Fun spelling games for kids

9 Stimulating Spelling Games for Kids

Spelling can be a difficult and frustrating task for kids; the English language has so many rules and exceptions to remember. However, there are ways to make learning to spell fun for kids! One way is by playing spelling games.

Spelling games are a great way for kids to spell because they’re interactive and engaging. Plus, they can be played anywhere – at home, in the car, or even at school. This blog post will share nine of the best spelling games for kids. Also, we’ll share a list of online spelling games and resources so you can get started right away!

Here are the ten most famous spelling games for kids of all ages:

This classic game is a great way to practice spelling words. To play, one player thinks of a word, and the other player tries to guess it by guessing letters. If the letter is in the word, the player gets the point. If not, the player receives a strike. The game is over when either the word is guessed, or the player gets six strikes.

Spelling Games for kids are a great way to improve spelling skills. By playing these games, children can learn how to spell words correctly and practice spelling them in a fun and interactive way. To play, children are given a list of spelling words, and they have to spell them correctly. The winner is the child who can spell the most words correctly in a given time.

This spelling game is similar to Hangman but with a twist. Instead of guessing letters, players guess words. The player starts with a clue word, and then they have to spell words that are one letter different from the clue word. For example, if the clue word is “cat,” the next word could be “bat.” The player who gets to the end of the ladder first wins the game.

One of the all-time classic spelling games, Boggle is perfect for kids of all ages. To play, you’ll need a Boggle board, which is a grid of letter tiles. Players take turns finding words in the grid. The longer the word, the more points you get! This game is great for practicing spelling and vocabulary.

This spelling game is perfect for kids who are just starting to spell words. To play, you’ll need a list of spelling words. Players take turns picking a word and then jumbling it up. The other players have to guess what the word is. The player who guesses the most words correctly wins the game.

Word Battle pits two players against each other. Each player writes a list of words on a piece of paper. The words should be ones that the other player may not know how to spell. The two players then take turns spelling the words out loud. For each word that is spelled correctly, the player gets the point. The first player to reach 10 points wins the game.

This spelling game is a twist on the classic scavenger hunt. Instead of looking for objects, players will search for words. Make a list of spelling words and hide them around the house or classroom. Give each player a copy of the spelling list and see who can find all the words first. You can also give players bonus points if they find the words in order.

This spelling game is perfect for kids who need to get up and move around. All you need is a ball and a list of words. Write out a list of spelling words on small pieces of paper, fold them up, and put them in a bucket or hat. Kids pick out a word, spell it correctly, and then toss the ball into a basket or bucket. If the spelling is incorrect, they must put the word back and try again.

Word Match is similar to the classic memory game. You will need a deck of cards and a timer. Write one word on each card, including different spelling levels. For example, you can have words like ‘bat,’ ‘hut,’ and ‘ghost’ for easier words, and ‘acquaintance,’ ‘strenuous,’ and ‘precarious’ for more challenging words. Shuffle the cards and lay them out face down. Players take turns flipping over two cards, trying to find a match. If they find a match, they keep the pair of cards. If not, they turn the cards back over, and it’s the next player’s turn. The game is over when all the matches have been found.

1.

SplashLearn offers reading and spelling games for kids of all ages. The games are interactive and engaging, making them perfect for kids who are just starting to spell words. The reading games are divided up by age group so that you can find the perfect game for your child.

Sign up and try for free!

2.

With a name like FunBrain, you know this spelling site will be good. This educational game site has a variety of spelling games for kids of all ages. Try out the Pre-K spelling section if your child is starting to learn to spell. There are spelling games for the 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, and 3rd Grade.

3.

Word Games is a great site for kids looking for spelling games that are a little out of the ordinary. You’ll find spelling games like Hangman, Word Scramble, and Word Ladder on this site. These games are perfect for kids who need a break from the traditional spelling game.

4.

Spelling Words Well is a spelling game for kids that can be played online or downloaded as an app. The game features three different spelling modes: Spell It, which tests players on their spelling of words; Beat the Clock, which challenges players to spell as many words as possible in a certain amount of time; and Word Ladder, which tests players on their spelling of words in a certain order.

5.

PBS Kids is an excellent resource for spelling games for kids. You’ll find spelling games on the site like WordGirl Spelling Bee, Martha Speaks Dog Tags, and Fetch with Ruff Ruffman Blast Off. These games are perfect for kids who are just starting to spell words.

