Ways to Teach Spelling in a Fun Way Using Activities

Are you looking for fun spelling activities? Teaching your kids the spelling rules doesn’t have to be boring. Here are different activities to engage your kids and help them become better spellers.

Fun Ways to Teach Spelling

There’s no sense in slogging your way through spelling when you homeschool. While it’s important to teach your child to become a skilled speller, it doesn’t have to be dreadful. 

You can use fun spelling activities and hands-on spelling ideas instead of drill and kill methods. In this way, you’ll not only make spelling more fun, but you’ll also engage your visual and kinesthetic learners.

How do you practice spelling words in a fun way?

You can practice spelling words in a fun by giving your child their new word list and asking them to create silly sentences. Another fun way to do spelling practice is to find ways to engage their senses. Many times using manipulatives like letter tiles will help make practicing spelling words more enjoyable.

Fun Spelling Activities

There are many fun spelling word activities that you can use, no matter which particular spelling curriculum you employ in your homeschool. Just take the weekly spelling list and try some of the following activities.

Create Rhymes Using Spelling Words

One of the fun spelling activities you can try is to have your child create rhymes using spelling words. This is a great way to practice spelling word families. Here’s an example.

If your child is working on words that end with “ake” you might give them this poem and ask them to fill in the words from their spelling list.

I went to the cafe’

To get some cake.

I made a mistake

And got some ________.

Words in the list might be rake, lake, or snake.

You can read more on how to teach rhymes with these free printable worksheets. 

Unscramble Letters

An engaging spelling activity for your kinesthetic learners is to unscramble letters to create words. You can use a worksheet with the spelling words to unscramble, or you can take it up a notch and use letter beads. Your student can look at their list of spelling words and find the correct letters on the beads, stringing them together to create words.

Create a Spelling Wall

Creating a spelling wall or word wall is a great way to keep high frequency or new words within sight and as a helpful review.

When your child sees words frequently, they learn how the correct spelling should look. You can arrange your spelling wall in ABC order, or you can group word families together according to spelling pattern. An alphabetical spelling wall is a great word building activity. You can make rhyming words or word families with different color index cards to help them stand out.

Alphabet Blocks

Alphabet blocks give kids a great way to practice a list of words. Your students can practice putting words in alphabetical order by referring to their blocks. Anytime you can engage kids with manipulatives, they are more likely to understand and remember the concept.

Letter Tracing

Using letter tracers is another great tool for practice spelling. Your kids can certainly trace on a worksheet using a crayon or pencil.

But why don’t you introduce some fun new ways of doing it?

Have them use their fingers to trace the words on a tray of shaving cream? This includes some sensory play that is very valuable for some students.

Make a Fun Crossword Puzzle Using Spelling Words

Your kids can practice correct spelling when you create a crossword puzzle worksheet using spelling words. Crossword puzzles function as self-correcting tools as your child won’t be able to fit the spelling words in the puzzle without the correct letters.

If your spelling curriculum doesn’t come with crossword puzzles, you can find free crossword puzzle generators online to create your own.

Use Arts and Crafts to Practice Spelling

Use arts and crafts to practice spelling by pulling out the letter stamps, a piece of paper, and even paint (if you’re brave!).

Fun spelling activities help your child engage with the content, and your creative and kinesthetic learners will love practicing their spelling words using rubber stamps, letter stickers, and other craft supplies.

Create a Game of Word Bingo

Take your child’s list of spelling words and create a simple word bingo game out of them. Then, call out different spelling words.

Your child will place a bingo chip over the word if it’s on their bingo card. When they have a straight line of bingo chips, they win. Using a bingo games printable is an easy way to practice word recognition and help your kids become better spellers. 

Scrabble Letter Tiles

One of the best ways to practice spelling words is to use Scrabble letter tiles. Using hands-on activities really forces your kids to be more thoughtful as they form words, focusing on each syllable and letter combination.

Then, once your kids are able to build their spelling words, see if they can create rhyming words or words from the same word families. This will help your kids understand their spelling rules even better.

Letter Stickers

Using letter stickers is a simple way to practice spelling words. Just grab a sheet of paper and a bunch of letter stickers and have your child build their spelling words. Your visual learners will love this activity.

Magnet Letters

Magnetic letters are another great tool to help kids of all ages practice their spelling words.

Using magnetic letters will take you through years of teaching phonics and spelling in your homeschool! Your preschoolers can review the letters of the alphabet in the early years, then the magnet letters can transition into great spelling manipulatives.

Write Spelling Words in the Sand

Grab a cookie sheet and have your child write their spelling words in the sand. Being able to make this large movements using their arms and fingers is a great way to solidify the correct spelling in their minds.

It’s a very engaging way to review spelling words for children who appreciate sensory activities.

Play a Spelling Game

Young students love to play games when their growing good spelling skills. Here are some favorite spelling games to try with your kids.

Vocabulary Spelling City

Vocabulary Spelling City is an online site that lets you customize fun spelling activities for your kids. They can have spelling fun with the pre-loaded K-12 spelling lists, or you can input your own. Playing games is an easy way to engage kids in spelling review and Vocabulary Spelling City is user-friendly.

PBS Kids Spelling Games

PBS Kids Spelling Games can be exciting for your kids if they already know and love the characters in the games. Help them review common word families and spelling rules with these free online games.

Wordplay for Kids

Wordplay for Kids helps kids ages 6-12 develop word building and spelling skills. This is perfect for two or more players and you can even play as teams. Awesome family game night option.

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is so much fun no matter the ages of your kids! Instead of a boring spelling activity, use banana grams for creative family fun. Players continue to build their own crossword puzzles based on the letter tiles in their stash as they race against other players.

My First Bananagrams

My First Bananagrams is a great choice for your early readers. This game includes scaffolded help in learning to build words, eventually preparing them for the full Bananagrams version. My First Bananagrams includes lower case letters only plus blends.

Big Boggle

When you want fun activities to practice spelling words, you’ve got to try Big Boggle. It’s like the Boggle game you remember from your childhood, but it now has a 5×5 playing grid with more letter options! Kids see how many words of four letters or more they can find before the timer runs out.

Dabble Word Game

Want fun spelling games? Dabble Word Game is for 2-4 players, ages 8 and up. In this unscramble word game, you’ll race against the clock and other players to build five words from your letter tiles, reinforcing spelling skills.

In Conclusion

As you can see, there are so many different ways of learning and reviewing spelling words. With this variety of activities, you will have great options to try in your homeschool as your grow successful spellers.