IQ Fun Park

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - July 4th, 2011

SHHHH! DON’T TELL YOUR KIDS THIS IS GOOD FOR THEM.

* Over 1,500 practice items to prepare your child for the WPPSI™-III (ERB), Stanford-Binet™ 5, OLSAT™ and Bracken™ tests.

* Over 500 practice questions for the NNAT™ and WPPSI™-IV tests!

* Tested by experts and kids. Kids’ most common response: “Let’s play again!”

* Secret password cards, finger puppets, stickers and temporary tattoos make the “game” extra fun. For children ages 3–6.

* Prepare your child without pressure, expensive tutors or workbooks.

TO PURCHASE IQ FUN PARK, CLICK HERE!

“I wrote a while back asking for advice for looming tests (I had read your book and my mom sent us the IQ Fun Park game), and you responded so quickly with reassurance we were on the right track. So I wanted to let you know our son was offered a spot at Hunter next year and I do believe you should truly share in the congratulations. Without your book, lovely game and accessibility I don’t know that I would have been able to relax into this whole process and let him do his thing. Thank you for letting me breathe and have fun with my child through this crazy New York City process.” —SD, NYC Mom

“My daughter increased her IQ score by 17 points! My 5-year-old daughter was tested in October 2010 and scored below the 130 requirement for the gifted program in the public school system. My husband and I felt that her true IQ was higher, and that we had not prepared her well for the test. It seemed to us that she missed some questions because she did not understand what the questioner meant. We purchased the IQ Fun Park game and played it with her a few times a week. Playing the game was a special treat for her; she loved the focused attention and the challenge of the game. She was tested again in February 2011 (this time with a different test since she was now 6 years old). After just 4 months her score had increased by 17 points! Before IQ Fun Park she was in the 92nd percentile, after using IQ Fun Park she tested in the 99th percentile! Her tested IQ now surpasses the 130 requirement. We are so pleased that we purchased IQ Fun Park. I highly recommend it to anyone considering having their child tested for school placement.” —Melinda W., Port Orange, Florida

“We have LOVED the IQ game! More importantly my 6-year-old son, who is not easily entertained asks to play every day!! We are so in awe over this and so thankful we got the game! I had never done many of these types of questions with him before. At first they took him off guard but now he is answering like a pro!” —Melissa, NYC Mom

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE PARENT COMMENTS!

Dear Parent,

Do you sometimes worry that your child won’t get into the school you most want him to attend? Have you wondered how he would do on the tests kids have to take for private school admission or gifted program qualification? Does it bother you that 4-year-olds are tested in the first place? Is doing pre-academic work with your child the last thing you want to do after a long, hard day?

FOCUSED TIME WITH YOUR CHILD MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. SAM’S IQ WENT FROM 37th TO 94th PERCENTILE.

When my son, Sam (left), was 3, he was given the WPPSI, the same IQ test he would have to take to qualify for private kindergarten at 4. Because of a hearing problem, his scores were abysmal – 37th percentile. “Your child will never be able to function in a regular classroom,” I was told. Luckily, my mother has her PhD in Early Childhood Education. She helped me understand the abilities he needed to develop to do well on an IQ test and, more importantly, in kindergarten. Every night for about a year I worked with him for a half-hour or so. At age 4, he was tested again – this time (tada!) he scored in the 94th percentile!* Sam was accepted into a top private school in NYC.

*[I’m sure laws require me to tell you that this was an unusual result and I can’t promise this will happen with your child. What I can promise is that a little work every day can makes an enormous difference in a child’s test and school performance.]

WHAT WAS MY SECRET?

Did I do expensive workbooks with him? No.
Did we work with flashcards? No.
Did I drill him on the basics? No.
Did I hire tutors to work with him? No.
Did I send him to a kindergarten test prep boot camp? No.
Did I play subliminal education tapes while he slept? Kidding!

SHHH! DON’T TELL ANYONE. WE JUST PLAYED!

That’s right. Whether we were “working” on language, memory, math, knowledge, thinking, visual-spatial or fine-motor skills, I made it super fun for him. We played games, sang songs, read stories, painted pictures, laughed and giggled our way through these very important lessons. This turned out to be a great lesson for me – if you want to help your child to really, truly learn; make it like play! Years later, when I started businesses helping families get their children into the best private schools and gifted and talented programs, I taught thousands of parents how to get their own kids ready for testing. The secret ingredient has always been to make test readiness fun and playful for the child.

