LeCardo the Game and the Teaching Tool

By Elliott Miller
12 years ago
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I did a quick look at the card game LeCardo some time ago on the podcast, but I’m starting to use the game for a completely different purpose. First though a peek at the game.

LeCardo is a card game (Surprise!) that is basically a ramped up version of Scrabble. In LeCardo, you play cards from your hand that each contain a short word and a point value into a grid that you slowly form on the table. The purpose is to add cards in such a way that you form real compound words or idiomatic phrases from them. Place “Side” next to “Bed” to form “Bedside” and score the points for that compound word.

Slowly the players will assemble a crossword looking array of compound words. When the deck runs out, or a player plays all of their cards, the game is over. Add up your scores and the high score wins!

The game comes in a playing deck card box and is inexpensive. It is published in the UK.

The publisher advertises the game for children…

For Children – Assist your child to read, spell and use a wider vocabulary.

Keep score to see who is the best word builders in the group.

Improve your child’s word recognition and grasp of language..

For children of eight and over.

And Adults…

For Adults Play the game with your friends (from two to four players).

Keep score to see who can obtain the greatest number of compounds.
Entertain friends while learning new words!
Develop a wider vocabulary!
Alternatively, just enjoy a few hours entertainment.

I can attest to the children part. My daughter is five and is starting school this year. I’ve been teaching her to read using the standard phonics flash cards you can pick up at most stores, and she has those down pretty well. So I started looking around for some new words to have her practice sounding out and lo and behold I spotted my copy of LeCardo.

It works great to give her small worlds to work on, plus later I can put cards together to teach her how smaller words can become bigger words. Out + Side for example, or Water + Bed. The cards have little pictures on them to give her hints and I believe that soon I’ll be able to have her actually playing the game. My hope is to have her reading before getting into Kindergarten.

Sure, some of the words don’t really work, but the flash cards I was using had the word toxin, a great word to teach someone learning to read don’t you think? For X the flash cards used Xylophone. Really? Phonics flash cards with Xylophone? A bit long don’t you think? Plus the X sounds like a Z in that word. Not a good call for teaching phonics.

The LeCardo cards though will work great for step 2 in learning to read. The game suggests ages 8+, but I have to disagree.

There you have it, the multipurpose game of LeCardo. Fans of Scrabble or word games should enjoy LeCardo, and it makes a great tool for teaching the little ones.