How quickly can you take a handful of letters and create an intersecting grid of words? It’s a fun challenge!
Bananagrams is a lively spelling game for ages 7 to 107 that will have your family and friends racing to spell as quickly as they can! You can build words horizontally and vertically, and you can shuffle them up anytime you need to—just make sure each word connects to at least one other word. You’ll have to be quick-thinking and fast-fingered if you want to be the first player to yell, “Bananas!”
The game comes with 144 letter tiles and is recommended for up to eight players to ensure that everyone gets sufficient tiles. But if you have more than eight eager players, Double Bananagrams has 288 tiles that allows for even more Bananagrams fun.
Let’s get started!
The number of tiles each player begins with depends on the number of players. If you only have four players, then everyone takes 21 tiles from the “Bunch.” When everyone has their tiles ready and waiting face down in front of them, someone begins the game by calling out, “Split!” This is the signal to turn your tiles face up and get going!
Let’s take a look at your tiles.
It may not look like there’s any words in there at first, but don’t worry. Just grab the first one you see and lay it out. You could spell the word build.
But wait…you can add a suffix and spell building.
Did you notice you have a J in your bunch? Js can be hard to use, but there’s a way you can use it right away and spell jog. Hmmm…not so fast! You have an S too. You can add it to jog and turn it into jogs. Now you’re getting the hang of it!
Keep adding words until you have used all your tiles.
Look at that! You’re the first to finish. Quick, call out, “Peel!” That means you’ve finished and it’s time for all the players (including you) to grab another tile from the Bunch.
You drew an M!
Sometimes you have to rearrange your tiles as you draw new letters…but not this time. You can add your M to the end of see and make the word seem.
Time for another “Peel!”
Uh-oh—this time you drew a Q. What can you do with a Q?
Well, since Q is always followed by the letter U, you’ll have to use the U in building. Just take the EAK off of beak and make the word quake.
Way to go!
The game is over when there are no more fresh tiles in the Bunch. When that happens, the first player to use up all his or her tiles yells, “Banana!” and you have a winner!
Here’s our biggest tip: be prepared to rearrange your tiles into completely different words when you draw new letters. By the end of the game, your board might look like this:
See how many different words you can make with the same letters?
Does your family have a favorite board game that is a fun and “sneaky” way to build language skills? Please share in the comments below!
Gail Kedsch
says:Love love love all these ideas. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I can tell you have a bundle of love for children. And so do I. I think that is why I enjoy your blog so much.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAwww, thank you, Gail!
Rebecca
says:We love to start our day with a game This will will make it a super start.
Lisa
says:Bananagrams builds so many essential skills!
Merry
says: Customer ServiceYes! Helpful AND fun to play!
Kayla shertzer
says:Thankful for these ideas!
Stacy
says:I love this idea! Thanks for sharing! I can’t wait to try it.
Justine Thornbrue
says:Fun! Games make homeschooling SO much easier, kids think they’re just playing but they’re actually learning! Parenting WIN!
Erin W.
says:This game worked wonders for my struggling 10 year old.
Carrie
says:Great tips!
Gina
says:All my three of my kids (14, 9 & 6) love Bananagrams!
Bethany
says:Such a great idea to use games we already have!
Julie
says:Love this game!
Rebecca
says:I am very impressed with the quality and amount of resources available for parents.
Rebecca
says:The materials that are available through All About Learning are impressive!
Shannon Alexander
says:I was just looking at this game on amazon! Thanks for the indside view of it!
Kayla Wheeler
says:My daughter will love this. I’ll definitely be doing it with her.
Jenny
says:Looks like fun!
Jess
says:We have the apple version of this game. So fun!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJess,
Do you mean the Apple app for iPhones and iPods or do you mean the Appleletters game by the makers of Bananagrams only the letter tiles come in an apple-shaped bag? Because both look to be very fun!
Donna
says:I think it is called the bannanagrams app. Its available in the UK as of last summer. Not is the USA, yet.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Donna. I do hope it becomes available in the USA soon, as it sounds like a great app.
Shawna
says:This is genius!
Conny Crappell
says:My kids love this game. As well as Scrabble.
Carmen
says:This game is on my want list for our homeschool!
Katie
says:I really need to get this game. I bought the “my first Bananagrams” in the green banana but the letters are all lowercase which often confuse my son.
Carrie Bergherm
says:This is a really fun game. I need to remember to get it out to play with my boys during the school year. I always forget about it. This and Scrabble need to be added to our school days, for sure.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceCarrie,
I like to make myself “appointments” on my Google calendar to remind me to use a resource for school that I think I might forget to use. Maybe that will help you to remember to have fun with Bananagrams and other games in this school year.
Carrie Bergherm
says:Thanks for the tip. I have a “Morning Basket” where I put the readings we do together each morning. Adding the games to that basket will likely help me remember better – visual and kinesthetic reminders work better for me… :)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceOoo, I love the idea of putting games in your morning basket, Carrie!
Lia
says:So amusing but educational at the same time
amy
says:I like using the tiles to make a Boggle type square board. then my son can practice making 3 and 4 letter words.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceOoo, what a great additional way to play with the Bananagram tiles, Amy! We have a blog post on Using Boggle to Build Language Skills that may have some ideas to expand on your idea.
Liz
says:I will definitely be using this game sheet with my students in the fall!!!
Shannon
says:What fun ideas!!
Julie Murphy
says:I love spelling games.
Amy Kampstra
says:Wow! This looks great for homeschooling. I should put it on my girls’ Christmas lists!
Sheri Newell Anderson
says:This game looks like a lot of fun for my children and grandchildren!
Keren
says:Great idea! I’m excited to try this with my family.
Leticia Barnes
says:My kids love tiles . They would enjoy this.