There’s only so much Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and Break the Ice that I can take……and…..I don’t play Barbie. So, I had to come up with a game alternative for Boo. I decided that we were going to play a game that I like…..Scrabble. Now it’s her favorite game. We just had to adjust the rules a little and created a scorecard that works (download the template at the bottom). It’s a game but she’s learning word formation and math skills at the same time. I love that she’s starting to get all competitive about the high point letters like Q and Z and X.
1. We set out all the letters at once.
2. She has to make a word on the board. She can start the words anywhere she wants (i.e. they don’t have to share letters). She has to add up the numbers on her letter for her score (math skills!)
3. If she (or another player) happens to share a letter with a word already on the board it’s a DOUBLE WORD SCORE.
To keep score we have a column for the word points and there is a column for bonus points. You can make up your own bonus points: for example, Boo gets ONE BONUS POINT if can read my word on the board. But if you are playing with more than one child you can adjust it. Some examples: all words over 4 letters are a bonus point, adding up the word points correctly, creating a word with more than one vowel….
Oh, and there is an opportunity for a TRIPLE WORD SCORE but they are rare…..she connected two words FOX and ANT with the word FEET. Score!
The stars on the scorecard just shows where someone got a double or triple word score:
The game ends when we run out of letters to make any more words on the board:
Here’s the scorecard I made…..there are 2 versions….one with 2 players on a page and one with 4 players:
So cute! That’s a great idea Ashley! 🙂 Pretty soon you’ll be needing to teach her how to play Boggle! 😉 (that has been my mom and I’s game since I was a little kid…)
This is utterly brilliant. I waited for years, eagerly anticipating the day when my daughter would be old enough to play Scrabble with me- wish I had thought of something like this!
The Ladybug game is a fun one for young kids. We also love a game called The Kids of Carcassonne.
this is great! we play a modified version of “Bananagrams” with the young’uns here 🙂 check it out on amazon…it’s like scrabble but without the board, and each player has their own set of words. awesome fun, plus it comes in a rather fetching banana-styled case!
Thanks, I love Scrabble! I have been trying to think of a way to let my young granddaughter and grandson play. Try UNO. This is also great for colors when they are just learning, and numbers as well as tallying the score.
Haha! This is great Ashley! I’m a mean mommy though. I make my youngest who is 8 play by the real rules. He started playing with the rest of us when he was 5. We all gave and still do give him help when he needs it. And we make him keep score for his math skills.
cute idea – wish I had thought of that when my Katie was little. She is a wiz at word games – once when she was 8 we were playing boggle. she could hardly stand it until the end of the game and as soon as time was called she we asking “can I go first, can I go first?” we laughed at her exuberence and let her go – she says “I know it doesn’t count because it’s a proper name (which is against the rules) but OKLAHOMA! Sure enough – there it was! we gave her 10 points for that one! LOL!