Kindergarten Word Games: Fun with Spelling

Kindergartners in Fishers Indiana bring home some very creative spelling worksheets. This week Meghan learned three more words by playing bingo, throwing a ball, working word puzzles, playing "Go Fish" and painting the sidewalk. As the experts will tell us, these are kinesthetic teaching methods, action or tactile learning.

This week's kindergarten words are "you," "is" and "for." Meghan already knows these words by sight. Yet spelling them without looking at them was a bit harder for her...until she played a few spelling games, that is. Now she's the kindergarten whiz kid with her weekly words.

Instant Spelling Word Puzzle.

We wrote the three spelling words out on a sheet of blank paper. Then, we cut out each letter in a separate square. Meghan liked the part where you turn the squares upside down and mush them all around. Then we turned them right side up, and she began spelling her three weekly words with the squares. Each time she got one, she would call out the word, read the letters and make up a song. "I can see you, y, o, u !" "This is fun, yes it i, s." And then the grand finale "This is for you, f, o, r !" A triple hitter! The songs were a creative touch Meghan felt like adding because she likes to sing.

Catch the Spelling Ball!

We found an old ball in the garage, and wrote the words on it with magic marker. Then we played catch. Each time Meghan caught the ball, she had to spell and say whichever word was under her fingers. Big sister Annie did not like my wimpy ball throwing so she stepped in at this point and the game became much more spirited.

Go Fish, Go Spell.

The Go Fish game played with only six flash cards (two of each word) takes about two seconds. So we played a few times, and amazingly, Meghan always won which was beginning to hurt my feelings, so we moved on.

Spelling Word Bingo.

This time, the game master (Annie) called out each word and Meghan had to find it on the bingo sheet the teacher sent home. She got to place a penny on each one she found. As soon as she had six pennies in a row, she yelled out "bingo!"

Paint the Sidewalk Spelling.

Would you allow your kindergartner to paint her spelling words all over the sidewalk? No? Well how about if she painted them with water? Armed with a bowl of water and a clean paintbrush, Meghan painted huge spelling words right on the sidewalk. It was a hot day, so of course by the time she got to the second word the first one was evaporating. Good thing these were short words!

Kindergarten spelling lessons involving singing, shouting, painting, and playing ball seem to turn spelling homework into recreation. It's the old Play n' Learn Plan, more recently known as kineasthetic learning for kindergartners.

Sources:
Kindergarten work sheets
Personal experience