What’s the most difficult thing in the English language? What is more, it is difficult not only for the learners but also for the native speakers. They even hold contests in it in the USA held among elementary school children. Obviously, it is spelling.
Why is English spelling so challenging? The cause is a great number of languages that have been enriching English since the beginning of times. Here we can find Latin, French, Greek, German and many others. As words come from a different language, they bring the written and most often the spoken form from the original language.
There are 50 commonly misspelt words which you and your students should be really careful with. You can find them here. This all is very interesting, but the question is how to teach our students to spell correctly? In the era of gamification, we will, without doubt, look at fun ways to do that.
Silhouette drawing
The very name of it is challenging for spelling. Here you ask your students to draw a silhouette of the word on the board or piece of paper. The others should guess the word by its outline. It’s better to do a couple as a whole class and then to switch to pairwork.
For the same sake, you can use Cuisenaire rods and make an outline using tall and short rods.
Words out of…
You can give your students a long word and ask them to make as many shorter words from it as they can. Another way is to assign or give each student/pair/group some letters on tiles/in a grid which they have to use. They cannot add any other letters. Give them a topic or just let them think and write for some time. Tell them that you are going to check the spelling and only correctly spelt words will gain points.
Anagrams
It’s the easiest of all. You change the order of the letters in a word and ask your students to unscramble them. In the next step, you can ask them to prepare such anagrams for each other.
children — dilcehnr
You can find a lot of variations of this kind for your smartphone:
- Spelling Game
- Spelling Games for Kids and Parents
- Spelling for Children
Wordsearch
This might seem an oldie-goldie, but here it is with a twist. You give your students an empty grid and ask them to put some words (on the topic you want them to practise) in it. After they’ve filled the grid with words, ask them to fill all the empty unused cells with random letters. Your students exchange the grids and look for the words (and maybe some spelling mistakes).
Sound Hangman
In the classic version, we draw the number of LETTERS in the word, but in the “sound” version we want to concentrate on the SOUNDS. That is why you draw the dashes not for the letters but for the sounds. And, consequently, your students name the sounds instead of letters. This version helps to tie the written form — the letters — to the sound form of the word.
BATH — _ _ _ (4 letters, 3 sounds — /bɑːθ/)
SHALLOW — _ _ _ _ (6 letters, 4 sounds — /ˈʃæl.əʊ/)
Pencils
This game needs some preparation. Prepare 20-25 cards for each letter of the alphabet (on the whole you will have 520-650 cards). The cards shouldn’t be big, 5*5 cm is enough. To last longer, it is a good idea to laminate your cards.
Put all the cards on the table face up. Put some pencils or some funny objects on the table. The number of them should be one fewer than the number of students playing (if you have 4 students, you prepare 3 objects). Dictate a word.
Students spell the word by looking for the letters in the pile. When the first student finishes spelling, they grab one of the objects. The other students do the same. The last student writes P on a piece of paper. Whoever spells the word “pencil” (or the word for the objects chosen) first losses.
Some online games to play with your students:
- Free Online Spelling Games — Here you can find a lot of games for kids and schoolchildren which will help them spell words correctly and remember the sight words. Just log in with your Facebook* or Google account, you can also register with an email if you don’t have a social networks account.
- Spelling Training gives you an opportunity to choose a list of words from the ones on the website or create your own and then transform the words into a game like Spelling Shark, Balloons, Wordsearch and some others.
- Letter Blocks — Find words in the grid. You can click on the letters next to each other or diagonally. Falling blocks make it more challenging to concentrate.
- Bouncing Letters ask you to shoot with a letter into a mass of other letters so as to form a word. If you do form a word, the letters disappear clearing the space. Sometimes you can even learn some new words.
Image: Shutterstock
When you form a word with letters, it’s called spelling. Learning to spell words is an essential academic milestone that lets a child comprehend and convey their thoughts properly. Perhaps it is why several parents enquire how to teach kids to spell. Knowing the right time to introduce a child to the concept of spelling is vital to prevent overwhelming their brains with too much information.
Forming a word in English can be particularly challenging as the child has to understand several spelling rules to form a grammatically correct word. Similarly, opting for age-appropriate ways to teach spelling is necessary to ensure the child learns spelling words with ease. This post brings you some fun and creative ways to teach spelling to your child in a step-by-step method.
