as good for younger kids
- Not very well designed - should be more snug fit
- Not too many variations - once you get the trick, most of the challenge will be gone

This puzzle has a lot of limitations. The pieces don't fit well in the frame and so everything shifts when you're trying to build a picture. The idea cards are nice, I think they cover every possible puzzle combination. If you're looking for creativity for your child, look at the Hape mosaic puzzle. Many more possibilities and much more fun and interesting to play with. I would not buy this again nor would I recommend it.

I bought this toy as a Christmas gift and it was a huge hit with children ages 2 - 11. The two year old liked to build "castles" and line up the blocks by color. The 11 year old liked to make the complex suggested patterns. We taught the 3 year old how to make squares out of 2 triangles, right angles, how to select the longest/tallest block, how to select the right color and how to fit the pieces together as we helped her make the patterns. I did not play with the 5 year olds but their dad did and said they loved it. It is the perfect educational and fun toy. It allows for creativity but in a very orderly manner. I would recommend it to anyone.

I love the concept of this toy. Really educational and wood is always nice, when there are so many plastic toys out there. However, it has one BIG flaw...

When all of the puzzle pieces are in the frame, it doesn't fit snugly. They shift around, which is soooooo annoying. There is quite a bit of room between the edges of the pieces and the frame. I just don't get why they would have made it this way??

I never return stuff to Amazon, but I'm definitely returning this! I had high hopes for this toy...oh well.

I bought this for my niece knowing we'd all play with it too, and we do! It's fun to try to make different patterns while piddling around. The only thing funky about it is that it doesn't fit nice and snug in it's little holding box like you'd expect it to, and the pieces have room to shift and distort the pattern you're going for. Not a big enough issue to NOT buy this product, but it's something to note anyway. I'd definitely recommend it!

This is a really neat toy and the blocks seem fairly well made however the frame is junk. As soon as we opened it the guide rails fell off so now we either have to play without the frame or try to glue it. I would still recommend buying it but plan on home repair. Also this item arrived with many other items none of which were damaged so I'm confident damage was not due to shipping.

I saw this first in a museum shop, and though I don't have children I often buy gifts for children (friends' kids and clients' kids). This has been a great hit with a two-year-old and a five-year-old -- the basic colors appealed to the younger one, and the older one is able to perceive the differences of designs and plays happily making those shapes as though he's about to be a professional designer. I kept one for myself because it's good practice for designing quilt squares (my new hobby). Well made, sturdy, and quiet.

Our older kids enjoy racing each other in building the patterns. The younger kids like doing the puzzle patterns with mom or dad. The younger kids catch on to turning the pieces to make the pattern quickly after playing it just a few times. Our kids range in age from 12yrs. to 8 mo. (she is not playing it yet).