3 Simple Spelling Review Activities

Is it the end of the school year yet? Oy! Those spelling lists just keep on comin' home with my son.

If you're like me, you'll do anything to find a creative way to make practicing them fun. (Sadly, there is always grumbling from my son when I pull out the list to review.)

Here are some new ideas he's enjoyed recently.

No. 1: Spelling Review Ball Toss

My son is a kinesthetic learner. It's like his brain gets moving when his body is moving too. One day I picked up his Nerf football and we practiced the words one by one, tossing the ball back and forth. I'd say a letter and he'd come up with the next one, with the ball whizzing between us. 

If the ball dropped, we started the word again. If his spelling was incorrect, I explained the error and we began again. We can't continue on to the next word until each one is spelled right.

VARIATION: Take your spelling practice outside. Grab a basketball. Read the words on the list and as your child recites the spelling, have them dribble the ball (one bounce per letter).

No. 2: Invisible Ink Spelling Review

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little with that title. But seriously, crayon resist makes it easy for kids to self-check their spelling practice. Simply grab a piece of paper and fold it in half the long way. If it's not lined, make lines. Using a white crayon (or I use a fine-tip Crayola twistables colored pencil), write the correct spelling of each word on the right side of the fold. The child spells each word on the left and then gets to use watercolor paint to reveal the "invisible word" on the right. Maybe my son is naive, but he thinks this is nothing short of magic.

No. 3: A-MAZE-ing Spelling

I can't take credit for this idea, although I'd like to. It's genius. Alissa at Creative With Kids shared this idea back in 2011. You can actually turn your child's spelling words into mazes. It takes a little front-end prep (you need to sign up for a free account at Fontstruct and download the Mazey font; also free), but once your computer is equipped with the new font, it's just a matter of typing the spelling words and hitting print.

NOTE: Because my son had the words groan and grown on his list the first week that we did this, I added a sentence above each of the word's mazes to help him understand the difference in the word's use and meaning.

My son had LOADS of fun with this! Once he'd wound his way through the maze, he colored the letters in the maze so it was easier to read the word.