SPELLING ACTIVITIES FOR GRADE 1-4

Activities give the students the needed “deep practice” to spell correctly and are fun ways to
motivate them to be interested in learning to spell. These games have been collected from
numerous sources. Pages 1-3 are appropriate for grades 1-4 and pages 4-7 are best suited for
grades 2-4.

WHOLE CLASS GAMES

Skip Spell
Give each child her own skipping rope and whole class skip spell the words in unison.
Variation: Each child skip spells a word with two people turning the skipping rope.

Mystery Word
Teacher or student volunteer gives clues for the students to find the mystery word (the word
you choose) from the poem, story, or the sight word wall list on the board. Give very general
clues first (the word has a short o sound) and then give more detailed clues (it has a /st/
sound at the beginning). After each clue the students write down their guess of the mystery
word on their slates if they have a guess. They lift their slates up for the teacher to see. If
correct the teacher nods and that child can help give a clue if the teacher wishes.

Foot Dictation
Teacher dictates letters or words. Students write with chalk between toes on individual
chalkboards or slates.

Fill In
Write simple three-letter words on the BB with the vowel missing and have volunteers fill in a
vowel. Have another volunteer or the whole class read the word.
Examples:
B–t S–e T_b

Find the correct spelling

Teacher writes a word three different ways on the blackboard. Students read versions, find
the correct spelling, and spells word on slates while a volunteer circles it on BB.

Invisible Ink
Teacher writes and says word, then erases it. With their finger, students write the word in
the air-while still looking at the space where it was “written.” Have them tell you what the 3rd
letter is, the next to last letter…spell it backwards, etc.

Main Lesson Book Word Hunt

Have students turn to a written entry in their main lesson book. Read it together once. Then
say, “Place your finger on the word “bread.” Check to see that all have found it, then “Now
place your finger on the word with the /fr/ sound in it” (afraid), or has the long u sound or
silent e.” etc. Use beginning, middle and end sounds.

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Circle Spelling
Standing in a circle, all turn to the right- begin walking the circle, spelling one letter per step
until the word is spelled, then spell it backwards, while walking backwards. This can also be
done in rows behind their desks if enough room is available to walk 5-6 steps forward.

Transition Minute
Spell words as a whole class. A student chooses whether the class will whisper, shout, clap,
and spell, write in the air or on partner’s back, etc. Teacher gives word. Another student
spells word on BB then erases it. Whole class spells as instructed.

Oops
Teacher erases some of the letters of some of the spelling words in the text on the
chalkboard before Main Lesson. Students write correct words on slates or in practice books.
Volunteers come to board to add the letters with others’ help if needed.

SMALL GROUP OR PARTNER GAMES

Lotto for small groups
The students make up two sets of cards, one set with vowel sounds and one set with
pictures of words with those vowel sounds. Example: the short vowel sounds would have
picture cards which have objects that use those sounds (e.g., hat, pen, mitt, hut, pot, etc.).
You can use vowel combinations, consonant blends, digraphs of course. The game is played
with the two sets shuffled together and laid out face up in a grid. (If the cards are laid face
down it would strengthen short term visual memory, but would take longer and the focus
here is on developing phonemic awareness.) The players find the matches, a short A card
with the picture card of the hat. They can work together to find all of the matches if you
don’t care for this kind of competition between students.

Go Fish
Create word cards of different patterns (at least 4 patterns) or rhyming words or
homophones. Students deal cards and play just like Go Fish, asking, “Do you have any ___?”
Keep playing until someone has played out all of her cards.

Back Writing
Draw letters on the back of your desk partner- partner writes down the letter on slate,
chalkboard (if standing in front of it), or on paper. Trade places.

Spelling Bee
Have students make cards of the spelling words–especially good for non-phonetic (irregular)
words. Student #1 draws a card and pronounces the word for student #2, who then writes
down the word on paper or spells it out loud. If spelled correctly, the card is hers. If not she is
shown the card, sees how it is spelled and then the card is placed on the bottom of the pile.
Now the roles reverse. One with the most cards wins.

Bingo
Each student creates a 3x3 square grid on a slate and teacher chooses long or short vowel
sounds, vowel combinations (ai, ee, ea, etc.), consonant blends, etc. to fill the squares in
whatever pattern they choose (You choose how many different sounds based on how

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difficult you want it to be). You can also have them choose nine words from the sight word
list to fill the grid with. The teacher creates a pack of word cards so that you have a number
of words per specific sound, combination or blend (and other sounds if desired to make it
more difficult) on cards and shuffles them. Choose a volunteer to read each card for the
class. Another volunteer could write the word on the chalkboard after the students have a
few minutes to figure it out for themselves. Then the students “white out” the square that
has the sound highlighted if applicable. The students call out “Bingo” if they have three in a
row and “White Out” when their whole grid is filled.

