Free Spelling Games Printable- Spelling Ladders

My son’s first spelling list of the year came home on Friday along with his weekly newsletter. This year instead of ten words he will have twenty. (That is a lot of words to work on each week. ) We have several games we play to review his words, but over the weekend I created two more spelling games that we can do to review his words. Today I am sharing the game Spelling Ladders and later this week I will be sharing with a set of gross motor actions kids can do while reviewing their spelling words.

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The Spelling Ladders game is really easy to play. Children have to spell their first word to place their game board piece (We used natural wood people pegs) on the Spell Up space. For each word they spell correctly they can move up one rung of the ladder.

When they reach the top of the ladder, children will spell a word to land on the arrow. Then they will head down the Spell Down ladder.We used the arrow as a game space if you have fewer words you may not want to. Then children will spell a word to move down each space on the ladder. When they reach the home, they will spell one last word to end the game. Just ending up on the home doesn’t constitute a win.

Variations for This Spelling Game

One child can call out a word to a second child and the second child can spell it out loud. Then they can switch roles.
One child can call out a word to a second child and the second child can write it down. Then they can switch roles.
A child can select their own word from their list. Then turn the list over and spell the word.
A third child or an adult can call out a word for the two children playing to spell out.
A word can be called out to two children. The child who thinks they know how to spell it can tap their game piece in their game space. Once it has been decided who tapped first, that child will spell the word.