Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty: A Timberdoodle Review

The kids and I still love checking the mail.

I thought maybe I’d outgrow that daily hopeful walk to the mailbox.

But as it turns out, I have not.

Even when I am not anticipating any letters or packages, you just never know what you might find in the funny shaped tube at the end of the driveway.

Receiving the opportunity to be a Timberdoodle blog reviewer – thanks especially to you guys! – has upped the fun factor in our mail checking days this year.

I’ve got a pile of great curriculum and such to work through with the kids before I analyze and ponder our experience with each one, but on the top of the most recent box of goodies was a package of Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty: Mixed By Me that was an instant gratification kind of surprise.

Our family was already very familiar with this product as Thinking Putty has shown up on desks and in Christmas stockings and for birthdays for quite a few years now.  We’ve experimented with glow in the dark and heat sensitive varieties and it has proven to be endlessly helpful for small hands to push and pull and squeeze and shape Thinking Putty while they listen to our read alouds.  (Busy hands help their brains listen better – at least for my gang.)

This package was a unique offering on the Thinking Putty.  It added in the element of science experiment.  Five mini tins of plain Thinking Putty were in the package.  Your add ons included glow in the dark putty, shimmer putty and red, yellow and blue options.  You could then mix in your own color choices and shimmer options and create five unique types of Thinking Putty.  When you completed your designs, there were many small labels to decorate and to put on your tin to identify your Thinking Putty creations.

Because there were five tins and because I have five children who wanted to experience Mixed By Me Thinking Putty, I just allowed every child to create their own putty.

I think this would actually make a fabulous birthday gift – one of those gifts that you could buy a couple of and keep them in a secret stash for when it’s suddenly your nephew/friend/neighbor’s birthday party and you have no time to get to the store – ta-da.  Pull out the Mixed By Me Thinking Putty and you just won the prepared birthday party person’s lottery.

The kids had loads of fun even sharing the Thinking Putty kit. I do think it would have leant itself to more experiments and greater color varieties if one child had the opportunity to make all five tins themselves.  As it was, each child at our house wanted a little bit of each type so we wound up with a lot of purplish blueish putty that was both full of shimmer and glow in the dark.

I love that these tins are tiny. They fit perfectly in the kids’ backpacks or bags so that during any waiting time, they have a little quiet entertainment.  I really am amazed at how something so very small as Thinking Putty can truly entertain all of them for the longest amount of time.  (And the best part – no screens required!)

This product is such a win-win all around.  (I wish I could volunteer to review five more of them!)