TOS Review: The Reading Game

We are a gaming family and I am always more excited when the games are educational.

The Reading Game is and educational game created by the author of Wordly Wise that retails for $24.95. The game has six very nicely illustrated story books with different animal themes that get progressively more difficult. On each level you have a set of six cards. Each set is laid out and played as a memory game, matching the two like words. As the words are matched you read the word several times with your child. After the entire set is matched you repeat until your child has a grasp of the words. After the child completes all 6 sets, s/he can proceed to the book and will be able to read! After all 6 books are completed your child will know 180 words.

The age range for this game is 4+, but obviously it would depend on how ready your child is to read and how well they are already reading. My 3 year old loved matching the numbers on the backs but wasn't remotely interested in even attempting the game, and my 7 year old already reads above level so the game wasn't challenging and she found it boring. However, it was about right for my 6 year old and she loved playing it! Accomplishment really does alot of encouraging and she was over the moon when she read the story about the unicorn.

There are two things about it that concerns me. It takes a whole word reading approach. I am a big believer in phonics. That said, I just simply had her sound things out rather than having her memorize (about half of the words are high frequency which we do memorize). It takes longer to do it this way, but for us it is important that they get the phonics. The second thing is that it is only for 2 players so if you have multiple kids be prepared to have to take turns. If you have olders they can play "tutor" to a younger child.

Other than that we really enjoyed this game! Here is the pertinent information:
Name: The Reading Game

Price: $24.95

Age: 4+

Be sure to check out my fellow crew members takes on The Reading Game!

I was given a copy of The Reading Game for free in exchange for an honest review. Please review my disclosure policy.