Benefits Of Learning Spelling For Children
Here are some benefits of learning spelling for children (1).
1. Improves reading and writing skills
Image: IStock
Learning to spell is directly related to reading and writing well. The more words a child knows to spell, the better they can read and write.
2. Improves vocabulary
As your child learns to read and write better, they can improve their vocabulary by reading new words or even trying to spell the words you use in your daily conversations.
3. Helps diagnose learning difficulties
Making your child learn spelling can help you diagnose if your child has a learning difficulty, such as dyslexia. Early intervention can help them overcome the problem.
Things to know
Children with learning disabilities need help remembering the alphabet, numbers, and logical sequences. They also have issues with math-word problems and word or sentence completion (7).
Make learning spelling fun for your children by employing any of the methods mentioned below based on your child’s mood and preference.
1. Highlight the difficult words
Children often have difficulties with specific words. If your child stumbles over a word each time, you can highlight the letters in it that confuse them and let them try again. Some of the most difficult words for them are those where “e,” “i,” and “a” occur one after the other.
For example, they might find it challenging to spell words such as receive, separate, desperate, thief, weird, and achieve. They might also trip over words with double letters, such as accommodate, address, necessary, and occasion. You can highlight these words in their notebooks and encourage them to pay close attention to them when reading.
2. Break it down into parts
The easiest way to teach spellings to children is to break up a complex word into simpler, more manageable parts they can spell easily. You can separate the words by syllables so that they can work out how to spell the letters of each syllable and then bring them together.
For instance, you can break up the word anger into an/ger, television into te/le/vi/sion, and cycle into cy/cle.
3. Copy, copy, recall
This is a simple yet effective technique for teaching kids to spell. In this method, you have to write down a word and draw three sections beside it. In the first two sections, the children have to write the word. Next, they have to cover the two sections and write the word in the third section by recalling.
Once they have written the word unaided, they can open the covered sections and check. If it is correct, they can proceed to the next word.
4. Associate words with images
Image: IStock
Most children remember images more than they remember texts. You can use images while teaching spelling. Children get confused while using letters that generally have the same pronunciation and often interchange them. They often write things like “kat” or “krispy” for “cat” and “crispy” respectively.
In such cases, you can use pictures to help them with their spellings. For example, you can say, “The cat curls its tail in a C shape” and show them relevant images. Also, explain to them the rules – choose k when the vowel is e or i, and choose c for o, u, or a. C is also much more common when followed by another consonant.
Games For Kids To Make Reading Easy”]
5. Emphasize on pronunciation
If there are double letters in a word, emphasize them when reading, so your children also make it a habit. For example, say occasion by stressing on the “c” and going easy on the “s.” Similarly, for necessary, stress on the “s” and go easy on the “c.”
Research finds
A study on phonetic instruction carried out on 65 kindergarteners in 2021 indicated that the group provided with systematic phonic instruction along with integrated spelling conditions showed significantly improved phoneme awarenessiXA child’s ability to hear, recognize, and manipulate sounds in spoken words. , spelling, and reading (8).
6. Make acronyms
Learning acronyms forms an essential part of education, even in colleges. Medical students remember the names of diseases or medicines using relevant acronyms. Acronyms make it easy and fun for children to remember spellings. The best part of this exercise is that you or your children can come up with anything and have fun.
For example, cat can be the acronym for come again tomorrow.
Some other examples are:
Owl: Oh, why late?
Friend: Five rats in England need donuts.
7. Write on the palm
Image: IStock
Instead of writing the words on paper, ask them to trace the words on their palms (or any other part of their body). When they feel their fingers on their palm, they are creating muscle memory. With repeated “writing,” your child can memorize how a word is written.
8. Sing
Creating a melody out of a word is one of the sure-fire ways of making your child learn the spelling of the word. In fact, children participating in spelling competitions use this technique with great success. You can use a preset tune or create one.
The song should contain the letters of the word, and you should sing it repeatedly until it gets imprinted on your child’s mind. Once this is done, even if your child forgets the spelling, they will remember the rhythm of the word and recall the letters according to the rhythm.
