The Reading Game

The Reading Game

Price: $24.95

Contents:
6 decks of memory playing cards
6 storybooks
Parent/Teacher guide

The Reading Game is a
fast-action memory card game.

It includes a series of six
beautifully illustrated storybooks.

The Cards & Books work
together to make learning to read exciting and enjoyable.

Game sessions are fun-filled with a winner every few seconds.

After completing the first memory card game, the student has thirty words “hardwired” into memory.

The Skunk story, Book One
in the series, is told using
only those thirty words.

On completing the series,
the student has a reading vocabulary of 180 words.

Almost half of them are among the one hundred most commonly used words in the English language.

The Reading Game was created
by “Wordly Wise” author,
Kenneth Hodkinson.

What we liked:
We loved that this was not just reading, but played in the format of a memory game...DD really loved playing the Reading Game and the games went VERY FAST! I think that helps to keep the child's focus on the game, rather than straying off task often. We were able to play several times in each session without it being a strain.

I love the concept behind the Reading Game...using common words, the child having to frequently read them, and when they have mastery, going on to put those skills to work reading the story for the level. By that time, the child really knows the words well.

While there are 30 words in each level (skunk, snake, bear, penguins, unicorn & zebra), you work with only 5 words at a time, making it easier for the child to do the "work" of the game and making each game quick.

Only lowercase letters are used, which I loved because it re-inforces the idea to the child that these are the letters that are used most often...my guy likes to use a mix of upper & lower case letters when he writes them. The exception to the rule here is the word, "I". That is done correctly.

The game is played with the child and a tutor...the Reading Game is suggested for ages 4+. I think that age recommendation is appropriate, but may need to be adjusted according to skill. When I was able, I acted as the tutor, but my older boys were able to jump in quickly if I could not work with DD. I appreciated being able to hand that off as needed without a lot of prep work in teaching my olders 'How-To"



What was a challenge for us:

DD is at the beginning stages of phonics, using the rules he has learned to de-code the words he sees. He has not learned all of the blend sounds yet and struggled with sh, th, wh and words like kind and stripe that we have not covered the rules for. For us, I think this would have given DD more tools to be able to decode more quickly.

DD wanted to move on to the next stage before he had mastered the words. I think it was frustrating for him to stay on skunk stage 3 (just pulled an example out) until he was able to read all the words every time. He wanted to just jump to the next one and into reading the book.

Overall, I think that the Reading Game is a helpful part of what we are using to teach reading in our home. The Reading Game is affordable and it is a fun way to teach reading.

See what my fellow crew mates have to say about the Reading Game here

Disclaimer: I received this item for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. I received no other compensation. All the opinions expressed are my own.