Spelling activities for first graders

50 Hands-On Spelling Activities {for Phonics and Sight Words}

Has your spelling practice become dry or boring? Well, brush off the dust and try some of these hands-on spelling activities!

Since readers need to have BOTH phonics and sight words understanding to become good readers, focusing on both phonics AND sight words during spelling instruction is a great way to help words “stick” in a child’s memory.

When words are taken out of the context of a book and their patterns, letters, and parts are studied, it forces readers to slow down and really take it all the word has to offer them. This, in turn, helps them become better readers.

So today, I’d like to share 50 of my favorite hands-on spelling activities for phonics and sight words. Many of these are included in the back of my ebook, Teaching Kids to Spell.

Did you know you can find 700+ pages of printable spelling activities and games in my ebook? Yes! That’s enough to cover an entire year of spelling fun!

50 Hands-on Spelling Activities

Most all of these activities can be adapted for either phonics OR sight words. You can also insert your child’s spelling list into the activity instead of using the specific words shown in the post.

1. Scoop & Spell {This Reading Mama}

2. Sidewalk Chalk Spelling Hop {Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational}

3. Stamp Your Words {Lessons Learnt Journal}

4. Go on a Word Treasure Hunt {Hands On: As we Grow}

5. Make a Spelling Word Search Puzzle {This Reading Mama}

6. Use a Spelling Dictionary {The Measured Mom}

7. Dot Sticker Spelling {School Time Snippets}

8. Post-a-Word {This Reading Mama}

9. Make a Giant Crossword Puzzle {A Mom with a Lesson Plan}

10. Phonics Jumping Game {Learners in Bloom}

11. Play Word Rocket {Playdough to Plato}

12. Spell with Beads {Frugal Fun 4 Boys}

13. Spell with LEGO Letters {This Reading Mama}

14. Spell the Most Words Game {No Time for Flashcards}

15. Spinning Straw Spellers {Still Playing School}

16. Build Words with Rocks {Sugar Ants}

17. Glitter Spelling {Here Come the Girls}

18. Play Word Bump! {This Reading Mama}

19. Roll a Sight Word {I Can Teach My Child}

20. Making Words {Buggy and Buddy}

21. Paint your Words {Childhood 101}

22. Oversized Letter Cards for Spelling {This Reading Mama}

23. Seek and Find Spelling Game {What Do We Do All Day?}

24. Rainbow Write Your Words {Nurture Store}

25. Words 3 Ways {Teach Mama}

26. Use Crayon Resist {This Reading Mama}

27. Spell with Pipe Cleaners {Make and Takes}

28. Spell with Your Fingers {Home School Innovation}

29. Use Word Sorts {This Reading Mama}

30. Spell with Cereal {A Mom with a Lesson Plan}

31. Finger Tap Spelling {This Reading Mama}

32. Car Track Delivery Spelling Game {Stay at Home Educator}

33. Make a Chalkboard Refrigerator Game {Enchanted Homeschooling Mom}

34. Visual Spelling Practice {Home Literacy Blueprint}

Roll & Cover Game

35. Roll & Cover Spelling Words {This Reading Mama}

36. Make a Spelling Garage {123 Homeschool 4 Me}

37. Roll and Spell {Well-Nurtured Plants and Pillars}

38. Letter Lacing {Mama Miss}

39. Roll & Write Words {This Reading Mama}

40. Spelling Hangman {Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas}

41. Waffle Words Spelling Game {The Homeschool Post}

42. Use a Board Game {Teach Beside Me}

43. Spell with a Word Family Dictionary {guest post on The Measured Mom}

44. Play a Word Stretching Game {The Pleasantest Thing}

45. DIY Spelling Word Puzzles {This Reading Mama}

45. Allow Invented Spelling {1+1+1=1}

46. Spelling Puzzles {No Time for Flash Cards}

47. Missing Letter Spelling Game {Imagination Soup}

48. Ride to Spell {This Reading Mama}

49. Spelling Battleship {Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational}

50. Clip a Word {Sugar Ants}

51. Bottle Cap Spelling {This Reading Mama}

More Spelling Activities and Resources:

: Short Vowel Word Study

Go digital with spelling! Read all about my educational apps or purchase them on iTunes or Google Play!

