I remember playing Articulate as a teenager (one of our English teachers at college was quite keen on bringing it into the classroom) and had always enjoyed the game so I was keen to try out Articulate for Kids with Mr Z. We had a game night when some family came around so that we would have more people for the teams as the more people you have the more lively and fun the game will be!

Articulate for kids

Articulate for Kids (rrp £19.99, age 6 to 12, for 4-20 players), is the hugely entertaining junior version of Drumond Park’s perennially popular and hilariously raucous Articulate! board game (rrp £32.99, age 12+, also for 4-20 players).

Articulate for Kids can be played by a group of children by themselves (or with grown-ups), or alongside Articulate! for hours of multi-generational family fun. Many educationalists also choose to incorporate the game into entertaining learning strategies in the classroom to promote speaking skills – adapting game play according to small or larger numbers of children in play.

Both games follow the same simple format… How quickly can you define a word – from the categories Object, Nature, Person, Action, World and Random – without actually saying it? In each round, the teams divide their members into ‘Describers’ and ‘Guessers’. The timer is started, and the Describers take it in turns to describe their way through as many question card entries, from the different categories, as possible to their team members – the Guessers – within a 30-second time limit.

Each team moves its counters around the board, based on the number of words correctly identified – and the object of the game is to reach the FINISH segment before the opposing team. There are clear Description Rules included in the Instructions. For example, Describers mustn’t give hints such as ‘begins with’ and ‘sounds like’…

When playing the Articulate for Kids game, children will have lots of fun and also experience a sense of fulfilment – digging deep to describe people, words and phrases as diverse as Mo Farah and Prince William, Nemo and a Fairy, a Piglet, the Daleks, a jigsaw and a Cuckoo.

articulate for kidsIt was lots of fun playing this with Mr Z, sometimes his clues would be so random and not easy at all to guess! It’s definitely a great way to build vocabulary and work on speaking and listening skills. The only category that Mr Z found too difficult was the people category as he wasn’t too familiar with a lot of the celebrities or personalities, so we simply vetted the cards for him to make sure he would be able to do the people he had selected, or we told him to pick another category. In another year or so I’m sure he will be more aware of all of these people!

Mr Z is just turned 6 so he is at the younger age range for the game. It is a little more challenging than many of his other board games but he really enjoyed playing this with the grown ups. Once his brothers get a little older then they could all play together without the need for any adults.

ARTICULATE! Is still in the UK Adult Board Games Top Ten – after more than 20 years! This is not too much of a surprise as it is definitely a classic! The kids version is very similar to the original and definitely retains the same feel as the grown ups version. Articulate for Kids has been completely updated and refreshed for Christmas 2014, and I can see it being ideal for the holiday season when you have lots of relatives around and want to join the family together in a good game.

For your chance to win the super pair of fast-talking team description games, (Articulate and Articulate for Kids) which the whole family can play together, enter via the Rafflecopter below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!