Spelling games are a fun and interactive way to help kids learn to spell. They can also provide a bit of friendly competition and some laughs along the way. We’ve provided nine of our favorite spelling games for kids to keep them entertained while they improve their spelling skills. So get out there and have some fun!

What is the best way to help my child learn how to spell?

There is no “best” way to help your child learn to spell. However, there are a few things that you can do to help them along the way. First, make sure that they have a good foundation in phonics. This will help them sound out words and understand the basic building blocks of spelling. Next, provide them with plenty of opportunities to practice spelling words. Finally, make sure to praise their efforts and celebrate their successes.  

What are some of the benefits of playing spelling games?

Spelling games offer several benefits for kids. They help improve phonemic awareness, phonological processing, and visual processing skills. They also help to build confidence and self-esteem, as well as provide a bit of healthy competition. And, of course, they’re just plain fun!

What is the best age for kids to start playing spelling games?

There is no “best” age for kids to start playing spelling games. However, most experts agree that it’s never too early to start. The sooner kids are exposed to the basic building blocks of spelling, the better. This will give them a head start on the learning process and make it easier for them to pick up new words down the road.

9 Fun Spelling Games For Kids That You Can Do At Home

If you think all spelling games are rigid and boring, think again! At HOMER, we’re all about building confident learners ready for school and life, and we believe this can be done in fun and exciting ways!

From sneaky switching letters to jumping across letter lily pads, we’ve selected our favorite spelling games to share with you to make your child’s spelling journey an enjoyable one.

In this article, we’ll break down the importance of spelling in early learning, including the stages of spelling development.

We’ll also tell you about nine fun, simple spelling games that you can play at home with minimal equipment required. Let’s get started!

Why Is Spelling Important In Early Learning?

Spelling development is a critical skill in early learning for many reasons.

Spelling is a lifelong skill that your child will use every day, no matter the career they choose later in life, so it’s important that we build strong, confident spellers from early childhood.

As children learn to spell and write with higher accuracy, it makes their writing easier to read — not only for the adults and peers in their lives but also for themselves. This increases confidence in children as spellers and writers.

Additionally, strengthening your child’s spelling abilities assists in both reading and writing skill development.

Phonetically reading and spelling are connected in that reading involves blending sounds into words and spelling involves separating sounds to write a word.

Taking advantage of this skill reversibility is a plus for early readers and will help your child simultaneously build skills in reading and spelling.

The Stages Of Spelling Development

The five stages of spelling development are the precommunicative stage, the semiphonetic stage, the phonetic stage, the transitional stage, and the correct stage.

Here’s a closer look at each of these stages.

Precommunicative Stage

The precommunicative stage is the first phase of spelling development. If your child falls into this group, they don’t yet understand letter-sound correspondence, which is the relationship between written and spoken language.

Children in the precommunicative stage also haven’t yet grasped the difference between upper and lowercase letters, and they may not know the entire alphabet. But that doesn’t mean they’re not trying to learn those letters.

At this stage, children are usually scribbling. Sometimes those scribbles look very similar to our alphabet. Other times, not so much.

All this scribbling and letter learning helps prepare them for the next exciting stage!

Semiphonetic Stage

The big milestone of this stage is that a child begins to understand letter-sound correspondence.

Children arrive at this milestone by learning how to connect written letters to the sounds they make. For instance, for the letter “p,” they may say “puh” to indicate the sound it makes in words.

Another interesting element of this phase is that children may ignore vowels when spelling words. Instead of writing “because,” they may spell it as “bkz.” The child hears the /b/ and the /k/ but attributes the /k/ to K, not C, and the buzz sound for S, which is almost a Z sound.

While it can be tempting to try to correct your child, that shouldn’t be the focus at this stage. Instead, celebrate their progress because this phase won’t last long.

Phonetic Stage

You will notice further development of letter-sound correspondence at this stage. Your child will also show an improved understanding of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, such as pan, bit, dog, cat, etc.

Children at this spelling stage will begin to understand letter chunks. This is when we connect more than one letter to create a specific sound. For example, ch, sh, br, etc.

The phonetic stage is a major milestone in your child’s spelling development. They are on their way to understanding the basic spelling rules of the English language!

Transitional Stage

Children show an improved ability to handle decodable and non-decodable words at this stage.

Decodable words follow the regular spelling rules and patterns of the English language. Therefore, it’s easier to sound them out when spelling. Non-decodable words are different because they don’t follow the regular patterns of our language (done instead of dun, was instead of wus, give instead of giv, etc.).