IF YOU’RE LIKE MOST PARENTS, YOU WANT TO GIVE YOUR CHILD THE BEST EDUCATION YOU CAN. IN MOST CITIES, GIFTED & TALENTED OR PRIVATE SCHOOLS TOP THE LIST!

Lately, every time you open the paper, you hear about public school budget cuts, teacher layoffs, and larger resulting class sizes. With regular classrooms more crowded than ever, gifted programs and private schools are usually the best option for the highest quality education. The majority of these schools and programs require some kind of intelligence test to qualify.

GETTING INTO GIFTED PROGRAMS IS MORE COMPETITIVE THAN EVER!

It’s tough to get application stats on the most in-demand schools across the country, but a Chicago Tribune article reported 6,800 applicants applied for 1,600 gifted and talented slots. Last year, 1,832 4-year-olds vied for 50 kindergarten seats at the highly acclaimed Hunter College Elementary School in NYC. In 2012, over 39,000 NYC children took the G&T tests, hoping for one of the 5,500 seats available in kindergarten – third grade. In-demand private schools often report 7-10 children applying for every spot. To get into a gifted program, high scores are often the single criteria for admission. For entry to private schools, high scores alone won’t get your little one in, but poor scores will most certainly keep him out.

WITH PLACEMENT DECISIONS DEPENDING HEAVILY ON TEST SCORES, HOW CAN YOU MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD HAS THE SKILLS SHE NEEDS TO DO WELL?

If you’ve read Testing For Kindergarten, you know there are 7-abilities every child MUST HAVE to ace an intelligence test – language, knowledge, memory, math, visual-spatial, thinking, and fine-motor skills. These are the same abilities she will need to do well in kindergarten and for her entire school career. If your child will be tested within a year or so, “playing” IQ Fun Park game will jump start your child’s readiness for testing and school and fast-track her to a place where she instinctively knows what to do and how to answer the types of questions she’ll be asked during a real test. It is important to know that the questions in IQ Fun Park are all original – they are NOT the same questions your child will see on any assessment. However, they do cover the same kinds of abilities, skills, and information children need for testing and school readiness, so they prepare a child to do well.

WHY IS IQ FUN PARK™ SO EFFECTIVE?

A TEST-READINESS PROGRAM THAT PLAYS LIKE A GAME

Though kids think IQ Fun Park is just a game, it really is a complete test-readiness program that allows your child to answer questions, write, draw, work with manipulatives, pattern squares – mimicking the same kinds of activities she will be asked to do during an actual test.

Even though you and I know you are helping your child build test-readiness skills, to children, IQ Fun Park IS a game. And really, it IS a game. Children love playing IQ Fun Park and beg to play it over and over again! They have no idea how much they are learning. Not only will this game help your child with the abilities needed for testing, it will help your child acquire kindergarten readiness skills he’ll need to succeed in school!

Here’s what one parent said about this:

“Thank you for from the bottom of my heart and soul for this game! Playing this regularly made higher order thinking a part of our lives. Our children now create, evaluate, analyze and apply information without me even asking them to!”

HERE IS JUST A SMALL SAMPLING OF ABILITIES YOUR CHILD WILL MASTER WHILE PLAYING IQ FUN PARK:

* How to focus, listen carefully, and remember the question being asked so he can give the correct answer;
* How to respond to questions with varied and rich vocabulary versus single word answers, allowing him to earn more points when tested;
* How to count (by rolling the dice and moving the space baby, by using the colored circles);
How to listen to a “silly” password statement and repeat it exactly when crossing a bridge and then how to explain why it the statement is silly (similar to memory and knowledge tasks on the Stanford-Binet);
* Information that is on standard tests and that children should know by the time they start kindergarten – lower and upper case letters, numbers, colors, fruits, vegetables, shapes, farm animals, zoo animals, and much more;
* Using colored circles, how to extend patterns and recreate patterns from memory;
* How to answer simple “word” math problems that require addition and subtraction;
* How to draw shapes and symbols;
* How to put words and visual images into categories;
* How to recognize similarities and differences in language and visual images;
* All about relativity using visual images and manipulatives – above, below, next to, more, less, taller, shorter, lighter, heavier, bigger, smaller, inside, outside, higher, lower, and much more;
* How to talk about vocabulary words and what they mean;
* How to articulate why things belong together and why they don’t;
* How to recreate designs using triangle, rectangle and square pattern tiles;

* How to work with visual-spatial reasoning problems using figural images;
* How to use deductive reasoning skills answering “word” problems;
* How to demonstrate through language a basic comprehension of the world that a young child should have;
* How to articulate a story with a beginning, middle and end;
* How to put pictures into sequences and patterns;
* How to handle “matrix” analogy questions, which are found on most intelligence assessments;
* How to recognize what is missing from and what is wrong with a visual image;
* How to sit and focus for a long period of time – something your child will have to do when tested;
* And much, much more (I would go on, but you get the picture – we cover lots of ground, but we do it in fun ways for your child)!

