Boggle Junior

Boggle for people who cannot yet read, which is a harder design problem than it sounds.

Not a word search at all. Cards show a picture and the word beneath it, and the child matches letter cubes to the letters they can see — so it works as pure shape-matching for a three-year-old and gradually turns into spelling as they start recognising what they're building. Two levels are included, so the same box carries a child from matching to covering the word and spelling it from memory.

The cubes are chunky enough for small hands and live in the tray, and the cards store inside the unit. It's genuinely a pre-reading tool that happens to be shaped like a game, which is the only version of that idea children tolerate.

Perfect for: Preschoolers, grandparents who want to buy something with a bit of substance to it, and the year before school starts.

1–4 players | Age 3+