Sarah September 16, 2024

Spelling tests

Spelling tests…we all hate them, right? As a former teacher, I know spelling tests are not best practice for teaching spelling rules and patterns for long term spelling success. As a parent, I know the angst spelling tests and studying for them can cause our kiddos! Unfortunately, spelling tests will most likely remain a necessary evil in our lives for the foreseeable future. They provide the grades and data that school districts and admins require. So, what do we do?

Make it fun!

I am a firm believer that learning should be fun and that kids learn better and remember more when it is fun. Sadly, teachers don’t always have the freedom or time to make learning fun or do what they know is best. But we can make practicing at home fun! Make it a game. Your child will practice spelling words, hopefully getting them into long-term memory, and spend quality time with you!

Games for practicing spelling words

Some of these are games you can purchase and adapt to use with spelling words (links below) and some are games you can make for free.

  1. Boggle Jr.
  2. Bananagrams
  3. Scrabble Jr.
  4. Letter beads + pipe cleaners
  5. Magnet letters
  6. Memory Match
  7. Tic Tac Toe
  8. Rainbow Write
  9. Color Code
  10. Chalk Writing
  11. Shaving Foam Writing
  12. Water-color Paint

1. Boggle Jr.

You can use the picture cards that come with the game to practice common 3 and 4 letter words. This is great to reinforce common spelling rules and patterns. You can also write your child’s spelling words onto notecards and use them to play the game, racing to see who can use the letter cubes to build the word first. The letter cubes add a tactile element to practicing spelling words that will support a kinesthetic learner. Seeing the words on the cards and building the words with the letters will support visual learners. Saying the words and spelling them out loud will support auditory learners.

2. Bananagrams

There are LOTS of ways to play Bananagrams! There are several options with rules on their website https://bananagrams.com/pages/instructions. One of my favorites is the traditional “Welcome to the Bunch” rules: each player gets a set number of letter tiles and players race to see who can use all their tiles to build words. Have your child’s spelling list nearby and try to only build the spelling words. Another favorite is “My First Bananagrams“. I love that the letter tiles are colored and that there are combo letter tiles for vowel teams (ai, ea, etc.), word families (can, fan, tan, etc.), and digraphs (th, ch, etc.). These are great for younger students who struggle with letter reversals or letter recognition. Bananagrams support kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learners as well.

3. Scrabble Jr.

Similar to Boggle Jr. and Bananagrams, Scrabble Jr. uses letter tiles to build words. You can use the blank side of the game board and try to only build your child’s spelling words. You can make it more challenging by coming up with non spelling test words that follow the same spelling pattern or rule.

4. Letter beads + pipe cleaners

This isn’t as much a game as a craft. Lot’s of kids love crafting and this is a great way to make spelling practice fun and engaging for them. Kids can string the letter beads onto the pipe cleaners to build spelling words. This is also great practice for fine motor skills that most kids are lacking because they spend more time on phones and tablets and not enough time playing, coloring, drawing, and using their hands. I’m sure you’ll get some beautiful bracelets and necklaces from this activity too! 😉 Who doesn’t love new jewelry?

5. Magnet letters

Magnet letters are a great way to practice spelling words. Kids can put them on the fridge or take them anywhere with a cheap cookie sheet. A dollar store is probably the best place to get a cheap cookie sheet. The colorful letters are interesting to kids and putting them on and off the metal surface is great fine motor exercise and they like the sound they make as they clink onto the fridge or cookie sheet.

6. Memory Match

This is a great game you can make for free! Write each of your child’s spelling words on two different note cards (or cut the cards in half to make them smaller). To keep from taking up the whole table and being overwhelmed by too many choices, only play with 6-8 words, 12-16 cards, at a time. Turn the cards upside down on a table and take turns turning over 2 cards at a time. If they match, you keep the cards. If they don’t match, turn them back over in their same spots. The winner has the most matches at the end of the game. This is a great game to strengthen visual discrimination, to help kids recognize word and letter patterns.

7. Tic Tac Toe

This is another great game to make for free. You just need a sheet of paper and some crayons, markers, colored pencils, or colored pens. You can add an extra fun element and use scented markers. Kids love these! Draw your tic tac toe grid on a piece of paper and each person choose one color to write with. Write a different spelling word in each square instead of x’s and o’s, using the colors to mark your space.

8. Rainbow Write

This is just what it sound like – write each spelling word in a different color. This would be another great time to use the scented markers! Writing spelling words is often the best way to practice them but it’s also the most boring way. Using different colors and scents helps make it more interesting, engaging, and easier to remember the words.

9. Color Code

Many times spelling lists from curriculum are very tricky. They’ll often have words with the same sounds but different spelling patterns, for example long a words with ea, ai, and ay (great, paid, stay). There’s no way to hear the difference in the words, kids just have to memorize them. A great way to help with that is to color code the words: write all the ea words in blue, all the ai words in red, and all the ay words in green. The visual of the words in different colors can help kids remember which words go with which pattern.

10. Chalk Writing

Who doesn’t love being outside? Kids do! This is a great opportunity to go outside with some sidewalk chalk and write spelling words on the sidewalk or driveway. The roughness of the concrete and chalk are great kinesthetic input for sensory learners. After kids write the spelling words with chalk, they can use a wet sponge to trace over them, adding another sensory element.

11. Shaving Foam Writing

This is another great sensory activity! Spray shaving foam, not cream, into a tray or onto a table and have kids write spelling words with their finger. They’ll love the feel and smell of the shaving foam and it’ll clean your table! (Make sure it’s safe to use on wood) Kids LOVE this activity! Make sure you supervise or you could have shaving foam everywhere!

12. Water Color Paint

Kids write with pencils all day long at school. The last thing they want to do at home is write anything with a boring old pencil. Writing spelling words with water color paint adds several different forms of sensory input for kids. The colors are more visually stimulating, controlling the paint brush requires more concentration than using a pencil, and the texture provides tactile input.

While spelling tests are often the bane of parent’s and kid’s existence, there are ways to make studying for them much more fun. Your kids will be learning words and not even realize it! That’s the goal – learning, not just memorizing for the test then immediately forgetting. I hope these tips help your child actually learn to spell as well as create some special time with you!

I would love to hear your questions and comments so please leave them below. Please share this post with your friends! Until next time…I’m praying for you, please pray for me!