Help your child learn to spell the fun way

FOR MANY THE WEEKLY SPELLING LIST IS A SLOG.

Hopefully, some of the suggestions here will make it a more enjoyable experience and remove some of the stress.

Most primary aged children will bring home a spelling list most weeks, and for many families this is an inconvenience that doesn’t get done, is done quickly in the car on the way to school or when is undertaken at home is an arduous task to say the very least.

Hopefully these five ideas given below will help the task become a more enjoyable experience and take very little time to prepare and at no additional cost to yourself.

With that said, here are 5 games you should start using to support your child with learning their spellings today! 👊

SPELLING TIP 1: HANGMAN

Use your child’s words to play hangman. By doing this, are having to think carefully about the letters in each word and the order in which they go. Have the list in front of the person in control of the board so that they are spelling it correctly, but the other person can’t just immediately guess the word from reading the list. (Don't let them just guess words, insist on them guessing the individual letters instead).

SPELLING TIP 2: MAKE A WORD SEARCH

Each of you need to make a grid that is roughly 10 squares by 10 squares depending on the length of words your child is learning. (If your child's words are only short, make the grid smaller so that it is easier to fill in the blanks).

Each of you place the spellings in the grid, with one letter in each square. Each word has to be in a straight line though, it can up or down, forwards or backwards, left or right. You then exchange grids and seek out the other person’s words. The other way this can be done is with just you creating a word search for your child to solve.

3. SPELLING TIP 3: LILY PADS

I love this game. If your child has 10 spellings, draw 10 circles (I normally draw around the lid of the furniture polish), cut them out and write a word inside each one. Spread them onto the table in front of you. (I sometimes play this on the carpet with a couple of lads I work with, and the counters go wild. It can obviously be done and it's quite funny as the counter flies off on a complete tangent to where you wanted it to go, but the game will last twice as long!)

You will need 2 counters each, or one of those plastic frogs that you often find in Christmas crackers.

Flick your counter onto a circle. If you get it on, the other person tells you the word and you have to try and spell it. (Offer as much help as is needed, remember this is a game not the test!).

Once you have it right, keep the circle and the other person has a go.

The person with the most circles at the end, wins.

SPELLING TIP 4: NOUGHTS AND CROSSES

This game is like any other game of noughts and crosses, except in each position on the grid is the first letter of one of your child's spellings. As you choose which part of the grid you wish to claim, the other person will tell you the word that this letter relates to. You then have to try and spell the word correctly.

Once achieved, give yourself a pat on the back and write your nought or cross there to claim it as yours.

SPELLING TIP 5: BATTLESHIPS

I hope I have saved the best until last.

You each have two boards with 1-9 across the bottom and a-I up the side. Place the words in the grid, one letter in each square and again, the words must go in a straight line. Then, taking it in turns, choose a co-ordinate to try and find where the other person has placed their words. The first person to find all the other persons words wins.

There are several reasons why it is beneficial to present your child’s spellings as games:

If it is fun, hopefully your child will be more receptive to taking part

Each time you play a different game, you are creating a different memory. The wider range of memories you have the more likely it is that you will be able to recall the relevant information when it is needed.

We all have different learning styles; visual, audio or kinaesthetic or a combination of 2 or more. Again, the more variety of games we play, the more likely you are to cater towards the learning style of your particular child, again helping them to recall the information when required.

This is the philosophy upon which I have built the company Clara James Tutoring.

If you are interested in more ideas on creating a relaxed environment when working with your child, why check out "The Clara James Approach" our new membership group.

I hope you have found these ideas useful, let me know what you think. I’d love to hear about your own experiences as well by leaving your comments in the comments box. Thank you in advance.

If you liked this article, please share it with your friends.

I set Clara James Tutoring Ltd up in 2012 and we have gone from strength to strength during that time. My background was predominately working in early years and with specific learning difficulties, in particular dyslexia and ASD. With dyslexia especially, a varied, interactive approach to learning is highly regarded. My opinion was, why couldn’t you use the benefits of this style of learning with everyone.

If you are relaxed, you are more susceptible to learning and retaining the information, rather than in a tense situation where you are feeling on edge, and often too nervous to remember what you are being told.