DON’T WORRY IF YOUR CHILD CAN’T DO THESE THINGS YET! HE CAN BUILD UP TO IT.

The cards and activities your child will work with using IQ Fun Park come in 3 levels. Yellow-bordered cards (like the one on the left) are the easiest and for the youngest children; green-bordered cards are a bit harder and the red-bordered cards are the hardest. The first time you play, start with the yellow-bordered cards. If these are too easy, try green the next time. You will probably find that your child will use a mixture of levels – he may be able to handle red-bordered vocabulary-type questions but will need to work with green-bordered math questions. You’ll get a feel for the ‘right’ level as you play the game a few times. The point is, your child can work his way from easy, no-brainer questions to the hardest ones.

THE MATERIALS ARE SUPER FLEXIBLE

With cards offering three levels of difficulty, kids between the ages of 3 – 6 can play (pre-K to 1st grade). Use 2 medium-sized dice for older kids (who can add the dots) or one medium-sized die for younger kids. Once you learn what to do with the colored circles and pattern tiles, you won’t need the question cards to guide you. Create your own designs that your child can copy and your own patterns your child can extend or reproduce! If you are traveling, just take the question cards with you for the road.

BUT WAIT, MY PRESCHOOL DIRECTOR TOLD US NOT TO PREPARE – THAT THE TESTER WOULD KNOW AND OUR CHILD WOULD BE ELIMINATED!

With IQ Fun Park, children are never exposed to actual questions or activities from any test.
IQ Fun Park is like any educational game a parent might play with her child. Our material is similar to what you might find with BrainQuest™ cards or educational workbooks you’ll find at Barnes and Noble – the difference is that we have focused the activities and questions we present to those that are most similar to what you will find on commonly given tests. The cards and game pieces used in IQ Fun Park are different in look, feel, and question-content from materials an actual tester will use. Our goal in designing the game is to give children experience working with similar types of questions they may be asked on a test. With this experience, they won’t be thrown off by being asked these kinds of questions for the very first time in a testing situation where results really matter. Instead, they will have mastered the underlying skills needed to handle questions or tasks on a real test, and they will be able to show what they can do when it really counts.

FOR BUSY PARENTS: SHOW YOUR CAREGIVER HOW TO PLAY THE GAME WITH YOUR CHILD!

While each card includes one or more questions, we do not provide scripted “right” answers. In the directions, we’ve given examples of the “quality” of answers you want to elicit from your child for each of the different types of questions. Just go for that – a fun, relaxing, learning experience. Other adults, besides a parent, should easily be able to “play” this with your child. Just guide them in the few places where we offer direction to you in the instructions. The point of IQ Fun Park is for your child 1) to build the underlying abilities needed for intelligence testing and kindergarten, and 2) to have practiced the types of questions she’ll get when tested so they don’t come as a surprise to her. You’re looking for a sense of familiarity in underlying concepts that will give her confidence in herself and her ability to think through and answer whatever questions she’s asked when she’s later tested.

NOW LET’S PLAY IQ FUN PARK!

Start by telling your child the story behind the game.

Big news! Space babies have traveled across the galaxies to visit our planet and study life on earth. They are very excited about their trip and have so many questions about earth children – What do they know? What do they do for fun? Will they teach me about life on earth? Guess what? You have been specially selected to go on a play date with a space baby. So pick a space baby to be your new friend and place her on the start of the rainbow path at your favorite Fun Park. Now you can show her all the things you and other earth children love to do like go to the playground, the zoo, the farm, the beach, the circus, the candy castle, the toy and pet stores and more. As you wind your way down the path, your space baby friend will ask you about all kinds of things. Show him just how just how much earth children know by answering all his questions. Have a fun day with your space baby, but be sure to get him back to his rocket ship in time to go back to his planet for dinner.

