Hasbro Scrabble Junior

Pros: Teaches children how to spell and learn their letters.
Cons: All cardboard, no wood letters.

My 8 year old had asked for Scrabble Junior a few months ago after hearing about the regular Scrabble game. Since he loves to try and solve crossword puzzles and even tries to make up his own crossword puzzles, I figured he'd get a kick out of...

Pros: Teaches basic letter and word skills, easy to play, short games
Cons: Cardboard letters and no tile racks

My son loves games. Any kind, video, card, or board. The problem - he is only three. Which makes purchasing games for him that he can play easily and become good at quickly with little frustration a bit of a challenge. When we have a family game ...

Pros: Bright colored board. Game can be educational.
Cons: Not educational if you can't get kids to play it. Cardboard tiles.

The scaled down version on the adult well known Scrabble game by Milton Bradley. It is played like adult version with letter tiles to spell out words. The game will hopefully get children interested how words are formed and increase their phonics ...

Pros: Great game for the entire family. Everyone 4 and over can enjoy it.
Cons: The pieces are cardboard rather than plastic.

We bought this at a second hand shop, thinking that my 4 year old would be a bit young for it but that it might be fun for her cousins. We were wrong - she loved it!

The beginner side has words spelled out on it (with pictures) and each player gets to place 2 tiles on the board each time. You either have to start a word or fill in the next letter of a word that has been started. Even though my daughter can't really spell yet, she can recognize letters and had fun putting her 'tiles' on the board.

The best thing was that my husband and I even enjoyed playing it with her! Games like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders are fairly boring for adults. This game works for all ages. (OK, it is not exactly challenging for adults, but it is not boring.)

It is great practice for letter recognition and sounding out words, as well as learning the rules of playing a game. As soon as she can spell, we can flip the board over and play the 'regular' version.

Pros: Educational, fun, great rainy day game.
Cons: Cardboard letter tiles.

I have a 2 & 4 year old. I bought this game at a thrift store thinking they could play with it in a few years. It turns out they love it at the ages they are.

There are 2 sides to the game. One side you match letters to the letters on the board, the other side you make your own words. We have only played the matching side.

It's a great way to learn letters. I always tell people that my children learned their letters from playing scrabble. Educational games are not effective if the kids aren't enjoying themselves, but thankfully my kids love to play it. My children already know how to spell the words on the board and can now recognize them in print also.

I just wish the letter tiles were made out of plastic or wood. It would make the game more durable.