Improving your child’s vocabulary is important in honing their communication skills and reading comprehension. One way to improve your children’s vocabulary is by teaching them how to spell words. This is essential if your child experiences difficulty with spelling.
To help them efficiently learn, you have to make these activities, fun, engaging, and interactive. Luckily, we have curated a list of 5 handpicked spelling activities that you can try out with your kids today!
Crossword Puzzles
A great way to keep your kids entertained indoors is by letting them play with crossword puzzles. Not only do they improve your child’s spelling skills, but they will also help your child in terms of focus, memory, and observation skills. You can make crossword puzzles on a spreadsheet or you can use online crossword puzzle generators. You can make puzzles about shape names, colors, and other easy topics, depending on your child’s age. You can also add pictures and a few letters to help them out.
Word Scramble
Another game you can play with your kids is word scramble. To play this, give your kids a set of scrambled words. This can be done by using alphabet blocks, alphabet beads, and fridge magnets. You can also download word scrabble mobile applications on your phone or tablet. Printable word scramble worksheets can also be downloaded.
You can help them in finding words by introducing anagram solvers. To add more fun, you can have this as a group activity with other kids or family members. A time limit can also be set to make it more interesting.
Word Hunt
Word hunt or search is an entertaining game that can improve your kids’ concentration, enhance visual acuity, and develop pattern recognition. It also helps them learn context clues. Word hunts of smaller grids with 10 or fewer words are recommended for preschoolers. The words for preschoolers should only be vertically or horizontally arranged. Backward words should be avoided when creating word hunts for preschoolers. Medium-sized grids with 15 to 20 words are suitable for 9- to 11-year-old kids. For 12-year-olds and above, grids with 20 and above words are suggested.
Spelling Hangman
Hangman is a classic kids’ game that you can play with just a pen and paper. This fun word game is a great mental exercise that will boost your child’s critical thinking skills, as well as concentration. If you are not familiar with it, hangman is a game where you think of a word and let your kids guess what it is one letter at a time. Draw part of the hangman when your kid guesses wrong. If you do not want your kids to be exposed to the morbid or violent theme of this game, replace hangman with a snowman. You can use the classic method of drawing and writing on paper, but you can also use websites and mobile applications to play this word game.
Active Spelling Games
If you want an active and fun activity for your kids to play, spelling hopscotch is a great choice. To play this game you can use colored chalk to draw letters on the floor or sidewalk. Alternatively, you can print off letters in colored paper, cover them with page protectors, and place them on the floor. The way you arrange the letters will be up to you. You can call out a word and let kids jump over the letters to spell out the word. Playing spelling hopscotch will not only improve your child’s vocabulary but it is also a great game to help boost your child’s balance, coordination, body strength, and social skills.
Bonus:
Another fun group activity is a spelling ball game. To play this game, form a circle with your kids or other family members. Call out a word and toss the ball to another person. That person must spell the word you called out correctly. If the person fails to spell the word correctly, he or she has to throw it back to you and gets eliminated in the game. The last person with the ball in the group will be recognized as the winner. If you want to bond with your kids, improve their social skills, and boost their confidence, playing this game would be a perfect choice.
Introducing fun spelling activities will greatly benefit your child’s growth and development. Helping your kids improve their spelling skills is important in building literacy. Learning how to spell words correctly will greatly boost your child’s reading and writing ability. It is a critical component in communication that will let your child grow and interact effectively with the world.