As your child’s phonetic instincts improve, they’ll get better at spelling decodable words by sounding them out.

When your child doesn’t know a word, they may rely on their ability and understanding of the structure of words. But they may still incorrectly spell some words. For example, they might spell “egul” instead of “eagle.”

Since non-decodable words (i.e., sight words) don’t follow regular patterns, children may eventually learn them through memorization.

Correct Stage

When your child has reached this stage, they understand the basic spelling rules of the English language. This includes dealing with silent vowels and consonants, prefixes and suffixes, and alternative and irregular spellings.

Children can comfortably handle many words at this phase and may even notice their own spelling mistakes.

With these stages in mind, the games we’ve selected below are geared toward children in the semiphonetic, phonetic, and transitional stages.

This means we’ll be focusing on developing your child’s skills in using consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, sight words, phonetic spelling, and letter-sound correspondences.

Keep reading to find out how to play our favorite spelling games!

9 Fun Spelling Games You Can Do At Home

Kindergarten Spelling Games

Throughout kindergarten, your child will begin to learn CVC words that are phonetically regular, such as bed, kid, top, and bug.

When choosing spelling games for your child in this age group, it’s best to stick to activities that include these types of words to build confidence and enhance what they’re learning at school.

Try out our favorites below!

1) Letter Switch

For this exercise, you’ll need letters written on post-it notes, magnetic letters, or some letters cut out from a magazine — whatever is most easily accessible for you.

Starting with a CVC word such as “cat”, have your child change out the first letter to create a new word, such as “pat”. It’s best to start with first-letter changes, as most children will find this the easiest way to learn.

Once your child becomes more familiar and confident with CVC words, you can increase the level of difficulty by having them change the last letters of the word (changing “pat” to “pan”, for example) and then introduce changing vowels, so “pan” becomes “pin”.

Start with a small goal — five correct letter changes equals a win, for example.

Eventually, as your child becomes stronger with their letter changes, you can increase the number of correct changes needed to win the game.

2) Create-A-Word

Start by gathering the post-it notes, magnetic letters, or cut-out letters that you would have used in our first game.

Pick out three letters in no particular order that create a CVC word, and then have your child create a word using the letters you’ve chosen.

If your child is having trouble spelling a word using the letters given, try first putting the vowel in place. This way, your child only needs to fill in the beginning and ending consonants.

Ready to increase the difficulty level of this game? Try picking out six letters and have your child spell out two words!

3) Visualize The Word

As we help our children with their spelling, it’s essential to help them visualize the words so that spelling really comes alive for them. Fortunately, spelling activities can make learning to spell creative and fun!

For this activity, you’ll need a few magazines, a pair of child-safe scissors, a glue stick, craft paper, a marker, and some crayons.

Start by introducing your child to a CVC word, like pan. Then, hand them the magazines and ask them to find the letters p, a, and n (you may want to help them look for larger words in the headlines or titles so that they’re easier to glue).

After finding these letters, have your child cut them out and paste them onto their craft paper. Once they’ve completed this, have them search for images of pans to add to their masterpiece.

Creating this art piece can help children focus on each letter individually, and the visual representations of the word may also help them remember what the term actually means.

First Grade Spelling Games

As your first grader is learning to solidify CVC words and phonetically spell words with beginning and ending consonant blends, it’s important to find spelling games that help reinforce these lessons.

We’ve chosen our favorite games to help your first grader reinforce phonetically regular words and memorize crucial sight words that aren’t phonetically regular. Take a look below!

4) Letter Removal

Using magnetic letters or a chalkboard, select and spell out three words that your child is learning to spell.

Have your child close their eyes and take away one letter from each word. Scramble up the removed letters and once your child opens their eyes, have them remake each word.

Once they’re an expert, try taking away two letters from each word, then three, and so on. You could also add in time limits once your child is ready so they can try to beat their personal best!

5) Poster Words

Using the Dolch Word List or your child’s writing, select a word that your child is often misspelling or would like to learn to spell.

For more advanced spellers, try selecting a few words at a time to watch their progress bloom!

On a sheet of paper or cardboard (one per word), draw five large checkboxes at the top and write the word in large bubble letters in the middle to create a poster.

Next, spend some time decorating the letters with colorful markers, stickers, glitter — anything you want!

Once per day, have your child spell out their chosen word without looking at the poster. Each time they’re able to spell it correctly, they get to add a giant check mark to one of the five boxes.