9. Spell and eat
Making your child sit down to learn their spellings might seem boring to them. They would want to do something more entertaining, and learning spellings would not be on that list. However, you can teach them spellings during day-to-day activities, such as when having meals, so that they have fun learning.
For instance, you could ask them to spell a word and then have a bite of food. This will keep them distracted enough to learn spellings and finish what’s on the plate as well. You could also offer their favorite food sometimes as an incentive for learning their spelling.
10. Make connected words
Learning spellings will be more fun when your children play this little game with you. Tell them a word and ask them to make a new word from the last letter of your word. You can make them write the words or say them aloud.
This simple game can also teach your children the pronunciation of words, particularly those with a silent letter at the beginning or end, and will make them enjoy playing with words.
Quick tip
An alternative way of playing connected words is by giving a word and asking children to list all the words related to it. For example, if you say milk, your child will follow it with cow, which can be connected to the word grass, further with farms.
11. Make videos
If you do not have the time to be with your child while they are learning their spelling, you can record a video on your phone. Record videos of you spelling out the letters first, followed by your child repeating them.
When your child watches it enough times, they will be able to write the word effortlessly.
12. Create flip cards
You can also indulge your child in creating flip cards. You can print the image of the word behind the letters that make the word. For example, print the image of cats behind the letters C, A, and T. Let the child find the different letters with cat images and assemble them to form the word.
13. Search for words
Word searches are perfect for teaching kids to spell. They teach your children different ways to look at letters and form words out of them. Give them a grid with an assorted set of words. Use a timer to make it more fun and watch them as they race against time to find new words.
You can also use books, magazines, or newspapers for a word search. Give your child a particular word and ask them to mark the occurrences of the word on a page or a paragraph. This game will sharpen their brains and improve their comprehension skills as well.
14. Pass the ball
Image: IStock
When you have a group of children with you, you can play this game to teach them spelling. Say a word, and the children have to stand in a circle and pass a ball to each other while saying a letter each.
If a child says a wrong letter, the next player throws back the ball to them and waits until they say the correct letter. The game guarantees a lot of laughter while also making them learn effortlessly.
15. Play scrabble
You need not necessarily play Scrabble with your children, but you can use the alphabet tiles in Scrabble to let your children make words. They can even calculate the points on the tiles as their score. This is also an excellent way to teach them words and numbers.
Scrabble is fun as it teaches children to make new words using the same letters. For example, C-A-T can also be written as A-C-T. If they add a K, they can form the word T-A-C-K.
16. Use mobile phones
Studying might be boring for children, but give them a phone, and they will be happy for hours on end. You can use this to your advantage. Try different spelling games that are suitable for children. Install a couple of these games, and let them navigate through different levels by spelling new words.
These games and puzzles help children learn and memorize new words, and they will be spelling complex words in no time.
17. Make flashcards
Image: IStock
Use age-appropriate flashcards to teach spellings to children. Teachers at preschools often use flashcards to teach children new concepts. You can use flashcards to teach spelling, reading, and writing skills to children.
Write words on the cards and read each word aloud. Let the child write the word on the back of the card and then check it together. For reading, lay out some flashcards with letters to form a word and ask your child to pick the image that matches the word. For writing, let the child trace the word over the card using tracing paper and then write it on another card without any assistance.
Trivia
Parents can use Pictionary to teach children words and spellings associated with pictures.
18. Color the words
Children love playing with colors. So, why not introduce some colors in the world of words? Write some words in a big cartoonish font so that they can be colored, and let your children go wild coloring them.
If you are good at drawing, you can draw objects and ask your children to color them and then spell them. This way, they will have a magical, colorful time with words and also learn their spellings.
19. Play word bingo
Bingo can help your children master basic spelling skills. Don’t believe it? Trust us. All you have to do is create a grid and write different letters in different boxes. Read out words and tell your children to circle the letters that occur in each word. The first one that gets a full house wins.
You can also use bingo to teach reading to your children. Swap the letters with words and ask your children to circle those words you read out.
20. Spell with stairs
Make climbing up and down the stairs a learning activity. You might have already made them count the steps each time they ascend and descend. Now, you can ask them to spell out words on the steps.
