Well, I wouldn't spend big money on Junior Scrabble myself...but it's sitting there at my mom's, and they like it because they can do it together (Harpo can play real Scrabble with us, but the other two can't--but now that I see the brilliant kickball tweak, we will do that, too!). The words are already on the board, and you use the letter tiles you pick up to complete the words that are already there. Junior Monopoly is acquiring rides/attractions at a fair, rather than real estate, and the amounts of money are less (it seems to me that the highest denomination bill is a 5!).
I'm liking the sound of the purple crayon game, too--I'll have to see if I can find that one!
Another game that goes well here sometimes is Don't Make Me Laugh Jr. (they have to be in the right mood for this one!)--pick a card and act out whatever goofy skit/charade is on it, and move around the board if you can make somebody laugh. Someone gets stuck wearing a clown nose sometimes--silly, but fun if they're feeling silly already.
Artifact is an Outset Media game--their company has won some awards from Mensa and similar groups for their games (Rhyme Time and the Professor Noggin ones are theirs, too, I believe). It's a big hit with my budding archaeologist, I must say.
