KidToysOnline.com

Scrabble Junior Edition

If there’s any game out there that normally makes little kids feel left out, it’s Scrabble, the word game that’s usually played by adults and older kids. But Scrabble Junior is a great way to introduce young children to the game and get them interested in how words are formed. In the beginner game, specially developed for younger kids, players draw seven tiles from a pool, then work to match letters to the ones printed on the board. As they work through their tiles, they spell out the words, one letter at a time, and receive points for finishing each word. By the end of the game, they’ll have used over a hundred letters to work through a variety of different words. On the other side of the board there is a basic version of the classic Scrabble game with simple scoring rules. Once your children master the advanced game, you might be surprised to see that they’re ready to take you on in a match of the original Scrabble. Just be prepared to lose gracefully. –John Longenbaugh

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Educational Fun Game
This old standard is great fun for younger children in this jr. edition. My 6 yr. old grandson just loves it and plays it often.

2 Stars Scrabble Jr. Review
This game was disappointing. It needs to be more like the real adult version with double points, etc. It did not come with a holder for the letters, so we had to lay down our letters on the table and others could see them. Letters were made of medium thick cardboard! Overall, the game was just okay.

2 Stars Not really worth it!
Buy the real one instead. It’s cheaply constructed and really limited on the “Junior” side.

4 Stars Our almost 3 y.o. son loves this game
Our almost 3 year old son loves this game and asks to play it multiple times every day. He’s fascinated with letters and has recently started reading. I thought this game would be a fun way for him to learn a few words. He has already learned all the preprinted words on the board. He has also learned how to take turns and follow the game rules. The only shortcomings that I see are:

1) the cardboard letters and board, which are not very durable or cleanable

2) there should be some alternate pre-printed game boards avaliable to keep the interest level up for a longer time

4 Stars Good for an age range of children playing together
Our whole family could play this game together, which is rare. The 3yr old could place tiles for us on the printed game board by matching letters. The emerging 6yr old reader could recognize the printed words without having to know how to spell them correctly on her own as with a blank board. The 10yr old and adults could just play along without it being obnoxiously simple. This was a great game for a nice family evening. It has potential for the game to get more complex as it also includes a blank game board, which would be good with older children. The game tokens are shoddy tagboard punch outs, my only complaint about this game. Well worth the price, but I would have paid a few bucks extra for better quality pieces.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys [Learning & Education] Adult Version, Adults, Classic Game, Few Words, Fun Game, Limited, Little Kids, Match, Multiple Times, Pool, Real Adult, Scrabble, Scrabble Game, Thick Cardboard, Tiles, Word Game

ThinkFun Zingo

A fast-paced, simple variant of Bingo. Players try to fill their image cards with matching tiles from the “Zingo Master”; first player to fill his/her card wins! Rules can be adjusted to favor more or less competition among players, and to vary length of time that each game takes to play. Zingo teaches shape and pattern recognition, as well as observation, and short-term memory. Ages 4 to adult Ages: 4 and Up

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Fun simple and durable-
All great for a kid’s game.

This game was easy to learn and work.

It is a game that gets brought out regularly to play , which makes it a hit in this house.

5 Stars Excellent Toy
As a speech therapist I have found this toy a nice addition to my therapy tools for 3 to 5 year olds who need to increase expressive vocabulary. Durable, easy travel, adaptable.

5 Stars Fun!
My children ages 3 and 5 love this game! We play this often as a family and it really is fun for all of us. We typically play that you have to fill your entire card instead of just 3 in a row. My only complaint is that I wish we could order more of the little plastic cards as they do tend to get lost.

4 Stars Great game for young children
When we purchased this game my children were two and four. The four year old loved zingo but the two year old had a difficult time understanding the entire concept, but expected. A year later and now both my children love this game. We play it weekly and it has yet to lose it fun value. It is extremely durable…plastic component has been dropped repeatedly. A great way to work on memory and the initial game rules for developmental skills. I would highly recommend this product for young children!

