This article is for you if you’re a teacher of young students.
Curriculum
Spelling activities for all words
This article is for you if you’re a teacher of young students.
We will give you an extensive list of activities you can use to make your spelling exercises engaging and different. Stand out from the rest and make learning fun!
Education resources
30 spelling activities you may wish to try with your class
Below is an extensive list of 30 great activities you may want to incorporate into your classroom to improve and practice your student’s spelling skills.
Spelling list
You can send your students home with a typed-up page full of 10 different spelling words listed for your students to revise and practice with. Students can use this throughout the week at home as a form of study, and parents can cut these words out to use as flash cards.
Alphabetical order
This activity involves a page printed out with a numbered table on it. Above this table should be a box of the appropriate spelling words. These should be in completely random order. The student’s job is to put them in the correct order – alphabetical order. This means they will write out these words in the table below and place the words 1-10, 1 being the closest to the start of the alphabet and 10 being the furthest.
Magic words
This activity is a fun and exciting way to reveal your chosen spelling words to your little ones. You write the spelling words in a white crayon on the pages. The kids will then color over the boxes on the page in different colors. This will make the white crayon stand out as it won’t be able to be colored over, thus revealing the spelling words in the boxes for your students to see, practice, and learn. And ‘just like magic’, you’ll have a class full of spelling ‘wizards’ in no time!
Rainbow spelling
This is a great, interactive way to encourage active retention from your young students. It’s creative and fun and helps them to remember the spelling words you want. They fill out a rainbow template with the spelling words, one repeated across each line. To fill in the rainbow, they should write this in one color per line. This will help them to remember the words but also the activity and cause a positive association with spelling activities. They can keep their work and hang them at home too so they can be reminded of the words when they pass it.
Secret code
This is an especially exciting activity and uses a lot of brainpower from the kids. It combines mystery-solving with spelling skills. The students will be handed a sheet with a table full of codes. These codes are symbols and miniature pictures. These pictures represent the corresponding letter and below is a list of possible words. The words are written out using their symbols, and it is the students’ job to work out the word by matching them up to the letters.
Roll a spelling word
This activity involves your students being able to have fun with how they write and learn their spelling words. The role of a dice and the numbers on the dice indicate how they should write the word for example, in bubble writing or squiggles. This is a fun activity that makes spelling activities fun.
Write a sentence
This is arguably the most effective spelling activity as it involves applying the spelling word to a sentence. This activity involves a sheet with all of the spelling words and designated lines for the students to write their sentences including one of the spelling words per sentence. The aim is to use them all, one in each and this will help them to rationalize each word in a contextual way which will make it easier for them to remember and utilize in the future.
Word illustrations
This activity helps the student visualize the word, increasing the likeliness of effective and long-term retention. By seeing the word as a physical being, an action, in context, the student can make associations in their mind, which will help them to remember the word and how to spell it. The students are instructed to draw each spelling word and as an extension, they can write a sentence to go with each picture.
Word boxes
This exercise is incredibly helpful in learning how to spell correctly. It includes a sheet made up of different-sized and placed boxes. Each box should contain a letter. These letters should make up a word. The student’s job is to correctly identify which letter goes in which box to make up the spelling words. They can do this by looking at how many boxes make up the word – how many letters. And also the way the boxes are designed. Is the letter tall or short? Does it sit below the line or above the middle line? For example, a word like play would go in boxes that are 4 together. The first one would go below the middle line so that the “p” can extend its straight line. The second box would be tall to accommodate the “l,” while the third is a standard, square box for the “a”. The fourth box should also go below the middle line for the elongated “y”.
Tracing
Another easy spelling activity is tracing the spelling words. This is where students will trace each word three times in separate boxes. Once in pencil, once in crayon, and then in marker. This combination of repetition and change will make the word more likely to be retained by the student.
Emoji codes
This activity works the same as the coding exercise stated earlier. However, using emojis instead. This is a new and innovative way to get students excited about spelling. It requires them to solve and discover using a new ‘language’ they should know well while also helping them learn how to spell the identified words correctly.
Pattern block spelling
This activity combines their spelling skill and motor skill development to create in-person spellings. They will have a sheet that has illustrated instructions for how they should create their word. They will translate this into real life using pattern blocks to create real-life spellings.
Vowels and consonants
Teaching your class vowels and consonants is crucial for understanding correct spelling and grammar skills. They can differentiate between the two by coloring all the consonants in the designated words in one color and the vowels in another. This will help them to visualize the difference in the future.
Scrabble spelling
This is a much more complex activity and is one you can implement as your students begin to progress and improve. This activity combines spelling and math. The spelling word is written out in one column as in a scrabble game. In the next the student is expected to work out the equation – this will be known through the numbers associated with each letter like in scrabble. The next is the sum which is all of those numbers added together.
Spin it spell it
This fun learning game can be played in groups or pairs. It involves a paper spinner and numbers correlating with the selected words. The students take turns spinning the spinner and whatever number it lands on, the word that is paired with it must be written and spelled out by the said student.
More fun activities to use in your spelling classes
There are even more spelling activities that you can use inside your classroom to help your students. Some of these are:
- Spelling maze – make your way through the maze and check off each spelling word once you pass them.
- Spelling spiral – write each spelling word on the spiral and repeat until you reach the middle – you can even incorporate different colors.
- Spelling word syllables – students use syllables to practice their spelling words. They clap or count on their fingers how many syllables each word has before circling the correct number.
- Silly writing – they try writing the words upside down and with their eyes closed.
- Pyramid writing – they begin with the first letter of each word and add one letter each time they go down the triangle until it is the completed word.
- Spelling rhymes – each student must think of one word that rhymes with each spelling word.
- Spelling colors – each spelling word will have a corresponding color, and the student will write the word under the appropriate color below. It’ll also teach them color words!
- Word search – great for higher levels. Students look for the words in a muddle of many.
- Word art – for a creative approach, kids can decorate each word and write them out however they wish.
- Create a story – let them see how many spelling words they can include in a creative story.
- Keyboard words – see if they can identify the right keys to spell them.
- Stamping spelling words – stamp your spelling words as you read and spell them.
- Synonyms and antonyms – think of a synonym and an antonym for each spelling word.
- Sign language spelling – this helps students learn sign language, a great skill that will help with accessibility and inclusion within a society in the future.
- Sounds – students should count how many sounds/phonemes are in each word.
These activities are designed to help your students learn to spell selective words and promote other behaviors and transferable skills such as maths, problem-solving, phonetical understanding, art, creative writing and more. Students also learn best when their teachers offer them a variety of approaches as there will be something that suits everybody. These fun and innovative ways will improve engagement throughout the class.
Meta Description: An extensive guide to providing useful spelling activities to your students to better their spelling and comprehensive skills. Listed examples and their benefits are included.
