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:
