Do you have a preschooler or kindergartener in your house? If so, here is a great learning game for your family: Puzzle Words by Mead.
Puzzle Words combines puzzles, reading, letter recognition, colorful pictures, and dry erase writing to create a fun, reusable educational game for parents and children to enjoy together.
The game comes with 24 puzzles, one dry erase marker, and one board. Each puzzle has three pieces, one for each letter of a word.
The puzzles are also double sided and are designed to fit into a cutout part of the game board so that they don’t slide around. As you put the puzzles together you spell a word and complete a picture to illustrate the word, for example: toy or rat.
Although the game is designed for ages 4 and up, my three year old daughter enjoyed putting the puzzles together.
To continue the learning, use the dry erase marker to write the words that you spell. Under the space cut out for assembling the puzzles are several lines of ruled writing guides so that children can practice writing the words they create.
This was a great way for my 5 year old to practice without feeling that he had to write by himself. He could look at each letter as he wrote the word, which helped with his lack of confidence in writing independently.
You can also add your own dimension to the game by using the back of the dry erase board which is blank. Try playing Pictionary or write a sentence together. The game doesn’t come with written instructions and leaves parents and children free to play and learn together as fits them best.
The pen the Mead has created is unique; the end of the pen is also a small dry erase eraser. The positive side of this is that you can erase with ease, the down side is that you can’t clip the pen’s cap onto the end, so it is easier to lose the lid.
And a side note on dry erase markers, they can stain, so playing while sitting down (instead of walking around with the marker!) is recommended.
I would definitely recommend Mead’s Puzzle Words game for families of preschoolers. I love that it is a tangible way for children to practice reading and spelling, and that it makes learning fun. This is a perfect activity to use during the summer to prevent learning lapses and to spend time together.
Mead Puzzle Word Game
http://meadonline.com/EarlyLearning/Home.aspx
Available at Wal-Mart
Price: TBD
| Appealed to the advertised age range | 5 |
| Instructions were easy to follow | N/A |
| My children played with this multiple times | 5 |
| Small pieces were a problem | 4 |
| Messy* | 4 |
| Would travel well |
3 |
| Durability | 5 |
| I would purchase this for my family | yes |
| I would purchase this as a gift |
yes |
| Overall rating | 4 |
All ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being highest.
*dry erase markers can stain!
Meet the Reviewer!
Janice Richardson is an elementary
school teacher turned stay-at-home
mom of three energetic little ones,
ages 5, 3 and 1. She enjoys
playing with her family, being outdoors,
and eating chocolate.Janice runs an etsy
shop, www.etsy.com/shop/feltyfun,
where she makes and sells preschool
activities made from felt.One of her
goals is to someday visit each of the
50 states and each continent.
