Education at any age is important and even more so for children, nobody should ever stop learning new things. Education doesn’t start at school, it starts at home. Children learn lots at home, from their surroundings and with the games that they play. It doesn’t mean when they are at home they need to sit at the table with a maths or English book or practising their handwriting, but with games that they can play that will be beneficial from when they start school or to supplement what they are learning at school. There are lots of educational games that you can play with the kids to help with cognitive skills, phonics, reading, maths and lots more. We have been playing a game that helps with children with spelling using a much loved character from the whimsical world of children’s literature – Roald Dahl’s Matilda. This game is Matilda Splendid Spelling.
Roald Dahl’s Matilda Splendid Spelling is an educational card game for 2-4 players, age 6+ and has been designed for Key Stage 1 and 2 learning. This game contains three educational and creative spelling games to help children develop spelling and word building skills, whilst still having fun (and best of all, not knowing that they are learning whilst they play). A game that sprinkles some of Dahl’s magic into the mundane task of spelling.
In the box:
- 100 Letter Cards
- 40 Bookworm Cards
- 1 Minute Timer
- Instructions
As I have already mentioned, Roald Dahl’s Matilda Splendid Spelling contains three splendid spelling card games to play. Each game helps children with their word building skills and spelling. The three games are:
- Game 1: The Bookworm Game – To win the game you need to be the first player to collect 10 bookworm cards for Matilda by creating words from your hand of cards. A 3 letter word is worth 1 bookworm card but if you create a word using four or five letters you can win more!
- Game 2: Matilda’s Word Grid Game – The aim of the game is to create as many words as possible in 1 minute. 16 cards are laid out in a 4 x 4 grid on the table, letter side up and the timer is started. All the players then write down as many words as they can make up using the 16 letters on the grid. The player with the most correctly spelt words wins that round and takes a Bookworm card. The first player to collect 5 Bookworm cards wins the game.
- Game 3: Matilda’s Wordstack Game – Each player starts with 10 cards face up, 5 additional cards are then dealt face up in the middle known as the stack. Each player then takes it in turns to add letters from their own cards to the stack to form a word. The longer the word the more bookworm cards that are won! Players can add a letter on top of another letter to change a word for example, with the word NOW, a G can be added in front and an R can be added on top of the N to create GROW. Adding a letter on top of an existing letter scores an extra point. The first player to win 10 Bookworm cards wins the game.
Overall, we found that Matilda Splendid Spelling is a good little card game that keeps the kids entertained and having fun whilst still learning. With three different games to play, it has good variation to mix up the game play and keep the kids coming back for more.
Matilda Splendid Spelling is a fun collection of card games that is indeed splendid at helping children practice their spelling and build words. This is achieved using letter cards to create words (the cards feature lower and uppercase letters), and who knows, maybe your little ones will become as deft with words and language as Mr Dahl was. One game also requires players to write down their words rather than laying cards out on the table so it also helps them get some handwriting and letter formation practise in too!
It is a game that will only be played for 10-15 minutes at a time but is lots of fun with plenty of educational value. A splendid word game where players collect bookworm cards (the longer the word, the more bookworm cards won) to help the fabulous Matilda read, and of course win the game (and get her back to reading Dickens and Dostoevsky and everything from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Zorro before another game begins).
This game is for age six and upwards so the cards are a good size for small hands. They feel good quality and children will be enthralled by the artwork; it’s superb, bright and colourful.
A fun and quick collection of games that will help children with spelling, word building and even handwriting skills. Education without preaching, and lots of fun in the process. Children will have fun helping Matilda to read whilst practising spelling and word skills. And it might even encourage them to read a book or three (possibly even a book by the master storyteller himself)!
As Roald Dahl said, “Life is more fun if you play games.”
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £9.95
Available to buy from Amazon here.
