Brainboost School Box review

The Brainboost box has been developed by Dr Maryhan Baker. It’s a play based programme to boost learning, improve confidence and encourage positive behaviour. The boxes are available in 2 categories, Pre-school for ages 2-4 and School for ages 5-8.

The boxes change each month and include, 5 child development games, a creative project and a book; also included are all the resources to complete the tasks.

Initially I was sceptical towards the Brainboost box, in as much as, Jude is 8 yrs old and outside of school my chances of getting him to participate in educational activities are nonexistent, unless it can somehow involve Minecraft, bodily noises or wrestling siblings, it’s hopeless. Nevertheless, all children love receiving post, especially parcels, so we gave it a go.

The box itself looks fab, a large scientific looking logo and ‘Jude’ in fancy print. We had the ‘School’ box designed for children aged 5-8. Considering the age range I thought the packaging was spot on. It didn’t look babyish in any way, and the activities would certainly be suitable for the age group.

The contents of the box were as follows:

Mummy/Daddy says cards
These were based on the ‘Simon says’ game.

Storytelling
Involves using 4 dice to give prompts for stories. This was particularly beneficial for Jude as it encourages creativity with literacy. It’s a game that could be modified and used to complete dreaded homework! Normally it’s like getting blood out of a stone. Despite the tasks obvious educational properties, Jude readily accomplished it I would actually say he enjoyed it. I’ll certainly be using this again and again.

Physical Challenge
2 balloons, 2 dice and activity cards! Need I say more!! Lots of fun and squealing ensued as it was a race to do the challenges while keeping the balloon in the air.

‘What if..?’ Game
Jude liked this one the best as it came with a teddy bear. Jude had to draw pictures of different emotions. Then, I asked how the teddy would feel in various situations. We developed this further by talking about all the different emotions that could be felt all at the same time. It then became a problem solving exercise as we discussed how the bear could behave and what was the best solution.

This was a simple game but very useful especially relating all the emotions to the bear. Jude didn’t feel we were talking about how he would react, therefore no right or wrong answers.

Another great task for helping with literacy!

Word Making
A box of striking quality, wooden magnetic letters. The idea is to do a lucky dip and make as many words as possible with 10 random letters. We also tried it using letters from our names too! It was lots of fun, and quite competitive! Great for helping with spelling.

Top Trump Cards
This is the project activity. You’re given different animals and characteristics to create your own top trumps. There’s research to be done in finding out about the more obscure animals in order to draw them. Jude enjoyed making up the ‘wow factor’ for each animal. Once the cards were made we got really competitive again! There’s even a blank template so you can make further top trump games on your chosen topic.

I found the Story telling dice, What if game and Word making activities most helpful for Jude. They are tools we can use to help with homework tasks and his literacy. Yet Jude readily participated without any hesitation, he genuinely enjoyed the ‘games’.

Each activity comes in its own resealable pouch, so it’s ideal for putting in your bag to entertain when necessary. There’s ideas how to modify each activity too, this enables you to use them time and time again.

The activities in the box we received related to the following skills:

• Understanding emotional states
• Problem solving skills
• Whole body movement
• Coordination
• Numeracy & addition
• Attention & listening skills
• Impulse control
• Writing & illustration
• Phonetic knowledge
• Communication skills
• Creativity

I have to say overall I’m really impressed with the Brainboost box. It helps put the fun back into learning and provides tools to support teaching in the home. While initially I wouldn’t have thought these tasks would incorporate so many skills, it’s great to see just how beneficial these activities are.

Jude would be reluctant to the idea of relinquishing precious Minecraft time for educational activities. Yet, he was extremely excited to receive the box and has really had fun playing while learning.

The cost of Brainboost is £20 each month, there is no minimum order, you can cancel anytime. There’s also available subscriptions for 3, 6 or 12 months, which does reduce the cost.

[tab title=”Preschool Box review”]

I was really excited for this box to arrive, as I haven’t found many subscription boxes I think my son would enjoy, as he’s only 2 years old. When I looked into the BrainBoost box I was really amazed at how focused it was on child development but in a fun way for your child. The box focuses on 5 core skills, which are cognitive, communication, creative, emotional and physical skills. I love that everything in the box was linked to these core skills within games and activities they provided, so learning was fun and through play.

When the box arrived I was really impressed with the amount of activities you received and everything you needed to carry them out. The box was very bright inside with coloured bags so straight away my son wanted to explore the box. The first thing he wanted and only played with for the day was the musical instruments. He loves making noises so these really stood out for him! In the box you get sheets of paper explaining the activity and how to complete it, what you will need and what skills this activity will develop. In total we had 6 activities. We did have to adjust the activities slightly as I felt my son at the age of only 2 was too young to understand and complete the activities.

He loved colouring in for the fishing game and which emotion game, but he is too young to understand the activities after that stage, such as what emotion I was doing and for him to then draw that on the paper plates. This is one thing I was disappointed with as I felt it was more aimed for 3-4 years old not 2 year olds.

He was able with my help to carry out the other activities, which were sorting, threading and the hiding game and he loved the activities, so I was really pleased with these ones but was disappointed we couldn’t do all of the activities fully.

Overall, this box is amazing for parents who want to help their child develop skills and have fun at the same time and will always recommend this box, but I do feel the activities were aimed for older children, but my son had lots of fun doing the activities that he could do and we just adjusted the ones he couldn’t to make them our own.

Brainboost is a monthly subscription box of child development games for 2-12 year old children.

Developed around five core skills known to boost children’s academic and social success, each box contains five games, one project and all the resources you need to play.

Choose between the Preschool box for 2-4 year olds, Early School box for 5-8 year olds, and School box for 9-12 year olds.  Each box uses age-appropriate games which promote cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, communication, physical skills and creativity.

Monthly plan: £20 per month, including delivery

3 month plan: £19 per month, one-off payment, including delivery

6 month plan: £18.50 per month, one-off payment, including delivery

12 month plan: £18 per month,one-off payment, including delivery

Try your first box half price on the Brain Boost site.