Quiddler
If you want to turn spelling into a challenge akin to Scrabble but with less trauma (you don’t need to interlock words, just create them), Quiddler is a terrific little card game. In our house, Caitrin even played before she could read! How? We helped her. She would put her cards out and we’d talk about the ways you could make words from her letters. Her drive to play this game actually helped her learn to read and has been critical to helping her spell.
We often play “open hand” when a child is stuck and can’t think of what to do with his or her cards. So don’t feel the need to turn the game into ruthless competition (unless you enjoy that kind of thing!). Take a break from handwriting and play Quiddler instead.
For more information about Quiddler, check out this link.
We LOVE Quiddler! My neighbor Debbie Porter turned me onto it. Now my sister is obsessed with it and I bought it for my cousin last Christmas, too. We love seeing what words we come up with. One hand was “mean pigs,” though the words don’t need to relate. It’s just a blast when they do!
So many games can be used to teach when we relax the rules. We don’t have this game, but I’ll look it up!
We just played this on our camping trip. Everyone always plays open hand and we all help each other. My 5yo won this past weekend because we could all help her and she had those high value letters!!! I came in 4th. I told them I was not going to help them anymore so I might actually win, but then again what do you do with 5 vowels!!! Do you know what else it helps is basic math skills. It really helped my middle one. It was a sneaky way to get basic addition down.
Christine
We LOVE this game. The illuminated alphabet is an extra bonus. I find it is very much like rummy with words.
No open hands here- the kids are too competitive!
What about Palabra? We use it in a similar way – have not tried Quiddler. (Sadly Palabra might be harder to find now except for ebay and the like, it was temporarily out-of-print.)