Parents' Guide to

Word Sundae

By Mieke VanderBorght, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Family fun with familiar, but flawed, word builder.

App iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad Paid Education
Word Sundae Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

  • Word Sundae App: Screenshot #1
  • Word Sundae App: Screenshot #2
  • Word Sundae App: Screenshot #3

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What’s It About?

Make a WORD SUNDAE with letter-labeled ice cream scoops. Play against the computer or with a partner and indicate whether each player is a preschooler, an older kid, or a grown-up. Each round presents 20 (mostly) high-frequency letters, including many duplicates. Players take turns making two- to five-letter words. Special tiles give more points for letters or whole words or grant extra turns. The scoring system is deliberately rigged to award more points to younger players. After five rounds of five turns each, the player with the most points wins.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This Scrabble-like game is a nice, basic platform for some good old competitive word-building fun, but there are flaws. The ice cream theme, animal avatars, weighted scoring system, and limited letter choice work well to make the game seem appealing to younger kids. Yet without built-in help, preschoolers -- most of whom don't read independently yet -- will be hard-pressed to form more than a few simple words. The young target age is inconsistent with many of the words the computer generates when you're playing solo against the computer; for example "airt," "boral," and "miter" are probably not in most preschoolers' vocabularies. Also, the computer sometimes generates first names, such as "Joe," which is usually not allowed in this type of game. The weighted scoring system is a nice idea, but its logic isn't clear, which could make older kids feel a bit cheated. Flexibility in word length for older players would stretch the challenge and creativity as well. If an adult explains these features before playing, however, it could be a way for siblings to use a device together while practicing verbal skills.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about and play games together. Use the game as an easily portable bonding experience.

  • Encourage kids to look up word they don't know, especially if they play against the computer and see lots of novel words.

  • Talk about patterns in written English that can help kids build words -- for example, (almost) always pairing a "q" with a "u"; knowing when it's time to use a vowel; changing the first letter to make rhyming words; and so on.

App Details

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