Cotton swabs just look a long skeleton bones so, I decided that they made a perfect Halloween themed building tool for Halloween spelling games. We left some of the cotton swabs full sized. Others were cut in half or just below their fluffy ends. My son and I found that we needed three different lengths of swabs to build the words in our spelling games.
We started by building the words on my son’s spelling list. The spelling list was actually on the table when the words were formed. That way we could review the spelling of his words tacitly. We both said the letters as he formed them to add an auditory element to this the first of our spelling games.
Some of the letters are challenging to build. The letter “e” was probably the hardest for either of us to make. It took several attempts, but we finally found a way to build an “e”. The letter “u” gave us some trouble too.
Children don’t have to get the letters formed perfectly. Our letters definitely weren’t perfect. The goal of this and the other spelling games we played was to spelling the words correctly.
Other Spelling Games
Call and Form
One person can call out a spelling word and the other can form it with skeleton bones. The person forming the words will have to have learned the spelling of each of the words or be able to sound them out.
One Starts and the Other Finishes
After review the words that will need to be spelled one person can select a word. That person can form the first two or three letters of the word they have selected. The second person will need to form the rest of the word. After they have completed the word, it is their turn to pick a word and start it.
Other Words with That Sound
Right now my son’s class is working on short vowel sounds. Each week half the words feature one vowel’s short sound. After reviewing the words on his list that feature that short sound, other words with that same vowel sound were explored. If your children are familiar with word families you could ask them to come up with others words in each words family. Following the brainstorming of words the words can be built using the skeleton bones.
As you can see there are a wide variety of spelling games you can using the skeleton bones. This is just a list of a few to get you stared. If you can think of other spelling games you can play, please tell me about them in a comment below.
Here are Some Other Spelling Games
Spelling Games with Mixed Up Words– Spelling words on written on index cards. The index cards are cut so that one letter appears on each section of the card. Each set of mixed up words is hidden under a cup. One at a time a cup is selected and the letters under the cup are unscrambled.
Spelling Activities: Trace and Write– A spelling spelling words are written on printable worksheet and the worksheet is placed in a photo frame. Children are asked to trace the words in the frame with a washable marker. Then they are to write the word themselves beside the word they traced.
Practicing Spelling Words with a Place Mat- Children can practice writing spelling words with washable paint, washable markers, straw sections or cookie cutters on a fun place mat.