After they’ve filled all five boxes, it’s time to create a new poster! You can even hole-punch each poster once it’s completed and store it in a loose-leaf binder, watching it get thicker and thicker as your child masters more words.

6) Unscramble The Word

For this fun game, all you need are fridge magnets or alphabet blocks.

Choose three words, and scramble their letters with the magnets or blocks. Then, have your child unscramble these words by placing the letters in the correct order.

For an increased challenge, ask them to complete this task within a certain time limit. You can even start with simple words and increase the difficulty as their spelling skills improve.

If you have multiple children, this can also be a great competitive game — the first player to unscramble all their words wins!

Second Grade Spelling Games

Your second grader now knows words with less frequent letter-sound correspondences, such as oy, oi, ou, and aw sounds. This means you can select a variety of age-appropriate words in the spelling games you play to help expand their vocabulary.

Three of our favorite spelling games for second graders are below!

7) Build A Spelling Snowman

This game is just like the traditional Hangman game, but more kid-friendly!

Start by choosing a word in your head, and on a whiteboard or piece of paper, draw the correct number of lines for each letter to be filled in as you play. For example, the word “fright” would have six blank spaces to be filled in with each correct guess.

Have your speller guess what letter might be in the word and fill in a blank with a letter on each correct guess. For each incorrect guess, gradually draw a snowman piece by piece until you run out of additions.

This could start with a large circle for the snowman’s body, a smaller circle for his midsection, and an even smaller circle for the head.

It’s up to you how generous you’d like to be as to how many extra parts the snowman has, but remember to draw in his sticks for arms and fingers, buttons, carrot nose, and of course, his smile!

This fun spelling game can also be played in reverse so that with each correct answer, you’re slowly building the snowman.

8) Leap Across The Spelling Lily Pads

Start this game by writing out each letter of the alphabet on separate pieces of paper to act as your lily pads.

Place the lily pads in any order on the floor and choose a word for your child to spell, saying it out loud. Start with shorter words, and then slowly build up to more complex words.

Once your child knows the word to spell, they can hop like a frog from one lily pad to another until the word is correctly spelled out.

You can add time limits or a points system

Start this game by writing out a select number of letters of the alphabet on separate pieces of paper to act as your lily pads.

Place the lily pads in any order on the floor and choose a word for your child to spell, saying it out loud. Start with shorter words, and then slowly build up to more complex words.

Once your child knows the word to spell, they can hop like a frog from one lily pad to another until the word is correctly spelled out.

You can add time limits or a points system if your child is more advanced, and keeping track of their achievements makes this game even more fun!

9) Spell And Toss

All you need to play this game is a ball that you can easily toss around (e.g., beach ball, tennis ball, etc.). If you’re playing inside, a balled-up sock might be better.

Start by having your family stand in a circle. Then, the first player has to call out a word and toss the ball to the next player, who needs to say the first letter of the word.

When that player is done, they will toss the ball to the next person, who needs to say the second letter, and so on. When a player gets a letter wrong, they can toss the ball to the next player, who will try a different letter.

The player to say the last correct letter gets to decide the next word to spell. As your child’s vocabulary and spelling skills improve, you can pick the pace up by requiring each player to name their letter within a certain time limit.

This is also a great way to practice for the spelling tests your child will likely have once they reach second grade.

Effective Strategies To Help Your Child Spell

In addition to playing spelling games, here are some tips to help your child improve their spelling.

Focus On Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is a person’s ability to identify and manipulate sounds, specifically phonemes.

A phoneme is the smallest possible unit of sound in a language. Every word in our language is made up of phonemes, and we blend them to help us form words.

For example, “dog” has the phonemes d/o/g. So, we blend these small sounds (i.e., phonemes) to pronounce the complete word.

Understandably, children who haven’t yet mastered this skill will have some trouble spelling accurately. That’s why helping your child with phonemic awareness is a great place to start.

If your child is struggling with some words, you can read them out loud slowly by focusing on each phoneme and then speed up to say the entire word. For example, c/a/t. Cat!

Practice With Rhyming Words

Rhymes are a critical component of phonological awareness. But they deserve their spot on our list because of how effective they can be in helping children with their spelling.

That’s because a child who knows how to spell the word ball will find it easy also to spell all, call, fall, hall, etc.

You can check out this blog for effective rhyming strategies you can use at home.

Allow For Phonetic Spelling

This tip is important, particularly for younger spellers. Allow your child to spell a word out according to what it sounds like to them.

