It’s the night before your child’s spelling test. In a slight panic, you reach into their school bag and fumble around, only to discover a damp spelling book buried at the bottom. Hesitantly, you start to open it… You’re greeted by pages and pages of indistinguishable words which have melted and merged into each other.
If this is a relatable scenario, perhaps you and your child are seeking a new, stress-free way to liven up learning spellings. Luckily, there are lots of creative ways you can make learning spellings an entertaining experience!
Memorise mnemonics
Mnemonics are a great way to remember how to spell tricky words. Even now, I sometimes find myself reciting ‘big elephants can always understand small elephants’ to spell ‘because’!
The weirder and wackier the mnemonic, the easier it is to remember. Some more examples include:
- Never eat crisps, eat salad sandwiches and remain young (‘necessary’)
- Fred ran into evil Nancy’s dog (‘friend’)
- Rhythm helps your two hips move (‘rhythm’)
Why not have some fun creating mnemonics with your child for words they find particularly difficult to spell?
Backward brilliance
Writing out words backwards can be a great way to reinforce how to spell them (for example, ‘because’ becomes ‘esuaceb’) – plus, the results can be very amusing!
For some extra fun, use these backward words in sentences and see if your family can guess what the original word was. For example, “I really like eseehc” is referring to ‘cheese’!
Perfect pyramids
Write the first letter of a word. Underneath it, write it again and add the next letter in the word. Repeat this process until you complete the word, and you’ll have your very own pyramid! For example:
D
DR
DRA
DRAI
DRAIN
Super short stories
Write a short story using all of your spelling words. It can be as creative and crazy as you like! You can use this exercise to practise your best handwriting.
Amazing art
Make each spelling into its own work of art by writing each in a fantastic font. You could try bubble writing, making the word pop in 3D, or even writing it in the colours of the rainbow.
Speedy spellings
If your child has a competitive streak, why not see how quickly they can write each spelling? Time how long it takes them to write a word correctly and, as they become more familiar with it, challenge them to reduce this time by one second – while keeping their accuracy intact!
Easy etymology
Understanding why some words don’t follow established rules (such as the silent ‘b’ in ‘doubt’) can make them easier to remember. Plus, they make for some fun facts! Check out our blog on etymology to find out more.
Sandy spellings
Gather some sand in a tray (or if it’s sunny, take a trip to the beach!) and write out your spelling words in the sand with your finger. See how many you can write before the tide comes in!
Discover DoodleSpell
With a variety of question styles and educational games, DoodleSpell adapts to your child’s strengths and weaknesses and keeps spelling fresh and engaging. Best of all, you can add your child’s weekly spelling list into the app from the Parent Dashboard!
