Spelling Word Practice - Simple Ideas for Busy Parents

I don't know about you, but spelling words are stressing me out more than my kid! Not that they are hard, in fact, they are too easy, but they need to be practiced nightly, much to the dismay of my seven-year-old. It is then my parently responsibility to write down the creative ways I practice the words each night with this log to be turned in to the teacher weekly! Pressure's on and I feel the need to come up with something interesting each day. Luckily, our very nice first-grade teacher also provided a list of 50+ ways to practice spelling words. Some are just too much for a busy parent. Making each word out of playdoh is just not going to happen, Neither is cutting all of the letters out of the newspaper and gluing them in place. However, there are some ways to liven up spelling practice just enough to get your child to do it each night without kicking and screaming (much)!

Here are some simple ways to practice those dreaded spelling words:

1. Have your child type them on the computer. Sounds boring, but to a kid, typing a document on the computer is fun and cool.
2. Have your child write the words in chalk on black construction paper. Easy enough, yet the novelty of the chalk on black makes it work.
3. Create a crossword puzzle using one of the puzzlemakers online.
4. Use Scrabble pieces to spell the words.
5. Write the words in sand or dirt with a stick.
6. Write the words on the bathtub using bathtub crayons or paint. This is especially ingenious since they will be unwittingly taking a bath at the same time!
7. Have your child write them using an etch-a-sketch or the new light sketcher.
8. Buy assorted fun writing utensils - puffy paints, gel pens, highlighters, and so on to add some novelty to the chore of writing words!
9. Have a spelling contest during dinner. (recurrent theme here - killing two birds with one stone!)
10. Have your child write the words outside using sidewalk chalk or sidewalk paint.

There are more ideas where that came from, but this list will get you thinking about ways to just add that interesting edge that makes spelling a bit of fun for your child! Savor these days, parents! The days of geometry and chemistry homework are looming in the distance...