Make them say a letter of a word as they climb each step. For younger children, you can even spell out three to four words. Step on the stair, say out a letter, then proceed to the next.
21. Group similar words
Instead of teaching children seemingly different words and spellings, group similar-sounding words or those that have similar spellings and make a list. This way, your child will be able to visualize one word and automatically associate it with other words.
For example, words such as high, sigh, nigh, light, and sight have “igh” in common. Write them down, and ask your child to spell each word aloud. They will be able to remember their spellings better.
22. Cut out words
If you don’t have a Scrabble set at home and do not want to buy one either, make some word tiles yourself. Take a magazine or newspaper and cut out letters in bigger fonts for easier handling. Paste them on construction paper or an empty cereal box and cut them out.
Give these letters to your children and let them experiment with them to form new words. You can also teach them to pronounce the words while they are creating them.
23. Use computer applications
Applications such as Microsoft Word and Grammarly are pretty helpful for quick spellchecks. While they are intensively used by adults, they can also be used by children to learn spellings. Ask your child to type a word and check whether it is spelled correctly.
You can also use an online dictionary or other applications for puzzles and word games to improve your child’s spelling, reading, and comprehension skills.
24. Use creativity
Writing on a sheet of paper using a pencil is standard for children. As they have notoriously small attention spans, it won’t be long before they find something more interesting to do.
You can let them explore the world of letters by letting them be as creative as they want. Give them colors and encourage them to draw and paint words. They can also create a word collage using cuttings from magazines or try their hand at calligraphy.
25. Read more
Last but not least, read more to your children. The more you read to your children or the more they read, the richer their vocabulary. They learn words and their pronunciations by sight and sound.
You can select stories that contain words that you want them to learn. By repeating stories, you help improve their spelling skills while also firing their imagination.
1. What age should a child be able to spell?
Children may start to spell their names and simple words by five to six years of age (2). Some children may learn sooner than others.
2. What part of the brain is responsible for spelling?
The left hemisphere of the brain is considered responsible for spelling (3).
3. Why is it easier to read words than to spell them?
Spelling words may seem more complicated than reading, as sounds can be spelled in many ways. It needs more practice to spell than to recognize or read the words (4).
4. Why is my child struggling with spelling?
A child may find it difficult to spell if they are not practicing enough. However, if the difficulty persists despite all efforts, it may indicate certain disorders such as dyslexiaiXA learning disorder in children associated with reading and writing difficulty. , dysgraphiaiXA writing disability in children that causes the letters to be wrongly formed. , and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)iXA neurodevelopmental disorder affecting a child’s ability to concentrate and manage energy levels. . Consult a doctor to identify the cause (5) (6).
How to teach your kid to spell is a common concern of many parents and caregivers when their children are ready to learn languages. Learning spelling can improve the child’s vocabulary, reading, writing, and communication skills. This may also help diagnose certain learning disorders at a young age and helps modify the learning process to tackle the disability. You may highlight the difficult words, break them down, and teach the spelling. Good knowledge of phonetics, associating words with images, copying, and recall can help children learn to spell.
Infographic: Spelling Games For Children
Children often find it interesting when learning is combined with entertainment. So, if teaching spellings seem monotonous, try incorporating unique games into it and watch how easy and fun the learning becomes. This infographic is specially designed to give you some ideas on introducing spelling games for children.
Illustration: Momjunction Design Team
Key Pointers
- When children learn to spell, they can significantly improve their reading and writing skills.
- Learning spellings help identify learning disabilities such as dyslexia from an early age.
- If your child has difficulty spelling certain words, highlighting and explaining may help them learn them better.
References:
MomJunction’s articles are written after analyzing the research works of expert authors and institutions. Our references consist of resources established by authorities in their respective fields. You can learn more about the authenticity of the information we present in our editorial policy.
Was this article helpful?
The following two tabs change content below.
