If you’re one of the more than three million people who’ve tried the word game Wordle, you’ve likely played it alone. But parents might have figured out a secret—that the digital game, which has swept the world since its launch in October 2021, has hidden benefits when you play as a family.

Jessica Goldstein of New York City is finding that it spurs not only academic benefits but creativity as well. "My almost six-year-old begs me to wait for her so she can help out,” she says. “She’s learning that a lot of words are not spelled the way she expected! My four-and-a-half-year-old likes when we get three or four greens—then it’s a rhyming game.”

Katie Houser Durham of Sacramento finds her