junior scrabble ?

[sevenseas]

Hi, thinking of getting this for DD who is 6, but cannot find a good description of what is is like.

The one I looked at in the shop seemed to have one side where the letters are already there, the child has to match them with the tiles, and one side where the words are given but letters are missing, so the child has to complete the words.

However the description on the internet seems to be different, with one side almost the same as an adult scrabble board, which would be better.

Does anyone have this game and do you think it would be good for a 6yr old to play with an 8yr old? (might just go with the 'adult' version otherwise).

[FreudianSlimmery]

Marking place as I'm curious about this game. I was a precocious madam and remember seeing my classmates (probably in yrR) playing it and thinking "uggh! How silly to have the words already there, they should play the proper version and choose their own words"

I agree it'd be better to have a normal blank side too. I was in a shop the other day and saw a jigsaw version of it, no idea how that works either!

[FreudianSlimmery]

Meant to say I was playing grown up scrabble at that age - i think as the parent you can just modify the way you play. When my DSDs are here we agree not to use any words that they won't understand.

No reason to stick to scrabble either - there are loads of other word games around. Boggle, bananagrams and upwords to name but a few :)

[sevenseas]

Hi thanks I take your point about playing a modified version of the adult game. We play Monopoly together which is lots of fun. Am concerned she will outgrow this too quickly so will probably stick with the older version (we have a very old set that DD8 sometimes plays, may update but will look at the other games too).

[doesthismatter]

Just to mention that in Junior Scrabble one side, as you say, has the words filled in and you have to match your letters on it to get a point when you complete a word. But the other side of the board is blank just like a "normal" scrabble game.

The difference with playing on this blank side is that it doesnt have all the number values on the letters so there isnt the business of adding up scores etc and some letters being worth more than others. All it has is red and blue squares on the board and if you make a word that, for example, covers over a red square then you get a red "token" (a pile of red and blue tokens are provided) as your score. The tokens have a value and at the end you add up the value of your tokens if that makes sense.

We have had junior scrabble for a good few years now and have had good use from it (with DC aged about 5 to 7 years old). I think it is a good basis for starting to learn the game as you just concentrate on making words from your letters rather than the added "maths" worry about what they are worth etc. (Am about to graduate the DC - now aged 7 to 9 years old - to "proper" scrabble this Xmas though).