How to Make Spelling More Fun

Spell.  S-P-E-L-L.  Spell.

Want to make spelling more interesting for your child?

I can understand that.

While some kids get really enthusiastic about spelling (it’s their baby), others could fall asleep in their chairs while doing it. So why not spruce it up a bit for the latter group.

Let’s get on with some ideas for making spelling more exciting, or at the very least, fun.

Colorful Letters

Colored pencils and crayons are a lot more fun than the old #2 gray pencils, aren’t they. They’re also a good tool for helping kids identify spelling patters. Here’s how.

Let’s say you are focusing on the hard and soft ‘c’ sounds. When your child practices writing her words, she can use one color for all of the hard c’s and another for the soft c’s. She could also use a different color for the vowel that follows the ‘c’ which gives it its sound. Here’s how it would look.

cat cell cow city cup icy

Or she could do it like this:

cat cell cow city cup icy

There are many ways you could do this activity with colors. A little trial and error will help you figure out what works best for your child.

Using Fun Materials

Kinesthetic learners are touchy-feely. They prefer a tactile approach to learning spelling.

Luckily, there are some inexpensive materials you can use to help your kinesthetic child.

• One is whipping cream or shaving cream.  Your child can have some ooey gooey fun by putting one of these creams on a tray and writing his spelling words in it.
• Another is chalk. It can be used outside on the sidewalk or indoors on a chalkboard.
• Yet another is Play Doh. Your child can use it to make colorful letters for spelling practice.

Typing

Pencils are nice, but computers definitely have more appeal to kids. So why not take advantage of that little motivator and let your child practice typing her words.

You can just use your favorite word processor to get the job done. I would let your child choose a fun font that she can read easily.  Giving choices is great for homeschool morale. Next, set the font size to a larger size like 18 or higher so that she can see the words easily.  Then let her type away. She can either practice copying them from her spelling list, or have them read to her.

Get Physical

Is your child a little squirmy and restless?  Why not let her do some physical activity while practicing her words. Here are some ideas.

Balls are always fun for kids. Try letting your child spell her words aloud while bouncing a ball for each letter.

Do you have a jump rope champion? She can say and spell her words as a chant while skipping rope.

If you don’t want to use any outdoor equipment in your home, jumping jacks will work.

For all of these activities, I would recommend that she say the word first, spell it, then repeat the word as they do in a spelling bee.

Scrabble

I love Scrabble. It’s not just a game in a homeschool. It’s also a great tool for spelling. Just toss out the letters and let your spell away.

This can double as math practice too. (I love it when you can combine subjects. 🙂 ) Just show your child how to add up the point values of the letters for each word like they do in the regular game. You can make it more challenging by having her total up the word values, too, or by finding the average of the word values. That will get her noodle working hard.

Spelling Triangles

Spelling triangles are a more interesting way to practice spelling words than writing them 10 time each. (Boring!) The image at right shows you what they look like.

Simply have your child draw a triangle.  Then tell her to write the first letter of the word at the top.  Underneath that, she should write the first two letters of the word, then three letters and so on. When she’s done, she’ll have a work of art.

I would love to hear about ideas for making spelling more fun. Please share.

Many blessings,