Spelling Fun!

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Published on Monday, 14 May 2012 09:50

Last Updated on 13 May 2012

Priya Desai

3 Comments

There are so many ways that you can make spelling fun and enjoyable; unusual and also different! Spelling can be creative – here are some ideas, to help you create a fun little world of letters and words for your child.

Spelling in Salt

Get a tray, fill it with salt and start writing letters and spelling words! Children will feel how the letters are made, and this tactile, multisensory sensation will support their memory of what they are spelling.

Spelling on foam packing chips (thin nibbed gel ink pen needed)

I recently used this method with a 7 year old child. Not only did it make spelling more fun but it was an excellent exercise in fine motor control, as one hand is needed to hold the foam in place while the other is writing. You need to press down on the foam gently otherwise your pen will go right through! So this is also a great activity for children who write with too much pressure.

Spelling on Jenga

This one is also incredible fun! You can use Jenga in two ways. Younger children can write individual letters on the each block. Older children can write a whole word on one block. And to end with, you play Jenga!!

Spelling using pipe cleaners

This is a personal favourite of mine. Shape the pipe cleaners to form letters. This method will encourage children to really think about how the letters are formed; great for when they are in the leaning letters stage. I often make pipe cleaner letters and match them with written letters/ words so children can see the correlation. And, for children who are learning letters, this is a good way to develop their letter matching/recognition skills.

Back writing

This method is unusual and also probably the hardest one. You literally write letters or spell words on the back of your spelling partner. This method really tests a child’s letter and spelling knowledge, as they have to visualise the letters when they are writing and feeling the letters. I often use this method at the end of a session to see how many words a child has remembered to spell.

I hope these different spelling practise methods; have given you some good ideas for home. As you can see, spelling can be FUN!

Priya Desai

I work as a children’s speech and language therapist and am also a children’s author. I have worked as a therapist for 8 years now in a variety of settings, and I’m now mainly based in schools, specialising in language and literacy development, alongside the school curriculum. My approach is holistic and child-centered. No child is the same, therefore each child needs to be taught creatively in a style that suits them. Working with children, gave me the inspiration to start writing children’s books for all children in their first years at school, and therefore give them positive role-models and also the motivation for their every day learning. I have published two books so far: Benjamin Writer-Messy, a story about a boy who has terrible handwriting and Jake Monkey-Tail, a story about a colourful monkey who cannot spell. I look forward to writing more books, and further developing creative approaches to my speech and language therapy work in the coming years. You can follow Priya on Twitter @priyaauthor