All About Spelling is a fantastic spelling program using the Orton-Gillingham methods. Hands-on work is a big part of All About Spelling!

Using Words Their Way to Teach Spelling

5 Things Struggling Spellers Need

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky

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Hands-on Spelling Activities for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade

1st grade • 2nd grade • 3rd grade • 4th grade • 5th grade • Kindergarten • Kindergarten Language Arts • Language Arts • Spelling • Spelling Practice

September 8, 2015

by Beth Gorden

Are you looking for some hands-on spelling activities for kids? Here are lots of ideas to help keep your kinesthetic learner engaged and mastering spelling. The best way to learn spelling words with with a fun spelling activity or spelling games for kids. These spelling fun games are perfect for pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade students!

Spelling activities for kids

Kids needs lots of practice to become good spellers! Having kids build words letter by letter is great hands on way to learn spelling words. These spelling activities for kids are sure to help your child learn any spelling words on any spelling word list. Here are over 25 fun, hands on ways for preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade, 4, grade 5, and grade 6 students practice spelling words. Who knows, spelling might just become their favorite subject!

Spelling games for kids

Alphabet Magnets (you can get some at the Target dollar section or like this one we have)
Letter Stamps [we use this method a LOT!]

Spelling Activities for 2nd grade

Letter Beads on a pipe cleaner like Frugal Fun 4 Boys
Sensory tray writing (writing in sand, salt, etc.)

Spelling Activities for 1st grade

Hands on Spelling with Mini Cups
Shaving Cream or Pudding Finger Spelling (with free printable!)
Puffy Paint (here is our homemade puffy paint recipe)

First grade spelling activities

Spelling with Nuts & Bolts like No Time for Flashcards
Typing words on a keyboard
Lego Spelling Words Practice
Cheese-It Spelling
Chalk on the driveway

Spelling activities for first grade

Spinning Straw Speller from Still Playing School
Playdough (cookie cutters, stamping in playdough, or rolling out letters with ropes)

Spelling word activities for 2nd grade

Cereal Spelling (using alphabet cereal or building letters with cheerios like A Mom with a Lesson Play)
Alphabet Blocks

spelling word activities for 1st grade

Rocks with Letters like Sugar Aunts
Letter Sponge Painting

2nd grade spelling activities

Pipe Cleaner Letters like Make and Take
Lace & Spell with Lace-a-Word Beads

1st grade spelling activities

Alphabet Stickers (alphabet stickers like these or Dot Sticker Spelling Scramble like School Time Snippets)
Hidden Spelling Words (like this one from Kids Activities Blog)
Clothespin Spelling
Letter Hunt (cut out different fonts from a newspaper to spell your words) like this one
Window writing (with Crayola Window Markers)
Jump on Spelling
Spelling Garage
Play Hangman (our favorite reusable Melissa & Dough Hangman set)

First Grade Printables

If you have a 1st grader and you are looking for more fun, hands on 1st grade Worksheets, games and activities to make learning fun – you will love these resources!

100 Books 1st Graders can Read Themselves with free 1st grade reading books pdf free
Fun-to-Read Chapter Books for 1st Graders
Free Printable 1st Grade Book Report template
Kid favorite, FREE Cut and Paste Worksheets for a variety of subjects!
Sight Words Printable List
First Grade Word Search
Phonics Dab the th worksheets
sh, ch, th word Digraph Games
Ending Blends Worksheets with do a dot markers
Cut and Paste L Blends Worksheets
LOTS more free printable phonics worksheets and games