You can achieve this by first encouraging them to say each letter as they spell. For example, /c/ /a/ /t/ for cat or /p/ /i/ /n/ for pin (later advancing to /s/ /p/ /i/ /n/ for spin).

Once they’ve spelled it out, review it together while focusing on each letter. You can then talk about which letters need to be changed for the word to be correct.

Practice The Chunks In Words

As highlighted above, when we talk about chunks, we’re referring to the grouping of more than one letter together to produce a specific sound. The English language has many, such as ple, br, ch, sh, all, as well as word families such as ish, ang, ack, etc.

Allow your child to practice writing words that have the same chunks (e.g., child, chair, chain, champ, etc.) so they can familiarize themselves with the word families — groups of words with a typical pattern or feature.

The next time your child encounters a word that begins with a “ch” sound, they’ll be better equipped to spell it correctly.

Make Regular Reading A Priority

This is one of our favorite tips!

Reading has many incredible benefits for children, such as cognitive and language development, improving listening skills, and developing a child’s imagination. So, make this a priority by having a variety of books that you can read together.

While reading, remember to emphasize words with specific patterns or rules. For example, if you come across the word ring, remind your young learner of the other words with an “ing” sound, like wing, sing, king, etc.

By doing this, you help your child recognize similar pronunciations and spellings more easily when they see them in the future.

Make Spelling Fun And Simple With HOMER!

With the spelling games above and some practice, your child can improve their spelling skills while having fun in the process!

One way to make spelling fun is to use our Explore Letters Kit. It is a perfect addition to your exploration of spelling, from CVC words for kindergarteners to more advanced spelling words to develop your second grader’s skills.

Packed with fun activities and expert tips and instructions, our Explore Letters Kit will take your child on a spelling journey like no other!

Author

We don't miss you! 13 games for the New Year holiday

New Year is a family holiday, and everyone should celebrate it together. And so that children do not get bored at the same table with adults, many fun games have been invented. What all generations can play at once, says preschool teacher and psychologist Svetlana Pyatnitskaya.

Svetlana Pyatnitskaya, preschool teacher, child and perinatal psychologist, author of educational programs for preschool children

The games that will be discussed do not require any preparation, and in most cases props are not needed. Players and hosts will only need imagination, quick reaction and good mood. nine0003

"New Year's song"

In plastic packages from chocolate eggs, put cards with words on the winter theme: "herringbone", "frost", "blizzard", "blizzard", "hours", "December". Hang it all on a string. The participant approaches it, they blindfold him, he cuts off one plastic egg, opens and reads out the word hidden there. The task of the team is to remember the New Year's song as quickly as possible, where there is a specified word: “A Christmas tree was born in the forest”, “Oh, frost-frost”, “The January blizzard is ringing”, “While the clock strikes twelve”, “Three white horses: December, January and February" and so on. nine0003

Fanta

There are several ways to play Fanta. The most famous: players put one of their personal items into the host’s bag: it can be a pen, a notebook, keys, a hairpin, a toy. The host, who was chosen from among the participants, turns away while one of the players takes out a personal item from the bag with the question: “What should this phantom do?”. The host assigns a task to the phantom. After that, the player whose item was taken out performs the task.

You can try to play like this: first, the players put their things in a bag, and then, with the help of a rhyme, the participant is selected who will perform the task invented by the leader. After successful completion, he has the right to pick up his item and come up with a task for the next one. With the help of a rhyme, he chooses the one who will become this lucky one. Assignments can be very fun and creative. For example, an adult plays the role of a naughty child who demands to be bought ice cream right here. And the child turns out to be an adult who must come to an agreement with the child by all means. Have the players pretend to be the following characters: a trained circus dog, a monkey begging for a banana, a fortune teller who can predict what the coming year will be like for each participant. Complicate the tasks: pronounce a tongue twister, draw a symbol of the year on a piece of paper, holding a felt-tip pen in your teeth, sing the song “A Christmas tree was born in the forest”, using “Wow-wow” instead of the words. nine0003

“Decorating the Christmas tree”

Three participants are selected in each team. One stands on a stool and depicts a Christmas tree. The other two decorate the "Christmas tree" with improvised materials, and these should not be Christmas toys and other New Year's attributes!

"New Year's Poster"

Students can be asked to create a greeting card-poster. It should contain a congratulation or a poem about how the New Year holiday is going, who gathered at the table, portraits of those present, illustrations of what guests can wish. Half an hour is given to complete, after which everyone demonstrates what he did. You can complete the task in a team. nine0003

"Black Box"

If you have a few small gifts that you want to give to guests, but have not yet decided who to give what to, you can beat it as follows. Put gifts in a box and pass them to the participants sitting at the table. Each of them is a psychic. Its task is to creatively predict what is in the black box. The one who is closest to the answer wins a prize from the box.

