With the back-to-school season upon us, you can help your kids (and yourself!) stay sharp with Bend Your Brain: 151 Puzzles, Tips, and Tricks to Blow (and Grow) Your Mind, a brand new puzzle book from the minds who brought you Marbles: The Brain Store. With access to the latest developments in neuroscience, and knowledge of which puzzles stimulate neurons for a healthier brain, Marbles: Brain Workshop designed a series of logic puzzles and brain teasers that keeps minds flexible and fit.
The first of a two-book series, Bend Your Brain had me addicted within two puzzles. The book offers a variety of puzzles from the easiest levels of mind-warming to the much more challenging levels of mind-blowing. Each puzzle is specially formulated and curated to help strengthen readers’ brains by engaging with five brain categories: Visual Perception, Word Skills, Critical Thinking, Coordination, and Memory. Each section begins with the easier puzzles and players can work their way through to more difficult ones. There is a huge variety of puzzles, so there really is something for everyone. The puzzles help build focus, visual recall, peripheral vision, creativity, vocabulary, reasoning, analysis, gross and fine motor skills, and memory. It really is a “full body workout” for your mind!
Due solely to the general difficulty of the puzzles, the book is probably best suited for kids in their teenage years, but some may be doable for those at a tween level. However, the book isn’t just for kids—grown-ups will love it, too. Research shows that exercising your brain is just as important as hitting the treadmill at the gym, so doing a couple of these puzzles a day will keep the whole family thinking, solving, and bending their brains. My favorite puzzles were the ones falling in the Word Skills category, where the Memory puzzles gave me a bit more of a challenge. However, as I worked my way through the Memory section—and all the sections, for that matter—I felt myself improving with each puzzle, and eventually being able to conquer even some of those “mind-blowing” level Memory challenges.
For a bit of a preview into the book, check out this puzzle:
Marbles: The Brain Store also provides a ton of cool brain bending games, puzzles, books, and software for all ages, so check out their site for more information!