Sight Word Tic-Tac-Toe

Each student needs a slate and chalk (or paper and pencil), and nine markers for covering
spaces on her tic-tac-toe board. This can be a small group activity so that each group has a
set of nine sight word cards for each round. Select one student in each group to be the
leader.

How to play:
1. Each student draws a large tic-tac-toe board on her paper.
2. The leader calls out the first sight word.
3. Each student writes the word anywhere on her board.
4. The leader checks the spellings as students write. Students correct spelling as needed.
5. The leader calls out the sight words, one at a time, repeating the steps above.
6. When all the tic-tac-toe boards are complete, the leader places the cards in a basket.
7. Students take turns drawing a word card randomly and reads it to the group.
8. Each player finds that word on his game board and covers it with a marker.
9. Words are drawn and read until one (or more players) have covered three words in a row
in any direction. The first player(s) to cover three in a row wins the round.
10. Play a few more rounds with the same boards, with players taking turns as leader.

OUTSIDE GAMES
Phonics Hopscotch
In each hopscotch square write one consonant blend, sight word, vowel combination, or
digraph. Each student takes a turn to throw his stone on a square and say and spell a word
that begins with this blend before jumping through the grid.
Variation: Have each child start with the first square and jump over that one while saying a
word that starts with that blend. Then the next child jumps over the next square, etc.

Magic Square
Create a 3x3 grid on the asphalt with chalk so that the students can easily jump from one
square to the square that is farthest away from it. Fill the middle square with a vowel or
vowel combination. Example: short A. In the surrounding squares write in eight consonants
that can be used to make words with the short A, such as p, n, r, d, b, t, w, l. The students
take a turn jumping the magic square to make a word. For example, a student can jump from
p to a to d. While jumping she would sound out each letter. Then when she jumps out she
says the word – pad. Add consonant blends and digraphs when the students are ready.

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Sight Word Jump Rope
As a child waits to jump in, the teacher gives her sight word to spell while jumping, one letter
corresponding to one jump. Once done spelling, the child jumps out and the next child jumps
in.

GAMES FOR GRADES 2-4

Word Scramble or Misspell
Teacher scrambles or misspells 5-6 of your spelling words before Main Lesson. Students are
given a few minutes to correctly spell them on their slates or in practice books. Then
volunteers come to the board to write them correctly. Let other students help if needed.

Word Stack
Write a two or three syllable word like “rabbit” on the chalkboard. The students write words
with the letters of that word (bit, rat, bat, tar, etc.) on their slates or on the chalkboard. You
can play this as a two-person game as well.

Blackboard Team Race

Two teams are created and stand in back of the room. The first player of each team has a
piece of chalk in his hand. Teacher says a word, first player from each team runs to spell it on
the board. A point is given for a correctly and neatly spelled word. Keep play going.

Guess My Spelling (Hangman, Connolly-style)

Teacher chooses a commonly misspelled word for the game. We don’t hang a man (too
gruesome for us ). Instead, we choose a seasonal theme (grow a flower, create a Jack O’
lantern, etc.). This is a great game when waiting for another teacher to come.

Partner Work
Partners test each other with a short list of commonly misspelled words. They use slates,
sidewalk or practice books to spell each word for each other.

Dismissing Game
When dismissing for recess or going home, each student has to spell one of the words to be
dismissed.

Fill up/Seven up
Before the game: The teacher makes up a list or a stack of index cards of words with the
consonant blends or vowel combinations to be practiced and creates Fill up/Seven up grid.

How to play: Shuffle the cards for random order. The students write in the chosen headings,
such as bl-, wh-, oa, ar, etc. in the grid in whatever order they wish. Then the teacher or a
student volunteer chooses a card and reads the word on the card. The students write down
the word under the correct heading. The object of the game is to fill up the grid.

Bl Wh Sh Ch Th Pl

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Word Hunt
Students select a book from the classroom library and search for words that fit into their
sort.

Word search
Create a word search that contains the word study words for the students to solve. Or have
the students make up their own to give to another student to solve.

Crossword puzzle
Create a crossword puzzle that contains the word study words for the students to solve.

Concentration
Play with another person or by yourself. Use the word cards for the week. Place the key
words under each of the headings. Set aside the oddballs. Shuffle the rest of the word cards.
Lay the word cards face down in a pattern of rows and columns. Player 1 turns over 2 cards
and places them back in their spots so the other player can see them. Player 1 then reads and
spells both word cards and checks to see if they have matching spelling patterns. If they do,
Player 1 keeps both cards. If the cards have different spelling patterns, Player 1 turns them
back over in the exact place and her turn ends. Then Player 2 takes a turn flipping, reading,
spelling, and trying to match two more cards. The player with the most matching pairs wins.
If time, shuffle the cards and start over.

