11+ Activity Book: Verbal Reasoning - Ages 8-9 (CGP 11+ Fun Activity Books)

Good activity books for the 11 plus. Working through two pages a day. Seems to be helping.Colourful pictures and generally more fun to do than the standard 11 plus practice papers.

Despite the fact that this series is aimed at children who are going to be taking the eleven plus, I actually think their use can help all pupils. Instead of focussing on the 'three Rs' the activities in this book are designed to help children develop problem solving skills through applying logical thinking. The books' pages are attractive and colourful, the activities appropriately explained and the activities themselves are suitably challenging, designed to help build both confidence and skills in reasoning things out. Both books are aimed at pupils who are 8-9 years old.Most activity pages have a 'How it works' introduction and explanation which is followed by 'Now Try These' activities and 'An Extra Challenge'. The level of difficulty develops through the book and there are also mixed challenges where children can apply their skills.The Verbal Reasoning Activity Book is filled with problem solving and applying logical thinking activities which involve words and letters. These range from anagrams, synonyms, antonyms, missing letters, hidden words, riddles, sequences and lots more. They are similarly attractively presents and the consistency will help children easily learn how to use them and have fun solving them.As so many people are home-schooling their children at the moment, I definitely recommend checking out both this and the associated Non-verbal reasoning books to see if they are appropriate for your child as they are a fun and different set of activities that will help in other aspects of their learning, even if they aren't going to be taking the eleven plus!My thanks to Amazon and the publishers for my copy of these books which I have voluntarily and honestly reviewed.

This series of books from CPG is designed to help prepare children for taking the 11+ or Entrance exams, but in practice many of the exercises may help children generally in their school learning. My wife is reviewing the book for me as she was a Primary teacher.With Verbal Reasoning we want children to practice solving problems and logic using words and letters. This book is designed for ages 8 to 9, moving on from the previous one for for 7 and 8 year olds. It would be best used as spare moment activities at home or school. Many children at this age love puzzles and the booklet is illustrated in full colour with a variety of problem solving challenges. This book covers the same range of problems as the earlier one but with added challenge for older children. Every section starts with a How it Works explanation, then some examples for you to try. Luckily there are answers at the back, but do be prepared to listen to your child's explanation of how they got to THEIR answer if it differs from the one in book - being able to explain your thought process out loud is a valuable skill in itself.NB it will no doubt fade away, but on initial opening the book smells unpleasantly "chemical".

My 2 younger children are working towards sitting their 11+ exams within the next 3 years. We have tried many different 11+ books and this one scores relatively highly in a number of ways:- The book can be tackled by the child alone, you don't need an adult explaining what to do- Each section is split into a 'how it works' starter which explains how to tackle the problem type, followed by a 'now try these' series of questions finishing with 'an extra challenge' - I would say your child needs to be able to complete the extra challenge alone in their age appropriate book to be on route to getting to the minimum standard for non super selective 11+ entry- My daughters find the book relatively 'fun'The downside is that there are not that many questions to tackle and the answers to some of them are given away by the illustrations next to the questions! I am not sure if this is intentional to give the children a little boost as they venture into the question section but I find it frustrating as it effectively 'wastes' those questions.

This 11+ verbal reasoning activity book comes with a useful wipe clean, gloss-finish cardboard front and back cover. There are 54 pages internally with fully explained answers at the back.This activity book is generically aimed at all 11+ entrance examinations and as this particular book has been designed for 8-9 year olds, the puzzles are a gentle nudge towards introducing the subjects that involve reasoning.Each page has an example with exercises and then an extra challenge. The puzzles are colourful, varied and fun to do, enabling the pupil to think differently and to sharpen their skills. The exercises involve focus, comprehension and coding and are definitely a step up from the much easier VR book in the same series that is aimed at 7-8 year olds. Moreover, the puzzles are bite-size so not too tiring, time-consuming nor too tedious and can be done after school or on holiday. Depending on the skill set of your child, some of these puzzles will be easier than others.