Building Thinking Skills Book 2
Boost essential reasoning, logic, and critical thinking with fun, colorful puzzles that make thinking skills come alive.
$42.99
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2026 Fourth-Grade Curriculum Kit
Building Thinking Skills Book 2
Some workbooks teach facts. Building Thinking Skills Book 2 teaches your child how to use them.
Designed for upper-elementary learners, this comprehensive workbook strengthens the reasoning skills students use across every subject. Through more than 400 engaging pages, your child learns to analyze information, identify relationships, evaluate possibilities, and draw logical conclusions with increasing confidence.
The activities cover a wide range of thinking skills, including analogies, classification, deductive reasoning, sequencing, Venn diagrams, map skills, visual-spatial reasoning, and mental manipulation of two-dimensional figures. Concepts are introduced gradually and practiced in a variety of formats, allowing students to build both competence and confidence.
One of the biggest differences between Book 2 and earlier levels is the complexity of the thinking required. Students are asked to consider multiple clues, track several relationships at once, and work through longer chains of reasoning. Instead of looking for a single obvious answer, they learn to organize information, eliminate possibilities, and support their conclusions with evidence.
The visual activities make challenging concepts accessible, while the verbal exercises strengthen vocabulary and analytical thinking. Together, they help students develop the flexibility to approach problems from different angles and apply what they've learned in new situations.
Many children come to see the puzzles as challenges rather than assignments. Along the way, they're developing the observation, reasoning, and critical-thinking skills that support success in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies.
Research on the Building Thinking Skills series has shown measurable gains in academic performance, and the program has earned recognition from educators, homeschoolers, and organizations such as Mensa.
For students who are ready for more sophisticated reasoning challenges, Building Thinking Skills Book 2 provides a substantial workout for the mind—one that builds both confidence and capability with every page.
How to Use Building Thinking Skills Book 2
- Plan on completing about 10 pages each week if you'd like to finish the book in a single school year. Prefer a slower pace? Completing 4–5 pages weekly allows you to spread the program over two years while still making steady progress.
- Don't hesitate to divide longer assignments into smaller chunks. Some activities require sustained concentration, and many students benefit from tackling a few pages at a time rather than completing an entire lesson in one sitting.
- Encourage your child to explain his thinking as he works. Book 2 contains more complex reasoning challenges than earlier levels, and talking through the clues, relationships, and possible solutions often strengthens understanding.
- Remember that this is a thinking course, not a handwriting course. If writing slows your child down, allow him to discuss answers aloud, dictate responses, or work through problems verbally. The goal is to develop strong reasoning skills, not to fill every blank perfectly.
- As the puzzles become more challenging, resist the urge to jump in too quickly. Give your child time to wrestle with the information, test ideas, and eliminate possibilities. Some of the greatest growth happens when students learn to persist through a difficult problem.
By the end of the book, many students approach challenges differently than they did at the beginning. Instead of looking for the quickest answer, they begin organizing information, weighing evidence, and working through problems step by step. That's exactly the kind of thinking this program is designed to develop.
Answers are located in the back of this book.
Publisher's Information
Publisher: The Critical Thinking Co™
Authors: Sandra Parks & Howard Black
Age Recommendation: 9-11
Grade Recommendation: 4th-6th
Faith-Based: No
Consumable: Yes (can be reproduced in your own home or classroom, but not for any commercial entity or organization)
Pages: 412 total, 345 workable
ISBN: 9781601449924
Format: Softcover
Copyright: 2022
Made in: USA
Awards and Endorsements from:
review by Heather O'Steen
”It has a broad range of ability levels so I would say anywhere from about third grade to seventh grade is a good range. The pages are very simple and straightforward – if your kids love to do things like crossword puzzles then this book will be a hit! The answers are all included in the back which is a huge help because sometimes even I can’t figure it out. They really do make you think critically! ”
Read the Review
Customer photos
- August 31, 2026
Catherine
My son has enjoyed this series. We do a page each day. I like the setup and plan on using the whole series as long as my son keeps liking it.
- May 21, 2026
Rachelle
This book is dense and long. It is a little advanced for 4th grade.
- February 19, 2025
challenge
a
This book is a great way to challenge your kids in different thinking skills
- October 3, 2024
Amazing!
Tasha G.
I love these books to challenge the kids and how they think. It really gets their brains working in different ways and helps them to see the world around them as a place of learning. Highly recommended, but make sure you do them in order and don't skip any or it gets too hard too fast.
- March 25, 2024
Not a Hit; Super Valuable
Vanessa H.
This isn't her favorite book, but the skills it works on are very important. There are a variety of skills and activities to practice critical thinking skills so while it may not be her favorite part of the day, it's super important and Mama values it!
- March 12, 2024
Large variety of activities for critical thinking!
Jana
This is our second time working through the Building Thinking Skills - Level 2 workbook. (One of our older kiddos worked through it 4 years ago (2020)) The book has been updated significantly from the edition we used previously. The latest edition is printed in color! Additionally, several formatting updates make the book more appealing (unless your kiddo does better with simple black & white). For our kiddo this made the workbook more intriguing. We are choosing to use this book over two years, so our current 4th grader is doing 2 pages 3 days a week, and will complete the remaining pages next school year. We do not assign pages chronically, but choose to "popcorn" through the book to provide variety. There are still some days where we have a little power struggle getting this done. In general our kiddos seem to prefer the Evan Moor Critical Thinking books, but this book does provide many opportunities, for learning to think critically. You might also be interested in knowing that all the pages are perforated allowing for easy removal. This provides options such as removing the answer key. Or alternatively you could remove pages for your student to complete instead of keeping them in the oversized workbook, if the huge size proves overwhelming for your learner.
- April 14, 2023
Thinking Skills
Jill W.
I have a love hate relationship for this book. I love the information it covers and that there is so much and the variety it contains. It is a BIG book. After going through level 1 in a year, we decided to use this book over the course of 2. My daughter doesn't love it and it is sometimes a chore to get her to work on it.
- March 14, 2023
great workbook
Bina
We love this workbook for critical thinking skills and logic. Some pages need to be explained but it's mostly independent work. My kiddos loves the shape pages.
- December 12, 2022
Thinking skills
Hayes
This is a BIG book. Definitely lots of thinking skill activities. Not the most exciting...but there are definitely lots of thinking exercises.
- May 18, 2022
Great Workbook
A. P.
My two 4th grade boys loved working in this workbook this year. There are plenty different activities to keep their attention. Some activities were more interesting and fun than others for them, however, they learned so much. Some of the activities even had me thinking hard.
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