Game that makes you shout 'BANANA'

BANANAGRAMS

I can't explain how much excitement I feel when I find a resource, game or book that enables me to incorporate schooling whilst using it.
I was thinking about word games that I could buy, thing is, there are so many websites and apps, but I really wanted something that would mean zero screen time whilst playing it. Whilst browsing through Waterstones website, a game called 'Bananagrams' caught my eye. I don't think I'd ever heard of it before, but it looked like it offered what I needed (and was cheaper than a few other games I had in mind).

What is this banana mania all about?

'BANANAGRAMS is a labour of love, grown out of a passion for wit, wordplay and silliness...' 
And that is what the game is in a nutshell...but I'm happy with that, as a wordplay game is what I needed.
The game consists of 144 letter tiles. If you've played scrabble, the tiles are very similar (no score numbers on the tiles though, but these are provided on the instructions sheet).
A lovely banana pouch to keep the tiles safe and an instruction sheet.

How to play

Now this game can have up to 8 players. Simply place all the tiles face down on the table (floor in our case), for 2 players we each took 21 tiles. One player shouts 'SPLIT' and everyone turns the tiles over. You then simply start making words (no abbreviations, proper nouns or made up words). When laying out your words, it follows the same pattern as the scrabble grid, so words can read vertically, horizontally, but you can rearrange the grid as many times as you want! The first person to use the last face up letter shouts 'PEEL', which means the player to shout and others have to take another tile from the 'bunch' (bunch being the facedown tiles in the middle).
If you want to swap a tile, you'll need to make sure you shout out 'DUMP', place the tile back to the middle face down, and take 3 more (yep return one and take three in exchange).

Who wins?

When the 'bunch' has fewer tiles than the number of players, the first person to use all their tiles shouts out 'BANANA' and is the winner! Other players then have the opportunity of checking that all words are spelt correctly and acceptable. If a word is misspelled or unacceptable (such as proper noun), other players shout out 'ROTTEN BANANA'. The 'rotten banana' player is out, and their tiles are placed back in the 'bunch' face down for play to resume.

Variations to the game 

There are a few variations also mentioned on the instructions leaflet. 'Banana Smoothie' is played with splitting all the tiles equally between the players (so there isn't a 'bunch' in the middle). 'Banana cafe' is another version, where each player takes 21 tiles and the rest remain in the pouch. The game is played following the rules except there isn't any 'dumping' or 'peeling'. Finally, 'Banana solitaire' is a one player game. Simply take 21 tiles and play as usual, timing yourself if you fancy!

How to use 'Bananagrams' in your homeschool

I played the game following the rules to see how little person would do. He did a super job, and I was so proud to see him try so hard. However, there are other ways to play the game in order to boost confidence and encourage children to try. There are also a few other games you can try to include a little bit of English language work. Here are a few ways:

• Place all the tiles in the centre, face up. Play along with your child, creating words from the letters you can see. This is a great activity to do with your child, but also, with a little bit of encouragement you'll find they confidently make words. If a child picks 'an', work with it, guide them to try another letter or two to see if the word can be extended. 
• Play anagrams! Make simple words, shuffle the tiles and allow your child to try and decipher the words. 
• Use it to help reinforce verbs, adverbs, adjectives and so on. Place all 144 tiles face up, and ask your child to, 'make a word that is a verb', or 'make an adjective'...It's a great revision tool, but because it's through play, you'll be surprised how much your child learns/remembers. 
• There are some words, that even as adults, sometimes they get confused and used incorrectly, so try this game to see if it helps. Again, all tiles face up, start with 'there' and 'their', say a sentence incorporating 'there' and wait for your child to spell it. Try this with words such as 'where, were, wear, or 'practise' and 'practice'. 

There are endless options to the number of games you can play. It's always important to remember that kids learn best when they're having fun, and learning through play is the most effective form of learning. So, try it out and let me know how it goes, or other ideas you have! 

Where to buy?

'Bananagrams' is widely available, we purchased ours from Waterstones, however you may prefer the slightly lower price here.  I've also found a child friendly version, which might be a nicer set to buy for kids, and its always a plus finding that it's cheaper here.