Review of Marie's Words

When my children enter the high school years, my mind immediately goes to ACT and SAT preparations. I can't help it! Marie's Words, a visual vocabulary word game sent to us from Timberdoodle has been a great tool to help us brush up on our vocabulary skills. Although I'm using this with high school and middle school students, I can see it as a valuable tool for younger children too. The recommended ages are 5+.

Marie's Words contains 550 vocabulary cards for students to study and play games using. I loved reading the back story behind the design of the cards. Marie Bradvica designed these cards when she was seventeen and preparing for her own SAT exam. The designs on the cards are hand drawn full color illustrations that she found helped her retain the vocabulary memory more efficiently. She then decided to share her creations and Marie's Words was born.

On the back side of the card is the pronunciation, definition, synonyms, antonyms, and a sentence using the word. Cards come in a sturdy card stock and are already hole punched making them a great portable tool as well.

The suggested game that comes with the cards has you place several cards on the table (how many is up to you) and take turns trying to define the word using only the illustration. If the player answers correctly, they keep the card. The player with the most cards wins. The other players serve as the judge to decide if the student's answer matches the definition.  If a student does not answer correctly, the card is turned to the definition side and no longer in play.  At first glance of the cards, it may be difficult for younger students to guess the definition but after reviewing them more than once it does become easier.  

You could also assign a set of words each week for your student to complete and learn through out the week and test their knowledge at the end of the week. I loved that the cards are numbered so you can easily place them back in alphabetical order.

Another great way to utilize these cards for the entire family would be to pick a card for a word of the day.  You could quickly review the previous words before adding a new one to keep the words in the student's minds.  You could also do more than one word a day if you are trying to get through the words at a faster rate.  There are lots of fun ideas to use these cards to help students build their vocabulary.  These cards currently sell for $36.95.

These fun cards are also a part of Timberdoodle's Fourth Grade 2016 Curriculum Kit.

**I received a free copy of this product through Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.