1st Grade Math

1st Grade Reading Games – Reading the Easy Way 1st Grade
Fun, hands-on Counting Coins Games
Over 500 pages of Kindergarten Writing Prompts Free
Sentence Scramble Worksheets
Princess Color by Sight Word Worksheets
Free Printable Number Bond Games
Time Puzzles make learning to use a clock FUN
Gumball Math Worksheets to practice addition & subtraction
Crack the Code Worksheets for practicing math while having fun
Bingo Shapes Game
Color the Coin Money Coloring Pages
Addition and Subtraction Math Mystery
Printable Addition Tic-Tac-Toe Game
Free Hundreds Tens and Ones Worksheets
Free printable 1st grade math worksheets

1st Grade Science

Solar System Worksheets Pack
Life-size Human Body Project with free printable template
EASY Lemon Battery Experiment
12 Hands-on Battery Experiment Ideas for Kids
Mind-blowing Magnetic Slime for Kids
Magnet experiments for Kids
Balloon Solid, liquid, gas hands-on activities plus other projects
Phases of the Moon for Kids – worksheets, activities, Oreo moon phases, and more
Weather Unit with worksheets and hands-on weather activities for kids
Learn the planet names with this Solar System for Kids Lesson plus tons of other Solar System Project Ideas

Grade 1 Science

Learn about Animal Classifications for Kids with these free printable cootie catchers
Lots of 1st Grade Science Projects
HUGE Ocean Animals for Kids Unit
Dive into the amazing world of botany with this plants for kids lessons
Learn about LOTS of life cycles for kids (panda, spider, watermelon, bee, sunflower, spider, and more!)
TONS of fun Human Body for Kids activities, expeirments, and free printables too!
Free Scientific Method Worksheets

United States Lesson for Kids

Help children learn about the great country of the United States with these free printables. Plus don’t miss all our fun, free, and immersive history lessons for kids

Printable USA Presidents Coloring Pages
Cute, Free Printable State Coloring Pages
Free Printable States and Capitals Matching Game
Free Presidents Worksheets – Learn about all the American presidents
US States I Spy Worksheets
Help kids understand where do I live with this clever printable activity
Learn about American symbols with these Patriotic American Symbols for Kids
How much do you know about USA for Kids? Color the flag, look at a map, discover famous landmarks like the statue of liberty,and more!
American Symbols Worksheets
Explore American History for kids including lots of fun, hands on activities and free printables
4 week lesson about Early Explorers for Kids
The Colonial America for Kids lesson takes kids on a journey back to the first permanent settlement in America – Jamestown. Students will learn about colonial life with lots of hands on projects like eating Gruel, making a Wattle & Daub house, and creating a tin lantern will make the settlement come alive.
We will make westward expansion for kids come alive for kids as they learn facts about the time period from about 1783-1898. In addition to learning about the Oregon trail, pony express, gold rush, transcontinental railroad, students will also learn to match animal trails, map the united states, and learn about North American animals too.
Pennant History Posters to see US History At-a-Glance
Learn about the Roaring 1920s for Kids – Printable Book to Read, Color, and Learn
Rosa Parks for Kids Printable Reader to Color and Learn
Martin Luther King Jr for Kids Printable Reader to Color and Learn
Free Printable Maps including world map, continents, and country maps with and without labeling
Ready to dive more in depth? Check out Country Study for Kids – look at 16 countries around the world up close
Use Lego to explore famous landmarks in countries for kids
Research and learn with these free Children around the World Worksheets
Roll into Geography – Printable Geography Games
You can find all our FREE printable country coloring pages covering over 36 different nations – or jump right to Spain Coloring Pages, China Coloring Pages, Italy Coloring Pages, Chile Coloring Pages, Germany Coloring Pages, and Costa Rica Coloring Pages
Over 1+ million pages of Free Printable Worksheets

About the author

Beth Gorden

Beth Gorden is the creative multi-tasking creator of 123 Homeschool 4 Me. As a busy homeschooling mother of six, she strives to create hands-on learning activities and worksheets that kids will love to make learning FUN! She has created over 1 million pages of printables to help teach kids ABCs, science, English grammar, history, math, and so much more! Beth is also the creator of 2 additional sites with even more educational activities and FREE printables - www.kindergartenworksheetsandgames.com and www.preschoolplayandlearn.com

spelling, preparing a hand for writing and teaching literacy

Unit 3. Preparation courses for school spelling and literacy in Astrakhan

notebooks (cell and ruler), the child will understand where is left, right, top and bottom.