5 Stars So FUN!
I LOVE this game and I am almost 27 years old! I play it with my two boys (3 and 5). We play double cards to keep them challenged.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Games 5 Year Olds, Adult Ages, Bingo Players, Easy Travel, Expressive Vocabulary, Game Rules, Great Game, Image Cards, Initial Game, Length Of Time, Pattern Recognition, Plastic Cards, Plastic Component, Short Term Memory, Speech Therapist, Therapy Tools, Thinkfun, Tiles, Two Boys, Zingo

Carcassonne

The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique Roman and Medieval fortification. In this clever tile-laying game, players develop the area around Carcassonne and deploy their followers on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters and in the fields. The skill of the players to develop the area will determine the victor. For 2-5 players.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great fun!
This game is great. We have only played with two players but we have a blast with it. We have started playing with holding 2 tiles in your hand to give it a bit more strategy a bit more luck. Great so far. Highly recommended for gamers and puzzle lovers.

5 Stars Fantastic game for all ages!
Carcassonne is a fantastic board game that I’ve introduced to many different groups of people, and they all seem to easily understand and embrace the game, asking me when I’ll bring it back to the table. It is very simple to learn, but the strategy of how to best place your tiles and use your wooden figures will keep you coming back for more. Hopefully my description will give you an idea of what the game is all about.

Carcassonne is a 2-5 player game where you expand the city of Carcassonne by placing tiles and claiming various city “features” (cities, roads, cloisters, and farms) on these tiles using little wooden figures which represent your “followers”. By claiming these features, building them further, and finally completing these features, you score points, and the player with the most points wins.

The game is really much more confusing on text. The rulebook was a little intimidating at first, but once I tried playing a test game with myself, I discovered how simple and exciting the game really was, and I was eager to share the experience with my friends. When I teach the game using the tiles as examples, my friends pick it up right away. The game experience as a whole mixes the excitement of competing against your friends with the fun of solving a puzzle, and playing with the little wooden figures adds that special touch that makes a game memorable.

To sum up the strategy involved: A nice person will leave the other players alone so he can build features on his own while they build theirs; but the clever player (aka, the one who usually wins), will not only build his own features, but build into the features of his opponents, gaining even more points while denying his opponents the advantage. The game is very versatile in that you can just have a free-for-all with one another; you can form teams, or you can even form makeshift alliances to gang up against the player who is winning. It’s up to you and your opponents to decide which strategy is best.

Pros

-Versatile game that is easy and quick to explain after browsing the rulebook

-Easy to set up (you literally set it up by playing the game, other than handing out figures, shuffling the tiles, and placing the starting tile)

-Plays relatively quick – my games usually last about 30-45 minutes

-Good introductory game for people who aren’t sure if they will enjoy strategy games

-Plays with two to five players, and is equally fun with the minimum or maximum

-Durable wooden figures and tiles (Don’t let your baby suck on them, and they’ll last for many years)

-Portable (doesn’t take up too much space, and it’s easy to fit expansions (sold separately) inside the original box

-IT’S FUN

Cons

- If you’re looking for a deep, engrossing game to play with friends who are already experienced with strategy games, I would look elsewhere. This is more of a fun, light strategy game for everyone to play.

- Not for very small children, mostly because of the little wooden figures

You can’t go wrong with this purchase if you’re looking for a fun game to enjoy with everybody and anybody. It gave me an excuse to stop playing on the computer all the time, and instead sit down with friends and family and chat, while at the same time plotting my ultimate victory. Buy it!

P.S. If you find that you enjoy this game and want to change up the game from time to time, purchase an expansion, each of which costs about half the price of the base Carcassonne game. I would start with Inns and Cathedrals, and then move on to Traders and Builders (both are available on Amazon too). The two add great new strategies to the game and I love them both, and at the same time they’re easy to learn and incorporate with the base game. I wasn’t extremely impressed with the other expansions, but you can read the reviews on their respective web pages and decide for yourself if they’re right for you and your group.

5 Stars Great Game!
This is a great game for two people on up to five people. It’s easy to learn or teach others and can be played in about a half an hour. Great where you want to have a quick game of something with minimal setup. Highly recommended!