HOW THE GAME IS ORGANIZED

Questions/activities modeled after most common IQ tests

Everything in the game is designed to strengthen one of the 7-Abilities needed for any IQ test and for kindergarten success – language, knowledge/comprehension, memory, math, visual-spatial, cognitive, and fine-motor skills.

Questions on each card are modeled after questions asked on 4 commonly given tests children take:

• The Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence III™ (WPPSI™-III)
• The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales – 5^th Edition™ (Stanford-Binet™)
• The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test™ (OLSAT™)
• The Bracken Basic Concept Scale™ (BBCS™ or Bracken)

[NOTE: Practice questions for the Naglieri Non-verbal Ability Test™ (NNAT™) and the WPPSI™-IV tests have been added to the game!  Questions for the WPPSI™-IV test are sent to you online after you purchase the game.  Questions for NNAT-2 test have been printed on cards and are included in the game.  If you are a member of TestingMom.com, these questions are not the same as those that are on the site.]

All About The Cards

Test Codes. On the top left side of each card, there is a code telling you which test the question or activity will help prepare your child for. If you know your child will take one test such as the OLSAT (for example), you can pull out all the cards with a “O” code and just ask those questions. When playing, you can ask questions from one test or all four. At this age level, there is so much overlap in what these tests assess that we recommend you work with all the cards when playing the game.

Ability Codes. Cards are also coded so you can see the abilities it is assessing. Images across the top right side of the card indicate which of the 7-abilities is needed to answer the question. Usually, it takes more than one ability to handle a question. If you play this game with your child several times, you will immediately see where he is weak and where he is strong. After a few games (for example), you might discover that your child’s language abilities are off the charts but he needs work on counting or fine-motor skills. You can always refer to Testing For Kindergarten for fun activities you can do together to strengthen any of the 7-abilities requiring extra support.

How to play

Unfold the game board and place it on a flat surface. 1 – 4 players can play the game. 2 players are ideal so children don’t have to wait too long for their turn. When there is more than one player, the youngest goes first. With one player, the object of the game is to get her space baby to the spaceship at the end of the rainbow path so he can get home in time for dinner. With multiple players, the object of the game is to be the first to get her space baby to the spaceship so he can get home in time for dinner.

Your child chooses a space baby to use to play the game. Then, he rolls the dice and moves that number of spaces (building math and fine-motor skills). He pulls a Question Card. From it, you will ask a question or instruct him to do an activity. If he gets it right, he moves ahead one space. If he gets it wrong, he stays put.

If your child lands on a yellow square with a space baby’s picture on it, he can move ahead one space. Kids love landing on these squares!

When your child comes to a bridge, he must stop and get a silly password message. To cross the bridge, he must repeat the message exactly as you say it and then describe what is silly about it. This activity is based on Memory for Sentences and Verbal Absurdities tasks on the Stanford-Binet test. It takes solid short term memory and knowledge skills to answer correctly. This is an example of what we do throughout the game – present test-like questions in fun ways so children feel like they are playing instead of learning.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF IQ FUN PARK

Make it fun for your child

When your child is answering a particular type of question or doing an activity for the first time, it may be difficult for her. If you want to reword a question or ask a different, easier question, go ahead. Offer clues, help her think – do whatever you feel she needs to correctly respond to the question or accomplish the activity. Praise her for trying and working hard. Tell her you don’t expect her to know the answer to everything right away, that she’s doing great!

How to handle mistakes your child makes

Let’s say the question is, “If you had three cookies and ate one, how many would you have left?” If your child says “four,” here’s what not to say:

• Are you sure?
• Is that really what you think?
• No, that’s wrong. Try again.

A child usually give his best answer the first time out. If he misses, you should offer a bit of help. Say something like…

• No, that’s not it. Why don’t you show me 3 fingers and we’ll count it out…
• That’s close, but let’s make it better. I’m going to run to the kitchen and get 3 cookies. You can eat one and we’ll figure out how many are left.
• (Assuming you’re playing with another child) “Brooke seems to know the answer. Brooke why don’t you give Michael a hint?” When little children are playing, they love to give each other hints when one has the answer and the other doesn’t. In the video above, another child called out the right answer. If that happens, that’s fine, too, since the point here is to have fun and learn.

You can also use the “fill in the blank technique.” Let’s say the question is, “What does a cow say.” If your child answers “quack,” you might say, “That’s close, but we can do better. A duck says ‘quack quack’ but a cow says ‘moo.’ Let’s try again. A cow says what?”