With a five-year-old child, it is necessary to prepare for writing in a notebook, but for this it is important to take into account some significant points.

The whole program
preparation for school

Forward

Preparing the hand for writing

Learning to write is very difficult, however, teachers say that it is not worth learning numbers and letters early, because the child is not yet fully prepared . If you start teaching your child to write on your own, you can harm him because:

Fine motor skills are not fully developed and, psychologically speaking, it is difficult for a child to learn to pick up a pen correctly.
If a child is taught to write in capital letters from an early age, this can lead to poor handwriting. At 5-7 years old, the kid perceives the lesson as a game and will not be able to concentrate for a long time, so he will most likely write quickly and crookedly.
If you teach your child to write capital letters incorrectly, the teacher will have to re-teach him, which means a waste of time. Because of this, your child may fall behind.

In order to learn how to write letters correctly, it is not necessary to start writing with them, because just like words consist of letters of the alphabet, capital letters themselves consist of certain elements.

In the course of lessons the child will be able to:

Correctly and beautifully draw sticks, hooks, lines, circles and ovals - the components of capital letters.
Place these elements clearly in the cage so that the future handwriting of the child is the optimal size, and also that the hand is ready to respect the boundaries.
Draw horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines.
Redraw geometric shapes. Orientate in the lines, fields and cells of the workbook.
Maintain good posture and sit properly at the table.
Hold hands correctly.
Calmly listen and understand information.

Also in the process of preparing the hand for writing, we will develop fine motor skills in parallel.

If your child is already in school and has a problem with handwriting, then before it's too late, you can still correct it in our "Beautiful handwriting" courses.

Diploma

As for capital letters, in this direction we will only prepare our hand for writing. However, no one canceled printed letters and children can already easily write them on paper.

In this section, the child will be able to:

Write down words by ear, without gaps, substitutions, permutations of letters.
Convey the softness of consonants using the letters E, E, Yu, I, I, b.
Write down words with a separator b and b sign.
Write words with softening letters after the hissing Zh, Sh, C, Ch, Sh.0016 Groups: Morning and evening groups.

Your child does not go to kindergarten or you want to study in the morning - then it will suit you - Morning preparation for school.

Your child goes to kindergarten and you can study only in the evening - evening preparation for school is for you.

Class format :

5-6 years old - 1 hour - 2 times a week.

6-7 years - 1.5 hours - 2 times a week

Cost: from 600 rubles / lesson

Number of children in the group: no more than 6 people.

This is only one of the three blocks of the school preparation course from the Baccalaureate Center, with all the blocks of which you can find here:

The entire school preparation program

Next to write is to create beauty. Recipes for first-graders help instill a love for the Russian language - Teacher's newspaper
Many children find writing much more difficult than reading. The ability to draw angular lines, folding them into letters and then into separate words, requires painstaking, perseverance. To a child, such an activity seems boring. When I myself was in elementary school, copybooks looked pretty monotonous: lined notebooks with black letters, the red cover was the most striking element. Arousing the interest of a small schoolchild in writing is not an easy task for a teacher, at least it was so before.

Scroll to the right to see more images

Copywriting develops in children not only an understanding of the rules for writing letters, but also figurative thinking, gives room for creative self-expression, helps to form a unique handwriting of the child. Therefore, it is extremely important that the educational process captivates children and is an interesting game for them. Modern copybooks look completely different: while retaining the basic teaching functions, these teaching aids are filled with bright color drawings and include creative tasks.

