Educational Insights Review and Giveaway!

Hey Neighbors!

Hope you are having a great beginning to you new year. I have another Family Fun Night review for you. Educational Insights sent me a few games to review. We received Blurt, Name That Country, Color Schemes and Stix and Stones. Each of these games are great for a Family Fun Night.

About Educational Insights:

"Based in Southern California, Educational Insights, is the manufacturer of playful products with serious educational value, including subject-specific classroom products, teacher resources, educational toys, and games. Our products are designed by seasoned educators and parents who know that, first and foremost, learning must be fun."

Name That Country ($24.99) became one of my daughters favorites. In this game you work your way around the game board by identifying countries.



There is a map of the world on the game board and each coutry instead of being labeled by name, each one has an individual number.



When you spin the spinner it lands on a country, with the name of the continent it is located on and how many spaces you will move if you answer correctly. You then have to choose the correct number. Then the person who has been chosen to check answers checks the answer key.



If they are right the person moves ahead the allowed amount of spaces. Another part of the game is there are postcards that are shuffled and placed face down on the board.


If you land on a spot marked postcard, you pick up the top postcard and hand it to the designated person to read. They greeting and name of the penpal are clues to the country. Identify the country. If you respond with the correct answer, you get to move ahead 2 more spaces. The goal is to reach the Post Office. If the game becomes to easy, you can add the requirement of naming the capital also.




My children actually beg to play this game for school. It is fun for them and they are learning! This was a really great idea for a game. This would definitely be a plus for any homeschooling family, but anyone can benefit from playing this game. Including adults!



The next game, Blurt ($29.99) is already a family favorite. This game gets hysterical! Blurt can be played by up to 6 players. Everyone places their game piece on start. Pick one person to start. The chosen person rolls the dice and then draws a card. Make sure you decide first if you are going to use the easy side (with 2 gold stars) or hard side of the cards. Or if you have varying ages you could alternate. Whatever number the dice lands on decides which definition you will read off. Here comes the fun part. Everyone else starts blurting out what they believe is the answer. Now, the problem is not in knowing the correct answer, it is getting the answer out first! Here is an example:The space in a house just under the roof. Answer:Attic.


You may keep guessing until someone gets it right. The person who answered correctly moves the same amount of spaces as the number on the dice. Here is an example from the harder definitions:A portable burner in which a flame is made hotter by a blast of air or oxygen. Answer:Blowtorch. Watching this game is fun too! You know the answer, but actually saying it is more difficult than you think. Especially in the excitement of the game. Do not play this if you have a headache! We have really enjoyed Blurt.

Here is a short video above of the family playing Blurt.

Next is Stix and Stones ($24.99). This is another fun active game. This one is a little more complicated to explain. Much easier when the game is in front of you. Believe me this is no reflection on how fun this game is to play. You divide the players into 2 teams of 2 or more. Large teams do not need to have the same number of players. You put the cards face down on the table. Separate the short sticks, long sticks, and stones. A player from each team is chosen to be the builder. Roll the dice to see which player goes first. Lowest roll is the winner. This player then rolls the dice again to choose which picture word will be used. Both picture builders look at the word and each one tries to figure out how to build the picture with as few stix and stones as possible. The player who chose the card begins bidding by saying how many stix and stones they will need to build the picture. They may bid back and forth and the lowest bidder gets to build the picture. The low bidder has sixty seconds to build the picture. The opposing team moniters the timer and calls times up when the sixty seconds are up. When time is up or the picture is completed before time, the low bidding team members discuss the picture and guesses what it is. The team may only give one answer. If they are correct they get 5 points. If they are wrong the opposing team can A) Automatically earn 5 points, or B)They can try to guess the picture and earn 10 points if they are right or 0 points if they are wrong. After each turn is over the pieces get returned to their piles and play continues with 2 new picture builders. The person to choose the card changes to the other team. The first team to 50 points wins! Of course you can change this if desired. You can keep score by giving the card to the team who wins and each card equals five points. If they win 10 points just take an extra card. There are some variations available
with this game. There is also a red arrow which can be used to point at a certain part of the drawing. This is really a lot of fun!

Above is a short video of Stix and Stones.

Color Scheme ($23.99) is the last game. I have to be honest and say it is the least favorite. This is not a negative statement about this game, just that out of the four, the other three rank higher in our home. I think part of that is because it is only for two players. You have a game tower, and 30 tiles. Each tile has 2 colors. 10-red/yellow 10-yellow/blue 1-red/blue Each player chooses a target color, either orange, green, or purple. Your goal is to drop your tiles in to create your target color get three in a row, and stop your opponent from getting their target color. Your opponent is trying to reach their target colors and to mess you up. Lay all the tiles on the table within reach of both players. Player one starts by dropping a tile into the tower. Player 2 drops the next tile. Play continues between the two until one of them gets three in a row or until tiles run out. If they run out of tiles first it is a draw. You may not leave holes in the the tiles in the tower, nor may you place a tile behind one that is the same color. The game is easy to play and fun for 2 players.







This is just a sampling of the games available at Educational Insights. Each game we received was both fun and educational. Blurt teaches definitions, Name That Country teaches countries and their locations, Stix and Stones uses your mind in designing the picture word from stix and stones, and Color Scheme teaches Primary and secondary colors. I am impressed with the games Educational Insights has to offer. If you are looking for a game to increase knowledge, for use homeschooling, or for Family Fun Night, you need to check out Educational Insights! You will be glad you did! You can purchase any one of these games on the Educational Insights Website. You can also find Educational Insights on Facebook HERE.

Now here is the really great news. Educational Insights is giving away one of each of the games I reviewed. So, we will draw 4 winners and each will win one game. First winner will receive Blurt, second one will receive Color Scheme, third will receive Name That Country, and fourth will receive Stix and Stones. If a winner does not respond a new winner will be chosen for that game.

Mandatory Entry:Visit Educational Insights and let me know in a comment what other game or games you are interested in at Educational Insights. You do not have to be a blogger, but you must leave a valid email where you can be reached should you win. This giveaway will end 1/17 at 11:59 pm CST. The winner will be chosen using random.org and will be notified by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond. (USA Only)

Extra Entries:


1. Become a neighbor ( follower). Leave a comment to let me know that you did/ do. 1 entry

2. Subscribe to At the Fence. Leave a comment to let me know that you did/ do. 1 entry

3. Tell me in a comment which of the 4 games you would most like to win. 1 entry

4. Tweet about this giveaway. Leave a comment with the link. 1 tweet per day. 1 comment per day.

5. Do a post regarding this giveaway. Leave a comment with a link. 2 entries, so 2 comments.

6. Leave a comment on one of my review posts (Not a giveaway) 1 entry

Disclosure:I did not receive any monetary compensation for this review. I did receive Blurt, Color Scheme, Name That Country and Stix and Stones for review purposes. All quotes are taken from the Educational Insights website or email. All thoughts and opinions are mine.