- Reviewer
- Author
10000+ результатов для ‘spelling words for kids’
Family for kids
Совпадающие пары
Дошкольник
1-й класс
2-й класс
3 класс
English
family
family for kids
family members
mother father
first words for kids
Совпадающие пары
Дошкольник
1-й класс
2-й класс
3 класс
Начальная школа / начальная
English
Key words for Fluency Action
Флэш-карты
Wishes B2.1
Key Words for fluency UpperInterm
9-й класс
10-й класс
11 класс
Высшее образование
Adults
English
Key Words for Fluency Upper-Interm
Цифры
Ударь крота
китайский язык
ESTC for kids
Даты
Сопоставить
Easy Steps to Chinese for kids 3A
Fun for Flyers. 24
Диаграмма с метками
4-й класс
5-й класс
6 класс
Начальная школа / начальная
Средняя школа
Среднее образование
English
English for kids
Fun for Flyers
YEL
young English learners
Fun for Flyers. 28
Угадай буквы
4-й класс
5-й класс
6 класс
Начальная школа / начальная
Средняя школа
Среднее образование
English
English for kids
Fun for Flyers
YEL
young English learners
As your children learn writing and spelling, they are likely to come home with spelling word lists. It’s their job to study and learn the words, but simply looking at them isn’t always going to do the trick — they will probably need some tools to help them remember the words. Here are 18 creative and interactive ways to practice spelling words.
Make a Spelling Word Origami Fortune Teller
These are also known as Cootie Catchers. It’s easy enough to create spelling word Cootie Catchers, and having your child spell the word out loud is very helpful for auditory learners.
Make and Use a “Word Catcher»
These modified fly-swatters can be a lot of fun to use. Give your child a copy of her spelling words, and you might be surprised to see how enthusiastic she is to start swatting the words in all the books, magazines, posters, and papers in the house.
Magnetic Letters, Alphabet Blocks, or Scrabble Pieces
Just as saying the words out loud can help an auditory learner, literally building the words can be helpful for more visual learners. Just keep in mind you might need more than one set of magnetic letters to spell all the words.
Create Your Own Crossword Puzzle
Luckily there are free online tools like Discovery Education’s puzzlemaker program to help you make puzzles. All you have to do is type in the word list.
Use Sensory Play
Some kids learn better when all their senses are involved. Doing things like spraying shaving cream on the table and letting your child trace the words in it or having him write the words with a stick in the dirt can help cement the words in his memory.
Play Spelling Word Memory
There are a couple of ways to do this. You can make two sets of flashcards with the spelling words—it’s a good idea to write each set in a different color—or you can make one set with the words and one with the definition. After that, it’s played just like any other Memory game.
Trace the Words in Rainbow Colors
This is a variation on the old “write your words ten times” homework. Your child can trace each word over and over to remember the order of the letters for each word. In the end, though, it’s a lot prettier than a simple word list.
Let Your Child Text the Words to You
This way to practice spelling words depends, of course, on whether your child has a cell phone and what the plan includes. With unlimited texting, it’s easy enough for you to receive the text, correct the spelling if necessary, and send back an emoji.
Use Sandpaper Letters to Make Spelling Word Rubbings
Though it requires a little prep work, this is a fun way to practice the words. Once you have a set of sandpaper letter stencils, your child can arrange each word, place a piece of paper over it, and make a rubbing with pencil or crayons.
Make Word Searches
This, too, is an activity that is easy enough with online resources. SpellingCity.com is a fantastic site that allows you to make word searches and create other activities for your child.
Play Hangman
Hangman is a great go-to game when it comes to spelling words. If you have your child use a copy of the spelling list, it will be easier to narrow down which word you’re using. Remember, you can always use the definition as a clue!
Make up a Spelling Word Song
It may sound silly, but there’s a definite connection between music and literacy. If you and your child are creative, you can create your own silly tune. For the less musically-inclined, try setting the words to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or another nursery rhyme song.
Play the “Add-A-Letter” Game
This game is a fun way to interact with your child. One of you starts writing the spelling word on the paper by writing one letter. The next one adds the next letter. Since many word lists include words that start with the same sounds, it may be challenging to know which word your game partner started writing.
Write a Story Using Each Spelling Word
Many teachers ask students to do this with their spelling words for homework, but you can add a twist by giving your child a topic to write or tell a story about. For example, challenge her to write a story about zombies using all the words.