Word-O
Students take a word from a spelling sorting list and make a new word by changing one
letter. For example: tub → cub, take → cake, why → who, spit → spot. (A source for word
sorts is Words Their Way)

No Vowels/ No Consonants
Students rewrite their spelling sorting lists putting dashes where there are vowels. Example:
here→h-r- hear→h - - r
Then they write the list putting dashes where there are consonants. Example: here → -e-e
hear → -ea-

Spelling Word Scramble

The object of this game is to unscramble a spelling word from the word list. The game can be
played with another person. The scrambler takes a spelling word list card from a pile placed
face down in the center of the desk, or chooses one from the spelling list and scrambles the
letters of the word. The scrambler should write the mixed up letters on his slate or paper.
The scrambler shows the scrambled letters by holding up the slate or paper. The scrambler
continues to show the mixed up letters until the speller unscrambles the spelling word. No
hints are allowed. Then the other person gets to be the scrambler. Play continues until all
spelling words from the list have been scrambled and unscrambled.

Anagrams
Show the students how a word can be formed by rearranging its letters, such as tip to pit, or
keep to peek. Write keep on the BB and have the students read the word, then have them
close their eyes and write the new word. You can also take a word and jumble up the letters
to make a new word such as stable to tables.

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Pyramids
Begin the pyramid by writing a vowel on the BB. Then each person adds a letter on either
side of the vowel to make a word. This is a great filler game when waiting for another
teacher to come. It can be played as a partner game as well. Here are two examples:
O I
ON IN
ONE PIN
ONCE SPIN
SPINE

Hink Pink
This game is good for spelling and vocabulary building. Hink pinks are one-syllable words that
rhyme. You write down the "definition" of the hink pink and the students figure out the hink
pinks. For example, if the clue is "a plump feline," the hink pink is "fat cat." Google images of
Hink Pinks for examples.
You can move on to Hinky Pinkies (two-syllable words that rhyme), Hinkety Pinketies (three
syllables, e.g., "when military boats have a race" = "armada regatta"), and Hitinkety
Pitinketys (four syllables).

Homophone Rummy
Two or more students write homophones on index cards. Students deal out cards and find as
many matches as they can until the deck is gone. As a student gets a match, she will place her
homophone pair face up on the floor for everyone to see.

Gypsy Word Teller

Students stack their word cards face down. First player pulls a card and puts it on her
forehead not looking at the word. Her partner will give one-word clues until the person
holding the card on her head guesses the word. Then it’s the partner’s turn.

Battleship
Played just like the real game–students arrange about ten spelling words going down or
across. Make sure they are not touching. As the opponent makes a guess, the 2nd player
checks own sheet to see if a letter is in that spot. If it is, then the opponent will mark that
letter on her guess sheet. If it’s a miss, then she places a dot in that square so she won’t call it
again. When one player thinks she has sunk a ship, say the word out loud and then circle it to
know that it has been sunk.

Phonogram Connect Four

See http://mrstsfirstgradeclass-jill.blogspot.com/2013/02/phonogram-connect-four.html

Slate Partners
After teaching a vowel digraph that has two different sounds such as /oo/, the teacher
whispers a word that has either the “oo-boot” sound or the “oo-foot” sound into each
child’s ear and the child spells the word on his slate. Students move around the room finding
a partner who has a word with the same /oo/ sound while whispering their word. Then the
students pair up around the room and say their words one pair at a time. You can do this
with the two /ou/ sounds and the two /ow/ sounds as well.

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Word Riddles
Prepare in advance a set of cards, each with a noun on it from your list of spelling words, so
that each child who comes to the front will have a word. Call children one at a time to the
front. Each child becomes that noun and thinks of clues to describe the noun. Help each child
to give the class clues, one at a time, about who or what she is. For example, if her word is
barn, she might say:
I am the home for some animals.
I am often painted red.
You can see me on a farm.
All of the other students write the word on their slates. When a student wants to guess the
word, she must raise her hand, wait to be called upon, and then spell the word correctly on
the board. All check that the child spelled the right word correctly.

Team Spelling
This is a great game to help students learn to be cooperative and supportive! Before you
begin, have a list of spelling words or words closely related to the spelling words. Each
student needs a slate and chalk. All children have their slates and chalk ready. Call out one
word at a time from your list. Ask the students how many sounds they hear. Each student
along the row writes the letters that make up the beginning, middle and ending sound of the
word. Have these students come to the front of the classroom and arrange themselves in the
correct order of sounds. The rest of the students spell the whole word on their slates. Have
the students check their work with each other.

The last three games were adapted from http://www.spelling-words-well.com/index.html

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