Or, just offer a hint. “No, that’s not it. What a cow says rhymes with ‘Boo.’ What do you think a cow says that rhymes with ‘Boo?’”

Or, start the answer and let your child finish it. “No, that’s not it. A cow says, ‘Mmm.’ What does a cow say?” If you watch the video with Sophie (top of page), that’s how her mother helps her remember the word “astronaut.”

Note from Karen Quinn: “When I play this with kids, I always help them until they come up with the right answer. The goal of playing this is for your child to learn and have fun and feel like a winner. As long as he has practiced and learned to how to think through and respond to the types of questions he’ll get when tested, he will do his very best when it matters.”

A Review of IQ Fun Park From Executivemoms.com

FROM ABC’S TO SAT’S

We thought it had to be an “only in New York” kind of thing: this absurd pressure to get your child into the right nursery school and kindergarten (including public kindergarten), and then bolster their success from there on, to ensure future schooling. While it is indeed particularly intense in the Big Apple, this phenomenon is becoming increasingly commonplace across the country – concentrated in metropolitan areas, where demand simply exceeds the good supply. Savvy parents have learned to work the system, which in turn has spawned burgeoning cottage industries around test-prep, testing, and tutoring – starting at an age when diapers may not be that distant of a memory.

For those wishing to do the right thing – without going off the deep end – here is a brand new resource that might help:

For Parents Prepping For Elementary School Admittance:

We love this new board game that is actually a comprehensive test prep kit in disguise. Created by Karen Quinn, author of “Testing for Kindergarten,” The IQ Fun Park was cleverly conceived to incorporate the kinds of questions found on the most common tests used to assess children for early elementary school, including the Stanford-Binet, the OLSAT and The Bracken Basic Concept Scale. However, it is to a child’s eye a board game, in which little space babies in the form of finger puppet game pieces need to work their way up the rainbow path across the Fun Park, learning about earth things along the way. In the process, players get to answer questions from the game cards, as well as use colored blocks, pattern tiles and secret password cards – and earn reward stickers at the end.

We’ve been “playing” this with our four-year-old over the past two weeks, and to our delight, there is not a whiff of this being anything other than a fun game (one that she is interested in continuing to play – a feat for ANY game), thereby taking away all of the stress and pressure that can accompany more obvious preparation routes like workbooks or tutoring. Be forewarned, however, that you will know this is more than just a board game from the price; IQ Fun Park (in its first limited production run) sells for just under $300. Not a bargain compared to Candyland – but a great value relative to almost all other forms of formal test prep or supplementary learning in the marketplace. We will raise our hand to say we are impressed. (Now all we need is the answer key for why an understanding of nuanced analogies might be expected of anyone who can still count their age on one hand)…

A Review of IQ Fun Park from NYC Gifted and Talented Program and Testing Site

OLSAT, ERB, WPSII – IQ FUN PARK GAME BY KAREN QUINN – OLSAT TEST, ERB, WPPSI, BRACKEN AND MORE
August 15, 2010, 9:22 am

Testing Mom, Karen Quinn, recently sent me a preview of her new game called IQ Fun Park! All I can say is that it is simply amazing and our daughter absolutely loved playing the game. It really beats the OLSAT test prep workbooks that are on the market for hundreds of dollars and are a chore to complete for both child and parent!

This test-readiness game allowed us to interact with our daughter and ask the questions as they related to the game. This is BY FAR the best product I’ve seen on the market today that covers ALL the major tests – ERB, WPSI, OLSAT, Bracken, Stanford-Binet 5. The cards are colored coded for difficulty level and also give indications of which test the questions are geared toward.

Buying workbooks and manuals for the ERB test, WPSI test, OLSAT test , Bracken test and Stanford-Binet 5 test would cost you well over $1,000! All I can say is that it will be worth every penny. Your child will be BEGGING to play to practice for a test! No more arm twisting and bribing to get your child ready for testing!

To Purchase IQ Fun Park, Click the Link at the Bottom of the Page!

IQ Fun Park is available now for $297 plus shipping and handling. As a parent, I know the price is high. The reason for that is simple. It is made in the U.S., hand assembled, and costly to produce. Even at $297, I think you’ll find it is an investment worth making for your child. Parents who have used the game with their kids give it rave reviews. Though it looks and feels like a game to children, it is in fact a complete test-readiness program that gives children experience answering questions modeled from commonly given intelligence tests. By covering such a wide cross-section of tests, you can feel secure that your child will be prepared no matter what instrument is used to evaluate him. The questions in IQ Fun Park get to all the underlying abilities needed for any intelligence test for young children.