Highlight the Words in the Newspaper
Give your child a highlighter and a pile of newspapers and time him to see how long it takes to find and highlight all the words on the list.
Play a “What Letter Is Missing?” Game
Slightly different than Hangman and similar to the «Add-a-Letter» game, this game is played by writing or typing the words, but leaving a blank space or two for key letters. Your child will have to put in the correct letters. This works particularly well to practice the vowel sounds.
Act Them Out
Essentially this is playing the game Charades with your child’s spelling words. You can do it a couple of ways—give your child a list of the words and have her guess which one you are acting out or put all the words in a bowl, and have her choose one and act it out.
Put Them in ABC Order
While alphabetizing the list won’t necessarily help your child learn to spell each individual word, it will help him recognize the words. For some children, just moving the strips (on which each word is written) around can help them keep the word in their visual memory.
Many parents don’t realize a simple thing — spelling activities build up the foundation for a strong vocabulary. And, a strong vocabulary leads up to having a strong command over the English language.
Those of us who can fathom the impact of spelling activities often take the wrong approach. We push our young children through a boring and repetitive path of spelling activities. For instance, we create hundreds of English spelling lists and ask our children to memorize the words, their meanings, and the spellings.
Such an approach burns out the children sooner than you can imagine! In the worst-case scenario, children straight up refuse to participate in spelling activities.
What is the solution to this case?
You need to “spice up” the spelling activities so that the children can have fun and learn at the same time. Also, we need the right spelling activities for different age groups. Sadly, most spelling activities online are catered towards the needs of the Pre-K to Grade-2 children.
We somehow neglect the needs of the older students. In reality, hundreds and thousands of older children, say a grade-7 or grade-8 student, suffers from having weak spelling skill.
These students will certainly not play with playdough or color letters with crayons!
Today, we’ll discuss a bunch of atypical spelling activities that provoke fun and age-appropriate.
Spelling Activities for Kids (Age Group: 3-5)
Grade Level: Preschool to Kindergarten
Preschoolers and kindergarten students are only entering the world of formal education. In this phase, parents and teachers should focus on teaching them the knowledge of letters and numbers.
If the child is eager to learn more or show higher potential, you can teach them shorter words, such as — cat, dog, eye, my, etc. The words shouldn’t have more than three letters.
Don’t push them to learn more as it might cause adverse effects. Rather keep them motivated to learn more.
The following spelling activities for kids will help them master the letters and short words —
Shaping Letters with Playdough
Young kids love playing with playdough. They can use the dough to create any shape. Ask your child to create the shape of letters. But don’t forget to show them how to create one in the first place. Children learn faster by observing.
Simply ask them, “Can you make a b for me?”
You can also use pre-made molds having the shape of letters. Also, you can surprise them with some tricks too!
For example, create a small d with playdough, and then rotate it to make a p, and flip it to create a b.
You can fascinate them with such neat little tricks.
The Matching Game
The idea behind this spelling activity is very simple. You’ll need one of each set of alphabets, uppercase and lowercase. Then, mix all 52 of them in a box and ask your child to match the uppercase and lowercase of the same letter together in pairs.
It’s better to make the letters at home with foam as it will become a separate spelling activity. Also, you should use different colors to differentiate between the uppercase and lowercase letters.
Play with LEGOs
You should already know how much kids love playing with LEGO sets. There are many alphabet LEGO sets out there.
For example, there is a LEGO set with a truck and one set of letter LEGO blocks. You can load up the truck with the letter LEGO blocks and go on a delivery!
You can come up with different imaginary scenarios and introduce fun playing with LEGO and letters together.
Stickers Can Do Wonders
Writing the letters and words can be quite the daunting challenge for the Pre-K kids. How about you take a different approach here?
Instead of asking them to write the letters, ask them to fill up a page with letter stickers in alphabetic order? It can be their own custom-made alphabet poster too!
You can find such stickers in any local crafts shop or in an online store.
Trace the Letter!
Trace the Letter is a fun game that just happens to be one of the best free spelling activities. You don’t need any kind of accessory.
Just sit behind your child and draw a letter on her back with your finger. Then, ask her to guess the letter. You can also take turns and ask her to draw letters on your back.
