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DICEcapades Word Pirates

Mindprint Rating

Tags

ELA: Writing ^21st Century Skills Elementary School Game

Skills

Flexible Thinking Working Memory

Mindprint Expert Review

Pros

  • The characters and the board are fun, colorful, and appealing to children in the target age range.
  • The child will focus on getting the treasure instead of worrying about spelling words. This is helpful for a child that is reluctant to play other spelling games.
  • It does not take a long time (less than 20 min) to reach the treasure so most children can finish the game happily.

Considerations

  • The game involves doing a lot of tasks at once so I would not recommend it for a child who needs simple instructions or needs to focus on one task at a time.
  • Students with weaker motor skills could struggle a little aligning the dice.
  • Children may need an understanding adult to help when they struggle coming up with a word.

Mindprint Expert Review

This is a great game that motivates children to improve spelling and flexible thinking. Each “pirate”/player uses letter cubes to spell words on the board. The goal is to use words to form a path on the board that, when combined with bridge and wall pieces, lead to the treasure and win the game. This game is similar to other word crossword games, but the added elements of the pirate theme, building bridges, blocking opponents, and getting the treasure will provide some needed incentive to children in the target age range. Because this word game is actually fun and visually appealing, Word Pirates can be a great choice to help students improve spelling and flexible and strategic thinking. However, adult supervision and a dictionary should be available to help students if they have difficulty coming up with a word or are uncertain of spelling to avoid conflict or frustration. In addition, students who get visually overloaded may find the multiple tasks to be too much.

Academic Benefits

Improves academic skills

  • Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
  • Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
  • Presents educational concepts accurately
  • Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
  • Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
  • Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
  • Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

Fun

Engaging for the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
  • Visually appealing to children in the target age range
  • Adults would enjoy playing with a child
  • For electronic games, gives positive or encouraging feedback
  • Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
  • Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

Easy to Use

Understandable for children in the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
  • Student should be able to use independently after first use
  • Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
  • Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
  • Does not require excessive set-up time after first time use
  • Can be fun as a single player game
  • Multi-player game which fosters collaboration or cooperation
  • Well-made for the cost
  • For electronic games, can play without sound
  • For electronic games, allows user to save work
  • For electronic games, voice/sounds are appealing and pronounces words properly
  • Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
  • Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
  • Overall - Easy to use

Cognitive Concerns

May not be advisable for students with the following cognitive needs

  • Attention
    • Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
  • Fine Motor Skills
    • Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation
  • Organization
    • Requires remembering and completing a sequence of visual steps
  • Spatial Perception
    • Requires scanning in multiple places for words, objects or numbers
    • Requires remembering and completing a sequence of visual steps
  • Visual Discrimination
    • Requires scanning in multiple places for words, objects or numbers
    • Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
  • Visual Motor Speed
    • Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation

Manufacturer Description

Build bridges, acquire land and block your way to the pirates treasure, matey!