"Christmas tree"

Each participant draws or writes a cherished wish on a sticker or cardboard, makes a hole in it with a hole punch, threads it. The resulting wish must be tied on a walk to a festively decorated spruce, for example, in a park or a shopping center. nine0003

“This is news!”

For those children who can write, give the task of creating several sets of five cards. Each set should contain one card with the name of the country or city, animal, winter character, object, name and location. You can't repeat! For example: Japan, deer, Snow Maiden, stupa, cafe.

Then the cards, the number of which must be a multiple of five, must be arranged in bags or boxes and mixed properly. Each package contains cards of the same type. Players take turns taking cards from all packages and come up with a bright piece of news from the words they got. For example: "Do you remember how in one of the cafes in Japan the Snow Maiden found a deer in a mortar?" At the end, you can vote which news has become sensational. nine0003

“A Christmas tree was born in words”

The task of the participants sitting at the festive table is to name the word that contains “spruce” as quickly as possible. There are not very many such words - the more interesting it is to play: “vermicelli”, “caramel”, “dumplings”, “watercolor”, “jelly”, “rails”, “target”, “slit”, “drill”, “stranded”, "Monday", "drops", "carousel", "thaw". What else can you remember?

"The best year ever!"

Those sitting at the table in turn briefly tell what event was the most memorable and pleasant for them, and why. nine0003

Guessing game

It will be easy to find tinsel, ribbon or wire in a festively decorated house. Divide into teams: the first team uses these materials to create a silhouette of the intended object, the second guesses what was meant. Think of simple concepts known to kids: an apple, a Christmas tree, an icicle, a candy, a tangerine, an angel, a hare, a bear, and so on.

"Gifts"

This task requires preparation and sweet props, which every house is sure to have. Write on small pieces of paper the nominations: "The owner of the longest braid", "The owner of the most red hair", "The one who tells the longest New Year's poem", "The performer of the most cheerful New Year's song", "The one whose outfit is scarlet" and etc. Attach these leaflets to the sweets that you will solemnly hand out to the winners in these categories. And the participants will have to show ingenuity and quick reaction to win: you can tie yourself a butterfly from a red napkin so that the outfit has a scarlet color, or make a braid out of a scarf. nine0003

"Magic Wand"

For this game you will need a pen or a ruler - this will be the magic wand. Put on some fun music and have the players pass the stick around. Stop the music suddenly: the task of the player, in whose hands the wand is at this moment, is to perform a ditty. If the ditty does not come to mind, you can replace it with a poem or a New Year's song.

Young Detectives and Detectives

The children are blindfolded and asked questions in turn. For example: “Who is sitting to your right?”, “Who is dressed as a Snowflake today?”, “How many children are in the house?”, “What color is the tablecloth on the table?”, “What toys are hanging on the Christmas tree?”, “What games did we play today?" The correct answer gets candy and the proud title of the most attentive detective. nine0003

Let fun games that children can play on an equal footing with adults become a good tradition for your family and strengthen it even more!

See also:

Oh! recommends: 6 best New Year trees in Moscow

How to tell children the truth about Santa Claus

DIY: 6 beautiful DIY Christmas crafts

Photo: 2shrimpS/Chirtsova Natalia/Yuganov Konstantin/YanLev/Shutterstock. com

children New Year's Eve 90 nine0003

what to play at the initial stage?

Elena Filatova

45508 0 12/17/2019

As you know, game tasks are the decoration of any lesson. Not even like that. Ideally, they are one of the key stages of the lesson, since it is in the form of a game that it is most effective to consolidate existing knowledge. Of course, the higher the level of the students, the more interesting games can be used: authentic board games, role-playing games, debates, puzzles, associations... there are many options. However, at the initial level, when the vocabulary of students is very limited, it is quite difficult to come up with a game (especially a communicative one). nine0003

Based on the experience of fellow Russian as a foreign language teachers, we tried to compile a list of successful, in our opinion, games that can be used to work with the A1 level.

• Favorite sound . The goal of the game is to work out one or another difficult sound. Option 1: the teacher reads a text or a poem, students clap their hands when they hear this sound. Option 2: students count how many times the studied sound occurs in the text or poem. nine0113
• For example, to practice the sound [r], you can use the following poem by A. Barto :

Left, p r avoy!

