Nintendo DS Spelling Game Review

I have had a few questions about the new spelling DS game, we were using in homeschool this week.  It was brand new and we had not tried it yet, now that we have played it for a few days I have enough information for a review. 
This review is based on my 7 year old who is just starting with spelling but can read on a 5th grade level.
 
The spelling bee portion, which can be played with multiple players and on several levels from easy to ultimate was harder than I was expecting.  On easy it was too hard for him, there were words such as: obvious, attack, massage, frolic, etc.  These words are too difficult for my kiddo to do.  I think this portion would be great for middle school age or a child who excels at spelling.


The mini games are GREAT for all ages!  They are fun and a great way to practice spelling. The mini games are perfect for him, it gives him a fun way to work on spelling.  This of course does not replace our spelling workbook.  His favorite is the Blast Speller, the game gives you a word to spell and you have to blast the letters in order to win.  The Connector game is also fun you have to connect the letters in order to spell a word. The Mystery Game, is like Wheel of Fortune, there are missing letters you have to fill in to finish the word.  Tumbling Letters is like the game Tetris but with letters, you have to move the letters to the correct row in order to spell the word correctly.  Kiddo did not care for this game as much he said, “it moves slow.”  The other games are what you expect from a memory and search word games.

He likes the game and doesn’t mind playing it when I call it “school time”. I can see this game being used for several years with the different levels available. 
We also have Personal Trainer Math and Learn Geography for the DS, both are excellent games which are also learning games.  I will keep adding more learning games to our DS collection.

I keep the games in the case with all his other games, and he does get them out to play on his own, especially the math game.   I use the games for school time when we are having a rough day learning and need a break from school work for a bit.  I also use them as a reward type system, for example get this done and for math today we will play the Nintendo math game.  They also come in handy if Mom is feeling under the weather and needs a small break:)  
While they in no way replace our curriculum the games are a fun way to learn and reinforce what he has already learned.