This game (and in turn this post) is a little bit of a break from our normal, but our kids were gifted Zingo! for Christmas and have been begging us to play it. So, we finally gave in and actually enjoyed it more than we expected to. So, we decided to include it on our blog. We can’t be the only gaming parents out there, right? For reference, the twins are 4, and their other favorite game is Sneaky Snacky Squirrel.
This game is essentially a sight words version of bingo. Everyone gets a card with a set of images/pictures on the card. There is a green side (less competitive) and a red side, but we only played the green – remember, the kids are only 4). The games has this cool device where you stack in the plastic tiles, slide it forward, and it leaves 2 tiles in the slots while the rest stay neatly hidden away. As these two appear, players shout out for either of the images shown that they may need on their card. The first to claim each image wins (or if you’re being nice, sometimes the kids get it just because).
The winner is the first player to fill their card, or however you deem to do it. You could have a pattern or just a 3 across, but we played with the card completely full to help drag it on. The game still goes really quickly.
So far as a review, we enjoyed this, actually more than the adults expected to. As a parent, the idea of sight words and recognizing the images and realizing what they need on their card are all good lessons. You’re working on memory from what they see on their card to what appears so they know if they need to claim it. There are some good foundations for other games that may come in the future. Of course, parents can also encourage them to look at the word and recite it rather than just use the picture. For example, there is a picture of a baseball bat. One of our daughters was calling it a racket. Yes, we knew what she meant, but simply a redirect of “what letter does that tile start with” is a good reminder to work with some letters and letter sounds and on track toward eventually reading. I am sure someone out there would also mention some sort of fine motor skills with regards to picking up these thin tiles and placing them properly on their card as well as sliding the unused tiles back into the slot of the mechanism.
All in all, this was a great game where the kids really enjoyed it and they were learning something without even knowing they were learning, right?
If you want to hear about more family and kid games along these lines, leave us a comment and we will be sure to add them into our lineup here at the Flaming Meeple!
