Recipe for Playful Learning!
Car rides, long walks, mealtimes – any time is a perfect time for your own spelling bee!
Always start the game using silly simple words. For the first few words, use monosyllabic words, then move onto words with two syllables, three syllables and so on in order for your kids to challenge themselves.
STEP 1: Choose age-appropriate words pertaining to your shared activity – i.e. mealtime spelling bee: “How do you spell Food, Dinner, Spaghetti…?”
STEP 2: Be prepared to put the word in a sentence so your child can hear how the word is used.
STEP 3: Create a list to hang on your fridge or bulletin board of the words spelled so your child can see what he’s learned.
Tips for playing with multiple children: Let the first child state the first letter of the word. Then the second child continues to spell the word with the next letter of the word. Keep alternating until the word is spelled completely and accurately. You can also do this with a single child by taking turns.
Challenge for older children: Spelling can be replaced by doing rounds of synonyms, metaphors, similes, etc.
Skills to Practice: Speaking, Communication, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Imagination, Storytelling