Kids playing Susan McArthur’s game, NounSense, might not realize they are learning. However, with each funny story they create, they are learning how to read. According to InsideHalton.com, her game was released approximately 10 months ago, and it has already received the a top toy rating of 3 stars by the Canadian Toy Testing Counsel.
The game features story cards, picked up by the players. The nouns in the stories on the card are missing and players have to choose from a field of nouns to complete the stories. The game also features wild words for extra points and there are variations of game play that make it possible for very young children to play, up to those in the early years of elementary school.
The game play is flexible. Players can play with a scorecard or it can also be played co-operatively without a point system, which can help make the game playable to all reading levels of children.
“You can also just play for fun, you don’t have to play for points,†McArthur said.
She said children as young as four years old could play the game with just the noun cards, which include pictures of the word, while someone can read [the] story board to them. This helps children with word recognition.
Photo from NounSense