ThinkFun describes their new children’s game Zingo! Word Builder as “a fun and interactive game that brings fast-paced excitement and learning to the classic game of Bingo! This word building version is great for players who are just learning how to put letters together to form words. With two levels of play it is the perfect to engage and support both beginner and more experienced readers!”
Playing Zingo! Word Builder is advertised to help children develop “Spelling & Vocabulary, Reading, Concentration, Fine Motor Skills and Coordination, Follow Instructions, Taking Turns, and Winning and Losing.”
What’s In The Box:
The game includes: 1 Zingo! Zinger, 72 Letter Tiles, 6 Double-sided Zingo! Cards, and a Instruction and Learning guide.
How does it play:
Players all have their own Zingo! Card.
You can either have one dealer to operate the Zingo! Zinger with tiles or you can take turns.
The dealer will then slide the Zingo! Zinger to show the new letter tiles.
All players will look at their card to see if one of the letter tiles would make a word.
The first player to call out a word takes the letter tile and places it on their Zingo! Card, but the word must be correctly spelled.
To win, you must fill all of the empty spot on your card and call out Zingo!
The Verdict:
Zingo! Word Builder is an educational game that kids really have fun playing! Zingo! definitely lives up to its educational claims. As a parent, I’m always looking for fun ways to reinforce skills while helping to advance skills. This game has the familiar feel of Bingo while adding a fun twist, so kids are really learning!
Zingo would be a fun game to play a special time between parent and child and as a family, similar to some of their other games. This game would also be a great addition to any homeschool parent’s curriculum for elementary aged children. I could also see this game being played in small groups in classroom setting by splitting the class into small groups to play Zingo. I think this would work best to rotate students through work stations or by having a few Zingo games so all the students could be playing Zingo at one time in their own small group.
Some of the educational features I really like is that Zingo helps to build vocabulary with having 500 three-letter words, it helps to teach spelling patterns, and turns mistakes into learning opportunities. I also like that the rules can be slightly tweaked to make the game a little harder for older children and adults. My kids favorite parts of the game would be the Zingo Zinger and of course playing Zingo as a family!
This is a great game year-round, but also one to keep in mind as really good summer skill sharpener, so kids do not lose their skills during the break. Overall, my family and I really liked Zingo! Word Builder. I only wish I would have found Zingo sooner, and I look forward to trying more variations of the game with my kids.
You can grab Zingo! Word Builder at Amazon, where it’ll run you about $20.
Review Copy Provided By ThinkFun
Have strong thoughts about this piece you need to share? Or maybe there’s something else on your mind you’re wanting to talk about with fellow Fandomentals? Head on over to our Community server to join in the conversation!
