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Spelling & Learning Games

Using games to help students improve their spelling and grammar can be an effective way to gain their attention. When children are engaged and interested in what they are doing, the results can be very positive. The following ideas can be adjusted to suit the age group you are working with.

Spelling Battleship
- This game is based on Battleship, where you have to sink your opponent's ships. Create a worksheet with two identical grids, labeled with letters down the side and numbers across the top. Divide students into pairs and hand out worksheets. Students write five words in random places on the top grid, without letting their partner see. The bottom grid is used to keep track of his opponent's board. The first student calls out a grid place, for example, C5. His opponent responds with "miss" or "hit." If it's a hit, the student is told what letter it is. The game proceeds until one student can say aloud all of his opponent's words.
Hang Man
- Hang Man is a classic spelling game. Divide partners into pairs; one student will think of a word, for example, "Saturday," then draw eight small lines, one for each letter in the word. His opponent will then call out a letter, and if that letter is in the word, it will be written in its correct place. If the letter called out is not in the word, it is discarded and a circle -- the first part of the "hang man" is drawn. The man consists the circle head and five lines: body, arms and legs. The winner is the student who either completes the man or guesses the correct word.
Spelling Knockout
- Divide students into two teams and instruct each team to form a single file line. The first student in each team is given a word that he has to spell aloud. If he spells out the word correctly, he moves to the back of the line and the next student is given a word to spell, continuing down the line. If a student spells a word incorrectly, he is out of the game until the next round. The winning team is the team with the most students.
Sentence Game
- Choose a word with more than four letters; the maximum number of letters should depend on the age of the students playing. Students then have to create a sentence using the letters from the chosen word, in the correct order, as the first letter of each word in the sentence. For example, if the chosen word is "wire," a sentence could be, "William is really exhausted."

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