The Curiosity Shoppe
to promote inquiry-based learning in K-12 education by igniting curiosity through
mechanical puzzles, abstract & serious games, recreational math, and Maker culture
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The Curiosity Shoppe is an online community and student-curated resource center embracing 1,000+ mechanical puzzles, serious & abstract games, recreational math resources, and Maker gadgets. Our focus is the enjoyment of playful thinking that strengthens the excecutive functions & critical thinking and progressively resembles the 'design cycles' of the age-old professions. See About and Learning Communities for descriptions of our mission and the organizations that inform & inspire our investigations.
New Curiosities
New Curiosities
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Calendar of Events
Calendar of Events
Puzzles , Games, Gadgets, Books
Ongoing Compilations & Projects
Ongoing Compilations & Projects
to support educators, collectors, and designers
Sept. 30, 2019
The 'ACM TechNews' is a digest published 3-4 times each week that summarizes articles from STEM publications from around the world: universities, research labs, newspapers.
The 160+ articles selected for this slideshow have special relevance for content areas taught in middle/high school to provoke curiosity, civic-minded discussion, and interest in STEM careers. April 2018 - August 2019.
The 160+ articles selected for this slideshow have special relevance for content areas taught in middle/high school to provoke curiosity, civic-minded discussion, and interest in STEM careers. April 2018 - August 2019.
August 4, 2019
Digital Dilemma: The Digital Citizenship Card Game
Version - Beta 6a card game being designed in the The Curiosity Shoppe(rev. 8.06.19)
July 11, 2019
A listing of 'mechanical puzzle' reviews published on the Internet -- both print & video. This compilation focuses on reviews rather than 'full solves' (spoilers). This is an ongoing project which currently includes 425+ entries (of an estimated 2000).
July 11, 2019
Links to a wide variety of online interactive puzzles that were originally created with paper, wood, coins, or matchsticks. (some may require Flash)
Exploration Chronology
Exploration Chronology
June 1, 2019
A collection of links to organizations & conferences dedicated to the advancement of inquiry-based learning, critical thinking, recreational math, puzzle & game research/design, and the importance of play for human development & lifelong learning.
Jan. 19, 2019
poetical musings about incubating The True, The Good, and The Beautiful within students during an age of Compliance-Centered Pedagogy
Jan. 10, 2019
added a subpage for Puzzle Reviews to the "Mechanical Puzzles" section including a review for 'Jigsaw 19'
Dec. 26, 2018
added sections for: Dissections (2D/3D), Geometric Art, Kadon's GAMEPUZZLES™, Polyominoes, SOMA Cube, Tangrams, Tilings & Patterns
Dec. 23, 2018
added sections for: Ambigrams, Cryptography, Knots, Mathematics of Games & Puzzles, Mathematics of Magic, Math Circles, Origami, Symmetry,
Sept. 30, 2018
An ongoing effort to create links to all free 'print 'n play 'abstract board games' on the Internet.
Aug. 11, 2018
Ada Chest #2by Nicholas PhillipsAffine Creations
aka 'The Secrets of a Happy Life' (The Farhan Ali Memorial Puzzle Box)
a reviewby Bob Nordling
aka 'The Secrets of a Happy Life' (The Farhan Ali Memorial Puzzle Box)
a reviewby Bob Nordling
July 5, 2018
The 'Tavern Collection' by Dennis Sucilsky featuring 3 variations of 18th/19th century "shackle" puzzles and other 'torturous' looking forged metal puzzles.
Welcome to the Grand Opening of the Curiosity Shoppe Website!
by Bob NordlingOur "student curators" have been released on good behavior from their shackles for Summer Break. So we will be taking this time to transfer our Curiosity Shoppe 'knowledge-base' to this new public site to create wider dialogue between educators, collectors, and designers within the puzzle, game, recreational math, maker, and K-12 academic communities.
The first phase of this 'grand openness' is to gather, organize, and keep current all known active links to the organizations, blogs, vendors, publications, videos, etc. that are relevant to our communities. The second phase will be to add layers of insight over these resources to aid those new to our communities to recognize the connectedness of our various pursuits and discover new paths of wonder to travel. Finally, we hope to persuade those long-time travelers, the expert explorers within our communities, to describe the frontiers to which their perseverance has allowed them to travel and to provide a rough map to guide others on their paths of wonder.
" To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield' - Tennyson, "Ulysses", a poem
"I'm sure I could stop any time I wanted to, but I'm not a quitter!" (on puzzle collecting) - Allard Walker, "Puzzling Times", a blog
"So, hopefully some of my designs will inspire people to think, imagine, and create, for there is yet an infinity of things to do." - Doug Engel, "puzzleATOMic" a website
A path of wonder that I have been pursuing for the past 25 years is the development of a plausible and cohesive framework which educators & designers, parents & collectors, can use to create/select particular types of experiences beneficial for growing specific human potentials (executive functions, critical thinking skills). I will be relying on the good judgment of fellow travelers here to help fill in the potholes encountered along the way. Stay curious!
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