This spelling activity will strengthen the bond between you and your child too.
However, you should only try playing this game after they’ve mastered the shape of all the letters in uppercase and lowercase.
Color the Vowels and Consonants
This is one of the advanced spelling activities as kids will be slowly introduced to words. However, you will only work simpler words having one or two syllables.
In this spelling activity, you’ll ask your child to color the consonants and vowels in different colors. You’ll need a worksheet with hollow letters for this activity.
For example, she can color the vowels with red crayons and consonants with yellow.
This activity will serve two purposes — develop their knowledge of vowels and consonants and introduce them to new words and enrich their vocabulary.
Spelling Activities for Elementary Level (Age Group: 6 to 11)
Grade Level: First Grade to Fifth Grade
The spelling activities for this age group become gradually harder and focuses more on words than letters.
As the knowledge spectrum is very broad in this group, you should start with teaching them sight words first and then gradually increase the difficulty level. So, design the wordlists with care.
The following list of spelling activities have gradual difficulty level —
Spelling Activity with Word Illustrations
Younger kids love their crayons and coloring pencils. So, we’ll use this trait for developing a spelling activity.
The idea is to have a list of nouns and ask your child to draw element with a coloring pencil or crayon. For example, the list might have the word swing or tree in it with a small blank space by the word. The students will draw a swing or tree in the appropriate blank box.
You can also do the opposite thing — have a list of illustrations and ask your child to write the words with correct spelling.
As this is one of the easy spelling activities, it’s perfect for kids in the first or second grade.
Rearranging Words in Alphabetic Order
This one is also quite simple — prepare a list of 10-15 words and ask them to rearrange the list in alphabetic order.
For example, if the wordlist has these words — fan, mango, ram, cool, zoo, and, sting, she should rearrange them in this order — cool, fan, mango, ram, sting, zoo.
This one of the free spelling activities that develop the spelling skill and analytical ability at the same time.
What Rhymes with It?
Kids love rhymes and chances are they have listening to rhymes all the time in the early stage of life. Now, it’s their time to create rhymes themselves!
The spelling activity goes like this — the kids will get a list of words (that are easy to rhyme) and they will have to come up with a rhyming word.
For example, if the list has — round, van, rain, bat, the rhyming words can be — found, can, main, hat.
The same trick can be applied for ESL learners and adults who are learning new languages.
Decode the Words
The idea is a bit complex but it can a lot of fun if you can use it properly.
First, you need to prepare a list where every letter has an assigned image. For example, you can set apple for a, ball for b, etc. Then, you use the images to create a word. Finally, ask your child to solve the puzzle.
For example, you can create the word amuse using these images — apple-monkey-umbrella-socks-elephant.
To make things easier, you should have the images and assigned letters by their side.
This article helps with many other funny spelling tricks, just like this one.
Find the Words
This one of the advanced spelling activities for this word groups. Most of us are already familiar with the idea, thanks to the massive popularity of such puzzles on social media.
The idea is to find as many words in a rectangle of jumbled letters. You can find many premade samples online. It’s one of the basic spelling activities online.
Spelling Activities for Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers (Age Group: 12+)
Grade Level: Sixth Grade and Above
As kids grow up, fun spelling activities become spelling exercises and spelling practices. At this level, simple spelling activities like coloring the vowels or coming up with rhyming words will not bring fruits. Also, students in this group should have proper knowledge of the common spelling rules and spelling tips.
As your child is ready for the advanced spelling activities, you should introduce them to dictation-based spelling activities online. SpellQuiz poses as one of the best resources in this case.
The spelling test lessons and Adaptive Spelling section in this website use state-of-the-art technologies that incorporate dictation English, spelling, typing (writing) all at once. The lessons are designed by linguistic experts from the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia.
Children in this age group can also be benefitted from Spelling Bee Online where they can participate in a virtual spelling bee competition. They will feel motivated as they are competing against other participants from all over the world in real-time.
Other than using the learning tools on SpellQuiz, these advanced students can take part in —
- Solving crossword puzzles (NY Times or Washington Post have the most superior crosswords puzzles)
- Play online games of Scrabble, Hangman, etc.
- Read novels and books
- Write blogs