It’s hard to believe that the blog is now 4 years old. Time really has flown. If you’ve been with me for most of blog’s journey then you will know that Monkey has often struggled to communicate at the same level as his peers. He turned 7 in December, he’s come a very long way over the last couple of years, but he’s still a lot more reserved than a lot of children his age. I’m always looking for ways to help him express himself verbally and the Brain Box Story Cards are the latest addition to my language toolbox.
We’ve been trying out the Brain Box Story Cards Fantasy and Adventure sets which are aimed at children aged 3 years and over. Both sets come with 55 picture cards split into various categories.
For younger children it is suggested that they select 2 cards and make simple sentences and give the characters and animals names. If I’d had these Brain Box Story Cards sets when Monkey was 3 I’d have been using them as word prompts to try and help him to tell me what the different characters were.
We’d have then moved on to making stories, using the cards as prompts. The instructions for both the Fantasy and Adventure sets suggests shuffling the cards in each category (colour coded) and then picking 3 from across the ranges to make up a story. I thought that’s how we’d start, but Monkey had other ideas. He got the idea of the Brain Box Story Cards straight away and apparently 3 cards wasn’t enough for him.
The cards feature all manner of animals, characters, actions and objects, meaning that stories really can go anywhere. I love things put children in charge, and the Brain Box Story Cards sets really do that. There is no wrong or right, the story line is totally in their hands. Children could play together, taking it in turns to move the story forward as a card is picked, or like us, we worked on a story together.
I’ve been really impressed with these sets, we’ve worked through a number of story ideas over the last few weeks and Monkey isn’t at all bored with them. The Brain Box Story Cards sets are perfect for taking on car and plan journeys and the ideal size for a handbag or suitcase. They get a big thumbs up here. Priced at £4.99 per set, you can find your local stockist information over on the Brain Box website.
disclosure: we were sent the items mentioned in exchange for an honest review
I’ve got a set of the Brain Box Story Cards Fantasy and Adventures cards to offer one lucky reader, worth £ 9.98. Complete the Gleam form below for your chance to win – good luck!
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(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).
Only the first step of this form is mandatory, all other steps are optional. Only one entry per person is allowed.
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Once a winner is randomly picked, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within one week, the prize will be allocated to another person.
The giveaway will close on 8th March 2017 at midnight.
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Brain Box Story Cards Fantasy and Adventures cards worth £9.98
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs because I love imagining what all those little dwarfs personalities are like!
I like the Big Bad Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. Don’t really know why!!!
Cinderella – because she gets the prince at the end but doesn’t get horrible with her ugly sisters.
jack and the beanstalk
Love Snow White, can be scary!
My daughter loves Cinderella
The Emperors new clothes, my kids think it’s hilarious
Rapunzel as has a wonderful happy ending when the Prince eventually finds her
beauty and the beast, i remember reading it at junior school
cinderella because its a great ending to a bad story for her x
Little Red Riding Hood as the story highlights dangerous situations to children and you can ask them who is good and who is bad
Sleeping Beauty because I would love to be able to sleep a hundred years – or at least one night!
cinderella, i love the happy ending 🙂
Jack and the beanstalk. Dont really know why, it just seems a magical story
Cinderella, it is a really sweet story. I also like beauty and the beast.
Cinderella like The moral of the story
Cinderella – it’s all about the true love kiss at the end!
I love Cinderella because a pair of shoes changes her life and she get her prince in the end
Aladdin a rich girl and a poor guy whats not to likr
I love the Ugly Duckling as it is such a motivational story
Ive always loved The Princess and the Pea. As my nan used to read it to me when i was little. Fab giveaway. Would love to be your lucky winner. Fingers crossed x
Goldilocks and The Three Bears.
Sleeping Beauty because she fell asleep for one hundred years which sounds blissful as not sleeping very well myself.
Hansel and Gretel because my Nan used to read it to me when I was little!
Billy goats gruff, the grass is usually greener on the other side!
my favourite story is Hansel and Gretel 🙂
Beauty and the beast – its such a lovely love story
I love The Ugly Duckling because it’s a true testament that anyone can be beautiful and that looks can be deceiving.
Goldilocks, because I love trying to explain to my daughter that her heroine is actually a bit naughty burgling someone elses house!!
Rapunzel, I always had really long hair and i like to think that someone would whisk me away if I threw my hair out of the window
Rumpelstiltskin- not sure why, but I was fascinated with the naughty goblin when I was young!
Snow White because I love the dwarfs.
I love Cinderella its my favorite because it is such a happy ending and in a way shows Kama can get u x
Hansel and Gretel as I love the idea of the candy house…the witch not so much but they did get away so thats ok 🙂
Cinderella – I love it!
Princess and the Pea among others 🙂
Cinderella because we did it as a school play when I was little 🙂
I love the little Mermaid because I think it shows children about friendship and caring for each other 🙂
I love Goldilocks for the random morality of it!
Little Red Riding Hood because my little girl loves it
These look awesome especially for aiding imaginative story telling.
Cinderella is my favourite.
I love The Elves and The Shoemaker, I’ve always loved it since I was a child, but can’t remember why, although it is a lovely heartwarming story
I love Rumpelstiltskin because it’s so dark – it’s actually quite terrifying!
The Three Little Pigs – a great way to show perseverance !