5 Stars Carcassone
Great game. My family has played it for hours and it never gets old. It’s a new game every time.

5 Stars Amazing game for everyone!
This game is great! There is not as much trading and “marketplace” type interactions in this game vs Settlers of Catan but it more than makes up for it with the variety of strategies that can be employed. I find this game especially fun with a close group of friends for a game night. It’s not much of an icebreaker type game though since it is a little long (typical game lasts ~1 hr for 4 people). Highly recommended.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Games Board Game, Carcassonne, City Features, Cloisters, Excitement, Followers, Game Experience, Game Players, Gamers, Medieval Fortification, Player Game, Puzzle Lovers, Southern French City, Test Game, Tile, Tiles

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is a fast and fun word game that requires no pencil, paper or board. All you need is a table. One hand can be played in as little as five minutes. It is a great for family fun as well as being educational. Bananagrams portability makes it perfect for travel. Just grab the pouch and go.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Fun Game
One of my coworker recommended this game. I ordered it and had a fun time playing it with my husband. I would recommend it to others.

5 Stars wonderful game!
This game is like speed scrabble, but requires less thinking since there are no points involved. It is portable, which is awesome, and it is easy to stop playing after any amount of time. In addition, the banana theme is just fun!

5 Stars 4 generations loved this game!
We played this several times with my 8 year old, my mom-in-law and grandmother. We all loved this game! The 8 year old even won 2 times! My 5 year old enjoys looking for specific letters and creating the alphabet. It is also a great take along game.

4 Stars A Scrabble alternative . . .
I bought two of these – one for our annual camping trip, and one as a birthday present for my sister-in-law, a Scrabble addict. We played several times on our trip, and my other sister-in-law even went out and bought one for my niece. It is faster than Scrabble and is not as intense, so for me it was more enjoyable. We have a couple of diehard Scrabble addicts in the family, and frankly, it is no fun to play Scrabble with them. Bananagrams turned out to be a happy medium – so good that the Scrabble board didn’t even come out. Kids and adults can play together. Keeping track of all the tiles could be a little tough, but generally this is a fun game and I would recommend it.

5 Stars Rattle those bones!
I agree with everyone else that it’s fun to play and simple enough for a child to play with adults, but what I like most are the real urea game pieces. They have a weight and texture about them that brings back memories of when I used to “rattle the bones” as a kid.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Games 4 Generations, Addict, Amount Of Time, Bananagrams, Coworker, Family Fun, Fun Game, Fun Time, Game One, Game Pieces, Happy Medium, Niece, Portability, Scrabble, Scrabble Board, Sister In Law, Those Bones, Tiles, Urea, Word Game

ThinkFun Zingo

A fast-paced, simple variant of Bingo. Players try to fill their image cards with matching tiles from the “Zingo Master”; first player to fill his/her card wins! Rules can be adjusted to favor more or less competition among players, and to vary length of time that each game takes to play. Zingo teaches shape and pattern recognition, as well as observation, and short-term memory. Ages 4 to adult Ages: 4 and Up

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Fun simple and durable-
All great for a kid’s game.

This game was easy to learn and work.

It is a game that gets brought out regularly to play , which makes it a hit in this house.

5 Stars Fun!
My children ages 3 and 5 love this game! We play this often as a family and it really is fun for all of us. We typically play that you have to fill your entire card instead of just 3 in a row. My only complaint is that I wish we could order more of the little plastic cards as they do tend to get lost.

5 Stars So FUN!
I LOVE this game and I am almost 27 years old! I play it with my two boys (3 and 5). We play double cards to keep them challenged.

5 Stars Excellent Toy
As a speech therapist I have found this toy a nice addition to my therapy tools for 3 to 5 year olds who need to increase expressive vocabulary. Durable, easy travel, adaptable.

4 Stars Great game for young children
When we purchased this game my children were two and four. The four year old loved zingo but the two year old had a difficult time understanding the entire concept, but expected. A year later and now both my children love this game. We play it weekly and it has yet to lose it fun value. It is extremely durable…plastic component has been dropped repeatedly. A great way to work on memory and the initial game rules for developmental skills. I would highly recommend this product for young children!

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Electronics 5 Year Olds, Adult Ages, Bingo Players, Easy Travel, Expressive Vocabulary, Game Rules, Great Game, Image Cards, Initial Game, Length Of Time, Pattern Recognition, Plastic Cards, Plastic Component, Short Term Memory, Speech Therapist, Therapy Tools, Thinkfun, Tiles, Two Boys, Zingo