Note: The concepts and activities in IQ Fun Park practice questions are based on publicly available information about what is on these commonly given tests and are NOT the same questions or activities that are on the actual tests.

“We really enjoyed hearing you speak and continue to have great success playing IQ Fun Park with our daughter — the difference in 3 sessions is remarkable! We cancelled a private tutoring assessment because of your service, so thanks!” — Nikki, NYC Mom

TO PURCHASE IQ FUN PARK, CLICK HERE!

Here are some of the many comments we have received from parents who purchased IQ Fun Park and used it with their kids. To protect their privacy, we are not mentioning their names.

“We received the game yesterday. My almost 4 year old CRIED when we put it away and begged to play more! Amazing. We have done so many workbooks with her (Brain Quest, World Almanac, Kumon, etc) and she has never reacted to anything like this. THANK YOU! It is so fun to watch her love to learn!”

“I highly recommend IQ Fun Park to any parent considering having their child tested for kindergarten placement. Our 4-year-old loved playing IQ Fun Park! By playing IQ Fun Park she got to practice the types of questions that were asked on her placement test. She got practice using her words to give descriptive answers. She loved using the pattern tiles and the blocks to build designs. During the test she was able to focus on the content of the questions rather than struggling to understand what the questioner meant. For instance, prior to using IQ Fun Park she had never worked her way through an analogy; her test result showed that this is now one of her strongest skills! Based on her test result she is eligible for gifted classes. We are confident that she would not have been able to demonstrate her true IQ in the testing environment without the practice in IQ Fun Park. Thank you Karen Quinn and thank you IQ Fun Park!”

“I have to say, we LOVE playing “space babies.” As someone with no early childhood education background, it is very useful to me because it helps bring to life some of the great aspects of your book (which I really think is wonderful and which a number of NYC moms and teachers have mentioned to me they are reading and love) and teaches me a bit about how to ask my child questions in a way to help them learn well and draw important connections between things.”

“I have found the game to be really great and my child loves it. Thank you for making it, and thank you for the book, which is really a very accessible and useful read for any parent.”

“‘A’ loved playing it – asked to play it just about every day, and I do think it helped him, particularly in verbal areas. Our favorite part was the questions involving the blocks (tapping in the order I tap) and the pattern squares (replicating patterns on the cards). ‘A’ became very good at this, which is probably solely attributable to the game. It’s nice that it’s colorful – attractive to young children. The space babies theme was much loved by my little guy.”

“The game was fun for my child and that it gave me an idea what kinds of questions to expect on the various testing instruments – prior to that, I was entirely clueless.”

“‘J’ really enjoyed the game and did not see it as prep. Most times, she asked to play the game and it wasn’t me pushing it on her. I liked that the game covered all four tests and the cards were clearly labeled by test and skill. ‘J’ loved earning the stickers and we even reordered stickers from Oriental Trading because we ran out. I liked the two different types of dice included and definitely liked the space babies. We played so often that I supplemented some of your harder email questions for the cards. Not that we even approached going through all the greens and reds you included. Because I had limited time on the weekends, I also did the home assessment questions from TestingMom.com in the context of the game. Those questions might already be in the cards but I thought the assessments were very helpful.”

“My daughter likes to start her day with IQ Fun Park and then comes to it many times a day. We are also done with half of the green cards. I felt the pattern tiles and the block patterns were particularly good. The sequencing cards are fun to do as well. With the pictorial board, you have conveyed a lot of information to the child and this is also a learning place because she gets to practice what animals or things she can find at the farm, zoo, beach, circus, etc. The cards which ask for a story from the child are exciting. My daughter likes to take those aside, draws a story herself and then she talks about it then. I think you have done a great job of making this a delightful adventure!”

“The game got me engaging in more enlightening conversations with my kids. I noticed their strengths and weaknesses with comfort level with certain questions.”