Definitely Beauty and the Beast. I used to watch it everyday as a child and now watch it with my 2 year old
The Snow Queen it scared and fascinated me as a child.
Cinderella – as her niceness and patience paid off and she ends up with the Prince and not her horrible step sisters.
Little Red Riding Hood…I think the best ‘fairy tales’ are those that are fun to read but can teach you an important lesson and Red’s run in with the big bad wolf was all I needed to learn about ‘stranger danger’ when I was little 😉
The Ugly Duckling. As turns out to be a Beautiful Swan. In our Culture we were told ” not to blow our own trumpet”. I think we need to become aware and acknowledge our strengths, skills, etc. Maybe because the Rich and Powerful are acknowledged, Awarded and Celebrated. Seems that may need to be done in some similar fashion for us to be enabled to Reach Our Potential, which only comes with Opportunities.
Also like Little Red Riding Hood. As the Big Bad Wolf tries to trick Little Red Riding Hood by pretending to be her Grandmother ( wearing Grandmother’s clothes. Yet nothing like Grandmother, not kind and Caring. But cruel and Dangerous). Aims at teaching us to look deeper, be Observant, be prepared to run or get away in order to protect self). Encorages us to be careful, aware etc.
My favourite fairytale has to be Snow white and the seven dwarfs such a lovely story
i love Little Red Riding Hood as it is a great story but also educational x
I always liked little red riding hood
love goldilocks and the three bears as I adore the too hot too cold just right bit lol!!!!
I love Cinderella, it’s always been my favourite
cinderella as been a fave of my since being a young girl
Jack and the beanstalk as it shows how brave people can be
I love Cinderella as it was always my fave as a small child and I still enjoy the story today
Cinderella because the moral of the story is that people should always fight for what they want with a good heart and hard work. Cinderella is never negative or angry due to how poorly her stepsisters and stepmother treat her, and she keeps working hard despite things seeming hopeless.
My favourite Fairy Tale is Aladdin because it’s full of adventure!
i like Cinderella because its romantic
Hansel and Gretel… Even though it is quite a dark tale I always remember being fascinated with the house made out of sweets and thinking it was the most magical thing ever.
My favourite is the ugly duckling, I think it is good to not judge on appearances and this shows why
Beauty and the beast as it’s such a beautiful tale of true love x
I think my favourite fairy tale is Hanzel and Gretel.
Little Red Riding Hood because I can remember my dad making up so many different voices when telling us it.
cinderella lovely story from rags to riches just shows you cannot stop who you ffall in love with!
Little Red Riding Hood as it warns you not all is at it seems!
I’ve always loved the sleeping beauty as it’s magical 🙂
Jack and the Beanstalk as it is the first pantomime I saw
I like Cinderella as the ugly sisters get their comeuppance.
My favourite fairytale is the boy who cried wolf because of the message in it. It have read it to my kids many times. I think the brain box story cards would be ideal for my son who has ADHD. I try and sit down and do things like this with him often as he struggles to concentrate in a class setting and falls behind. Fingers crossed 🙂
Beauty and The Beast, I grew up wanting to be Belle, loving the story
My favourite fairytale is Cinderella 🙂 because it’s a classic and I love the message that justice and true love triumphs in the end!
I have always loved the Ugly Duckling because it is such a clever story and has such a happy ending!
Jack and The Beanstalk
I love Rumplestiltskin – I have always aspired to be so cross that I can stamp my foot right through the floor!!!
My daughter’s favourite is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs because she likes that’s Snow White is so kind to her friends the dwarfs and how nicely they look after her.
Cinderella, shows how justice always wins in the end!
beauty and the beast it’s a lovely love story
I like Hansel and Gretel, it’s just that bit gruesome!
Love the modern version of Cinderella not the grimm version
Goldilocks and the Three Bears is my favourite because my parents used to read it to me as though it was poetry. I grew to love it with its rather innocent story.
Three little pigs as I used to love it as a child
the ugly duckling 🙂
The boy who cried wolf as I think it is invaluable to read to teach children and adults morals!
snow white. the dwarves are fun
the ugly duckling, because nobody wanted him, until he turned into a beautiful swan
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – I like the characters.
I like The Boy Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything. It’s quite an obscure Brothers Grimm one. I like it because it’s one of the few of theirs with a humorous ending.
Rumplestiltskin as this is my boys favourite at the moment and I love watching their faces as I read it to them
Beauty and the Beast because you shouldn’t take people at face value x
Snow white and the 7 dwarfs because the dwarfs are such characters and all special in their own right
The Elves and the Shoemaker. I love this tale of kindness and generosity. The elves make the shoemaker beautiful quality shoes to save their business and the shoemaker and his wife make the elves brand new clothes.
I love the story rapunzel because as a small child I wanted long hair.
The Gingerbread Man i remember reciting run run as fast as you can
I love the story of Dick Whittington as we all love a happy ending
Cinderella. It’s a good story with a happy ending x
Three Little Pigs – never try to get away with the easiest way, just not the best option
Cinderella because of how bad her step family treated her and how she turned her life around x
snow white, i’ve loved it since I was little.
I liked hansel and gretel it’s very dark and scary, I was a strange child
Little Red Riding Hood as the story goes into some dangerous situations that kids need to be aware of.