Left, p r avoy!

On pa r hell comes from r poison.

On pa r hell comes from r poison.

Ba R Carrier very R hell.

Ba r abanite, ba r abanite

Polto r a hours under r poison.

• "Correct Reading" . The teacher together with the students analyzes a short text. Then the students are divided into two teams and read the text according to the sentence. If someone makes a mistake, the team skips a turn and loses one point. The team that finishes reading first wins.
• Alphabet . The teacher shows cards with letters. The team that can correctly name the most words for each letter wins.
nine0110 Football . The teacher pronounces the word, the task of the students is to name another word that begins with the same sound as the first.
• "Is that a question?" . Students listen to statements that are different in terms of intonation. When they hear a question, they raise their hand or card up.

• "Lost letters" . Students are divided into two teams, each team receives a list of words in which letters are missing. The task is to insert the missing letters. nine0113
• "The word is lost" . Students look for words in the letter box. For example, we have compiled a field on the topic “Clothes”, in which the words hat, dress, jacket, skirt, trousers, jeans, t-shirt, shirt are encrypted.

• Snowball . Students name words on the topic being studied, each next participant must repeat all the words spoken before him
• Dictation marathon . Students are divided into two teams, both receive the same passage of text. Each team selects a student who will write the dictation. The task of the other participants is to run up to the text, memorize an excerpt from it, run up to the writer and dictate a passage to him. The team that finishes writing faster and makes fewer mistakes wins. Snowball. Students name words on the topic being studied, each next participant must repeat all the words spoken before him. nine0113
• Catch the ball . There are many options for ball games. For example, students can throw a ball to each other, naming antonyms, synonyms, words on the same topic, etc. The teacher and student can also throw the ball to each other: the teacher asks a question, the student answers. Another option is to use a ball bouncing off the surfaces: the student hits the ball on the floor and each time the ball touches the floor, he says one of the words being studied (a certain topic is selected). For example: "I know 5 words: mom, dad, brother, sister, grandmother." The function of the ball is to work at a faster pace, to help students focus on the task. In addition, such games enliven the lesson. nine0113
• Artist . One of the students receives a card with a word. Without showing the card to the others, he draws what the word means on the board. The other students have to guess what it is. To add excitement, you can divide students into teams.

• Describe yourself in three words . Students write three adjectives on the slips of paper that they think describe them. The teacher collects the papers and reads the adjectives aloud. The group must guess who it is. NB! It is important for this game that everyone in the group is well acquainted. nine0113
• Own game . The teacher writes on the board topics that the students have already studied, for example, “Free time”, “Family”, “Clothes”, “Holidays”, etc. The teacher asks one of the students what he wants to know from a friend. He says what he wants to ask, and asks a question on the chosen topic. Each topic can only be selected once.
• "Lotto" . Students receive sets of cards with nouns in different cases. The teacher writes the verb on the board. If students have a card with a word that can follow this verb, they raise their hand and form a phrase. Then the teacher writes the next verb. Students receive one point for each match. The one who scores the most points wins. nine0113

• Chest . The game is designed for two players (but if there are more students in the group, you can make several sets of cards). The teacher chooses four topics, for example: "Furniture", "Clothes", "Products", "Utensils". For each topic, he prepares four cards (sofa, bed, table, chair; potatoes, carrots, apple, milk, etc.). The cards are shuffled, each student receives four cards from different topics, the rest are in the deck. The student asks the partner: “Do you have furniture?” If so, he gets a card. The first person to collect the most kits wins. nine0113
• "Verbal portrait" . One of the students describes the appearance/clothes of the other without naming him. The rest must guess who it is.
• "Housewarming" . Students are presented with a picture of an empty room. They must tell where and what kind of furniture they want to put.
• "Help the cook" . The task of the students is to help the cook to prepare this or that dish. Students say what ingredients should be put in a pot (in a frying pan). You can ask students to explain how to cook one of their national dishes or their favorite dish. nine0113
• Dating site . Students receive "profiles" of people from a dating site and look for a pair for each profile, arguing their decision. For example:

• “Is something missing?” . For this game you will need cards with the image of the studied words. Such cards can be made independently, bought at a children's store or printed from pinterest.ru. Recently, the Russkiy Yazyk publishing house published a manual by T. B. Klementyeva “Play and memorize Russian words!”, In which there are sets of cards on the topics “Family”, “Clothes”, “Products”, etc. The cards are laid out on the table students try to remember them. Then the students turn away, and the teacher removes one or more cards. Students should say what is missing. nine0113
• Alphabetical . Students are divided into teams, each team must write one word for each letter of the alphabet and arrange them in alphabetical order. Points are deducted for spelling mistakes.
• "Find Anton" . According to the plot of the game, a young man Anton disappeared. Each of the students reads their mini-text, which says where the student saw Anton, for example: “You saw Anton near the store. You greeted him." The goal of the game is to restore Anton's route on the map given to the students. nine0113

• "Guess my plans" . One of the students guesses what he will do tomorrow / did yesterday, etc., while others try to guess his plans by asking questions that require a positive or negative answer, for example: “Will you walk in the park tomorrow?”, “Tomorrow you will you do your homework?"
• Impromptu . According to the author of the task Asonova G. A. [5], the game can be bought in the Igroved chain of stores. Included in the game - cards with different pictures. One student asks another a question. He draws a card from the deck. The student's answer should be related to what is shown on the card. "Why are you late for class?" (it's raining on the card). “Because it was raining.” nine0113
• Diary . Not a game, but rather a form of extracurricular work. The teacher asks students to keep a diary in Russian, describing everyday events in it. It is necessary to check the diary from time to time so that students do not forget about it.
• Yulang game sets are a great tool for a teacher. Now there are already 3 sets on the site, and we do not plan to stop!

✅ Verbs of motion and transport (A1)

✅ Verbs of motion and transport (A2)

✅ Free time and sports (A1)

You can find the full list of RFL lessons from the YLang team in the corresponding section . 250+ learning materials for different levels (from A1 to C2) can be a great addition to traditional textbooks.

Where else can I find games for Russian as a foreign language?

Here is a list of our favorite manuals, articles and Internet resources describing game methods in RFL lessons:

1. Akishina AA Russian language in games. M., 2011.
2. Arutyunov A. R., Chebotarev P. G., Muzrukov N. B. Game tasks in Russian language lessons: a book for a teacher. M., 1987.
3. Bezkorovainaya L. S., Shtylenko V. E., Shtylenko E. L. Maps, cards, pictures: textbook. allowance for the Russian language. SPb., 2011.
4. Bitekhtina N. B., Vaishnore E. V. Game tasks in the classroom in Russian as a foreign language // Live Methods. M., 2009.
5. Zakorchevnaya L.R. Game guide for beginners. M., 2019.
6. Kaznyshkina IV Communicative games at the lessons of Russian as a foreign language. M., 1983.
7. Klementieva T. B. Play and memorize Russian words! Manual-game in the Russian language. M., 2019.
8. Kolesova DV, Kharitonov AA Wordplay: what and how to play at the Russian language lesson. SPb., 2011.
9. Konysheva AV Game method in foreign language teaching. SPb., 2008.
10. Chubarova OE Verbs of movement with prefixes: a guide-game in the Russian language. M., 2015.
11. Shtelter O. In this little basket. Games in the Russian language lesson. Issue 1. St. Petersburg, 2011.
12. Stelter O. In this little basket. Games in the Russian language lesson. Issue 2. St. Petersburg, 2012.
13. Shtelter O. Poems, rhymes, rhymes. 100 poems for students of the Russian language. SPb., 2014.
14. RFL games
15. RCT materials. Boring Russian
16. Tochka.ru

For writing this article, we used the works from the list below:

1. Azarina L. E. Games in Russian as a foreign language // Vestn. CMO MSU. M., 2009, No. 3.
2. Asonova GA Grammar-communicative exercises with elements of the game as a way to enhance the knowledge of Russian as a foreign language // Bulletin of the Southern Federal University. Philological Sciences. M., 2013. No. 3.
3. Asonova G.A. Game and some other learning tasks as methods of intensifying teaching Russian as a foreign language at the initial stage within the framework of the program of the preparatory faculty of the Peoples' Friendship University // Linguistics and Intercultural Communication. 2016. Issue No. 1 (20). nine0113
4. Vasilyeva T. V. Games and creative tasks as a way to form professional competencies. From 3–36.
5. Gubanova T. V., Nivina E. A. Russian language in games: teaching aid. Tambov, 2007.
6. Zheleznyakova S. N. Role-playing games in the lessons of Russian as a foreign language // Actual problems of the humanities and natural sciences. M., 2017. No. 2–5.
7. Minkina I. I know ten Russian words // Teacher's newspaper, 2010.

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