“I had bought the IQ Fun Park with my son (3yr old) in mind and wanted to use it to prepare him for the 2012 testing. When we started playing the game my daughter (5yrs old) did extremly well with all cards, to my surprise even the RED colored cards. My kids wanted to play the game every day. Seeing her do so well at the game, prompted us to get her tested and apply for a Charter school for highly gifted kids (Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy, Charlotte, NC) at the very last minute. We all played for may be 3-4 weeks and she took the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale for Intelligence, 3rd edition (WPPSI-III). She got a composite score of 135 which qualifies her for admissions to the school. Can’t thank you enough for helping me identify me daughters talent.”

“We almost did not purchase IQ Fun Park due to the price. We were shopping for IQ games at Barnes & Noble (around $30 for 3-D building games & logic building games) and then started looking online and found your site. I was quite taken aback by the price. My husband convinced me to buy. He said, ‘Just think of what we pay for a month of preschool.’ Based on T’s result, and the things I overheard at the test site, we knew that she was not exposed to all the things she needed to know for the test. He said the game paid for itself when our younger daughter, S, took the test and passed well above the gifted threshold. I was embarrassed to admit the amount of money we spent on the game to close friends until one pointed out that they were in the process of moving to a new house in a better school district to enable their daughter to attend the gifted section they think is the best in the area. He said ‘We are spending $300,000! Why would we think poorly of you for spending $300?'”

“We loved that this game has all the pieces you need in one place presented in a way that is fun for the child and for the adult.”

“The game is fun! I include game play as part of homework time, my daughters look forward to the one-on-one attention and the game itself. The game has helped my daughters practice using their words and vocabulary. They are much better story tellers now! They tell me several sentences to describe the answer instead of the one word answers I would get prior to playing the game.”

“The game is very versatile. I sometimes pick a couple of cards to discuss during breakfast or dinner. The conversation that it sparks is always good. We love the space baby figurines (although I know my girls would love a pink or purple one!), they are very cute. The pattern tiles are excellent (a few more questions that include them would be great; my girls love the pattern tiles!). The game board itself is beautiful and very well made. My girls love the stickers; they keep them in a special place. No other stickers have this honor.”

“Exposure to the types of questions asked is key. If the child does not understand what is being asked, how can they score well? The game gives us something constructive and fun to do to prepare for the test.”

“This product was much more useful to us than any other books or “manuals” that we had access to. Our child actually wanted to play and use it.”

“Question cards are well designed. The fact it was a game worked really well. The alternative is workbooks and who wants to put a child through pages and pages of workbooks on their holiday. The game board is very creative and of good design. I liked the “quality” of all the components. Well done!”

“Our son giggled and had fun with secret passwords. It was a great experience to watch him process those comments. The experience with the questions resulted in reaching for other resources. E.g., we got out the Mother Goose rhymes and the Dr. Seuss at night.”

“This was a fun tool that we could work on education together. The game was one among a few things attempted based on your emails and recommendations. I know this game, book, emails (whole process) was all a part of that and father and son are closer now because of the preparation time and effort.”

“As a result of the playing the game, I feel that my child has started to think analytically. It is making her brain think critically. I like the concept of space babies and the board itself gives a lot of helpful info. The tiles are well made and very good. The cards are easy to read , colorful and engrossing. The game helps parents and children to THINK, gives us an idea on what the exam will be like, all in play. I have already recommended the game to my relatives in India, who do not have the exam in India at all, who will be buying this to sharpen their child’s mind. I love the fact that Karen is so approachable , she is friendly and helpful. I am impressed that she is firmly standing behind her product and this gives me lot of confidence. She has been curious to know how it worked out for my child, giving me suggestions unique for my child and this is very comforting.”

“We got the game on Friday and my kids loved it. We spent the good part of Saturday and Sunday morning enjoying the game. I have a 1st grader and a 4 year old that will miss the cut off by 3 weeks. Both of them playing has worked really well. My oldest does a really good job of elaborating with her answers and setting a good example for my youngest. They love the space babies. Thanks for putting together such a great learning tool.”

“I found the game to be a great asset to my tutoring practice. It has giving my practice more growth and flexibility. I can now take on more clients. Instead of one-on-one or two-on-one, I can tutor up to four children at a time. It’s wonderful because we are having fun while learning. I have found that children get bored with workbooks and from experience I have found that workbooks are not always the most effective method for every child. You have to switch it up and find the tools that spark the young brain cells. The IQ Fun Park is a game that does this. The children get so excited just looking at the box and many proactively ask to play during a tutoring session. Now if I want to use a workbook or another tool, I use the game as an incentive. It was worth the investment and it was great to have a special tool that most tutors didn’t have. The parents are amazed.”

