I wasn’t good with English growing up. Sure I knew how to pronounce the words but I wasn’t a great reader and most of my words were misspelled. In grade school I feared my English classes. Feared I’d be called on to read or spell something in front of the entire class. The thought of it made me sick and majority of the time I was too worried that I might be called on which resulted in a lack of concentration to anything the teacher was trying to teach the class. It wasn’t until I went to college that what I feared most and thought was my weakness became my greatest strength. Funny how that works. Reminds me of Moses who was slow of speech but God used him to take Gods people out of Egypt. David who was young and small was used by God and he was able to defeat the giant Goliath. Isn’t God good? I fell in love with the written word and writing essays brought me so much joy. I was shocked by how easy I was able to express my feelings once a paper and pencil was in my hands. It was easier for me to express myself when I wrote my thoughts down. When I spoke my ideas and thoughts jumped all over the place but as I typed I had control over them.
I strongly believe that when one believes that they are a poor speller they steer away from writing anything at all. Too afraid or embarrassed that they will spell something incorrect and others will make fun of them. Over the years I’ve come a long way making a few spelling errors here and there but I no longer fear to write because of it and my penpals are the ones who catch them but never point them out to me.
I want spelling to be fun for my children. My fifteen year old spells better than I do and I’m so proud of him. It makes me happy to know that he will never have to feel the way I did growing up. Confidence is a beautiful thing when used correctly.
Below I share three fun games and ideas to add a little bit of fun to your spelling routine. Spelling doesn’t have to be boring. In fact it can be filled with so much laughter.
Did you have a weakness growing up but now it is your strength?
Action Spellers
This spelling game is lots of fun. All you need is a jar and strips of papers with action words written on them. We all took turns drawing out a piece of paper out of the jar and then acting out the word while everyone else guessed and wrote down what we had just acted out. I had Eve write out the three letter words on the white board.
Here are some action words that you could use…
squeeze, run, hop, skip, jump, laugh, smile, eat, write, sleep, wink, wave, clap, drink, swim, dig, scream, close, brush, yawn, yell, whisper, grab, cry, snore, turn, roll, eat, leap, think, throw, twirl, dance, draw, and any other you can think of.
Contraction Word
These words are words that are shortened. When we leave out some of the letters we use an apostrophe in place of the missing letters. Did you know that contraction words are related to our tone?
Here are some examples:
are not = aren’t
cannot = can’t
could not = couldn’t
did not = didn’t
do not = don’t
does not = doesn’t
had not = hadn’t
have not = haven’t
he is = he’s
he has =he’s
he will = he’ll
he would = he’d
he had = he’d
here is = here’s
I am = I’m
I have = I’ve
I will = I’ll
I would = I’d
I had = I’d
is not = isn’t
it is = it’s
it has = it’s
it will = it’ll
must not = mustn’t
she is = she’s
she has = she’s
she will = she’ll
she would = she’d
she had = she’d
should not = shouldn’t
that is = that’s
there is = there’s
they are = they’re
they have = they’ve
they will = they’ll
they would = they’d
they had = they’d
was not = wasn’t
we are = we’re
we have = we’ve
we will = we’ll
we would = we’d
we had = we’d
were not = weren’t
what is = what’s
where is = where’s
who is = who’s
who will = who’ll
will not = won’t
would not = wouldn’t
you are = you’re
you have = you’ve
you will = you’ll
you would = you’d
you had = you’d
Consonant Blends
We bought a Rhombicuboctahedron from the dollar store. We wrote as many constant blends as we could on each side. To play this game you simply need to toss the ball and where your hand lands that’s the constant blend you have to work with. We thought of all the words that start with that blend and the person whose turn it was to toss the rhombicuboctahedron wrote the words down.
Here are some consonant blends: bl, br, ch, ck, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gh, gl, gr, ng, ph, pl, pr, qu, sc, sh, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw, th, tr, tw, wr.
Thank you for reading our post. We share a new post every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 pm.
Tara Pittman
Love the views at your home. This is a great way to learn how to spell.
Sarah Bailey
My Mum suffered badly with issues with maths when she was young and did similar with me to help make sure maths was always fun for me.
Kristi Ann
This is great!! I will be doing this idea with my daughter who is in kindergarten! She is more of a playful learner so this will help so much! Thank you for sharing!
Ruthie Ridley
I was always mediocre at spelling!! Games related to words always make it easier!!
Christina Polovich
Never knew teaching kids how to spell words can be so much fun. I’m going to share this games with my nephews to be productive at home.
Ericka
Ok I have to try this with my kids. They will be having fun and learning at the same time.
Jennifer L
Oh these are some wonderful games to really improve spelling. I remember growing up my dad would open a dictionary and create like a little spelling bee for me. It helped immensely!
maria magdalena
wow…great ideas for learning English…love your ideas, i’ll use it to teach my children
Mommy Rockin' In Style
Thanks for sharing this dear. This is something my family and I will surely enjoy. Can’t wait to try it this weekend.
Carrie | Clean Eating Kitchen
It looks like you are all having so much fun learning! Some great tips here!
Wendy Polisi
This is a great way to teach your kids! Making learning fun and exciting is a sure way to get them to learn!
Sonal
Loved your post ! It’s a great referral postgor people struggling with spellings.
Ada
This sound like such a great way to learn how to spell. Visuals are so important.
Candy Rachelle
This is such a great way to teach our kids in English spelling and pronunciation. Will show this to my cousin.
Stephanie Jeannot
I live English and so I love this post. Great game. I have to try this with my nephews. I enjoy it.
Elinor Hill
Great games to play to aid with learning. I love how your kids embrace these brilliant ideas.
Athena
My English is fine but math – well not my strong suit and it takes a great deal of effort. Therefore, it is something I shy away from as often as I can. It does help when it is approached in a playful manner.
Becca Wilson
This is such a great way to learn. With little ones just learning this stuff, it would definitely make it fun for them.
Krystel | Disney on a Budget
Hahah I love this. Your images are so telling. I am going to use this list
Carissa
This is great info! I was always so bad at spelling. My daughter is doing pretty well for a kindergartner!
Garf
I am not good at English. It is not my native tongue either but for some reason, I can spell words better than my husband, whose English is his native language.
Fan R
I always have problem with contraction words, but good we have tech to correct but not every time. It is better to learn to do it properly!