“The game helped me to identify strengths and weaknesses of the child’s mind and build those skills quickly by pulling the appropriate cards from the deck. I love that it came with manipulatives like blocks and card shapes.”

“I loved that this was a game. I was able to get through way more questions as a game than as a test or workbook. It was painless!”

“Loved being able to sort out the Olsat and Bracken questions for our testing purposes (though my son loves doing the puzzle pictures and playing with the cubes). The best part is that it is a game and that it is not so dreary to get through questions with him playing (rather than doing questions from a book). My son loved the stickers at the end and blasting off and the silly passwords for the bridge. I really liked that there were different levels of questions so that you could work up to the harder ones.”

“We purchased IQ Fun Park in September. I received my daughter’s results from her test. She scored over 99% on the Classical Testing. Also she was only a couple of points away from being placed under the Gifted listing. She is admitted to a school ranked in the top 10 in Chicago. Thanks for sharing your knowledge in your book and Fun Kit.

“I just want to say thanks for everything. My son did GREAT! His Full Scale score was 99.7! He got in to St. John’s School, one of only two nationally ranked schools in Texas and the only one in Houston! They had over 900 applicants, for 42 spots, and we are not legacy or alumni so this was pretty incredible! I am so proud of him.”

“Thanks for your game – it was really helpful for our family.”

Karen, we just got done meeting with the comprehensive evaluation team at our son’s school which consisted of his teachers, principal, school psychologist, social worker, nurse and gifted teacher. They went over our son’s scores on the IQ test. They used the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition. I am so excited to report that he scored a 143 which they stated placed him in the 99.8 percentile! Needless to say…he qualified for gifted! He is now elligible to transfer to a special gifted school in the district or we can have him pulled out for gifted in the school he currently attends. Now that he has been placed into the gifted program…they stated he will never again be re-tested and he will receive theses services until 12th grade! The possibilities for him are endless! Thank you for for your game. It helped to prepare our son for one of the most important tests of his life!

“Karen, There’s no doubt your game helped my daughters score well. They both scored in the 99th percentile. Thank you!”

“Thank you for the amazing game and daily test prep questions. Each of my twins scored over 99%. I am spreading the word about IQ Fun Park and TestingMom.com.”

“I am a nanny, and I have been playing with my employer’s children this IQ for fun game. As the kids and I play this everyday for at least half an hour, there’s no doubt that they are ahead intellectually for their age (the kids are 35 months old and 20 months old). They love it without knowing that it is preparing them to become smart kids!”

“We spoke last year when I was so stressed and worried about my daughter, M’s, kindergarten. I wanted to tell you that she was in the 99th percentile in both G&T testing and the ERB. You should know that we relied almost exclusively on IQ Fun Park to prepare. The only other thing we did aside from using your game was to work with a 12 page workbook with sequential questions. That’s it. Nice game you invented!”

“My friend, E, ADORES YOU! Her son scored in the 99%!”

“I wanted to thank you very much for creating this game. I played it with my daughter over the past 12 months (and she loves it) and we managed to get her test scores increased by 9 points — which qualified her for our first choice school! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“I love your book. It is excellent and has changed my life or really, my daughter’s life, in terms of how I’ll be educating her going forward.”

“I just wanted to tell you that both my 5 year old and my 3 year old beg to play the IQ Fun Park game. I’m so happy we went ahead and got it. What a fun way for them to prepare without really feeling pressured. Now that I know so much more about the testing process, I feel much more comfortable gearing up for the next kids.”

“I am so impressed with my children’s stamina in playing the game. I think it’s great. They sat for an hour today with it. I don’t ask them to play. They ask me. The box is actually torn from how many times it has been opened and closed.”

Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence™ III and IV (WPPSI™-III and WPPSI™-IV), Otis-Lennon School Ability Test™, Eighth Edition (OLSAT™), Bracken School Readiness Assessment™ (BSRA™ or Bracken), and Stanford-Binet™ IV and V (Stanford-Binet™) are registered trademarks of NCS Pearson. NCS Pearson does not sponsor or endorse IQ Fun Park, nor has IQ Fun Park been reviewed, certified or approved by NCS Pearson. Trademarks referring to these tests are used by Testing For Kindergarten for nominative purposes only. Such trademarks are the exclusive property of NCS Pearson.

TO PURCHASE IQ FUN PARK, CLICK HERE!