The modern school is moving fast, trying to keep up with the times. The society in which we live has changed. Everything has become more visual, informative, mobile. Modern children of primary school age, who are good at laptops, smartphones, often have very little experience in performing graphic tasks, drawing, hand coordination is imperfect, the level of hand-eye coordination, spatial perception and visual memory is low. The modern child is accustomed to seeing everything visually, in bright colors. “Writing beautifully is creating beauty,” says folk wisdom. What happened to handwriting, why is learning to write the most difficult in elementary school? These questions are more and more of concern not only to me, but also to many parents, because a beautiful letter is also a competent letter. We have to look for new methods, forms, methods of work or breathe new life into forgotten forms.

"Point, period, comma... It's so easy!" adults will say. “How can you not write just a slanted line?!” parents scold. But for an adult, these are just symbols, but for guys who are used to playing, for whom there were no rules, it is very difficult.

I would like to draw your attention to the training kit “Recipe: 1st grade. In 4 parts: to the textbook by V.G. Goretsky and others “ABC. 1 class. In 2 parts" by the author M.A. Kozlova, edited by E.V. Volkova, published by the Exam publishing house in 2022.

This set of prescriptions is presented in four parts. The first thing I noticed was the vibrant content. Working pages are presented not only in the usual version, in a line, but also in a cage.

In the first part of the recipe, elements are presented that at first glance are far from letters. But it only seems. Many children do not know how to hold a pen correctly, to place a notebook correctly. Thanks to just such elements of drawing, a child in a simple form for him can get acquainted with these skills. I would also like to note that writing, like reading, is divided into pre-letter and alphabetic periods. This moment is very well traced in the first part. There is a very good preparation for writing letters (hatching, tracing, shading, filling with drawing elements).

There are few drawings, children's attention is not distracted. I would like to note the various and very interesting tasks that help not to discourage the child from learning to write beautifully.

It is important that the transition from the elements to writing letters is smooth. The second part of the manual is the alphabetical period, here is not only the writing of letters, but also the composition of syllables. Sound-letter work is also being carried out, which begins with the writing of vowels. Each letter is a page spread. Since children at this age have developed visual-figurative thinking, associative drawings are well chosen. This allows, in the case of sound-letter parsing, to single out the sound and designate it with a letter in writing. The guys get acquainted with the rules of the Russian language, learn what proper and common nouns are (these concepts, however, are not given in full, but they help to find out that some words are capitalized).

At this stage, the analysis of the difference between printed and capital letters is carried out, work on their correct connection. It is known that here children may have difficulty reading capitalized syllables. In this part, uppercase syllables in words are highlighted with an arc so that it is easier for children to identify them in a word. I really liked the tasks on the correlation of words and schemes - knowledge is not given to children in finished form, but is acquired in the course of activities. There are free lines for individual tasks or practicing learned skills. A variety of work with diagrams is offered, which allows you to smoothly move on to writing words.

The most important thing is that the learning process is organized in a bright, colorful and very interesting way, while children develop not only visual memory, but also - thanks to puzzles and riddles - logical thinking.

And now the moment has come when the child is ready to write down the first word. At this stage, it is very important to make it clear to the student that writing beautifully is not everything, you must be able to write correctly. Therefore, in the third part of the manual, the student is offered tasks for copying from printed text. Assignments increase, complexity increases. Elements of lowercase and uppercase letters are given on a frequent oblique ruler, this helps to smoothly transition to writing in a notebook. Work continues with diagrams, a very diverse additional material is presented: rebus, charades, riddles. Work in copybooks has something in common with reading. Work on the development of speech is organized using elements of oral folk art.

It is worth noting the work on spelling. In an interesting form, tasks for combinations "chk-chn" are worked out, a sentence scheme is introduced, and the definition of sentence boundaries is given. Children understand that a sentence consists of words that are written separately.

Every teacher knows: paired consonants cause a lot of difficulties for children. Training tasks for this rule help develop vigilance in writing words with paired consonants. In the process of working out such tasks, the guys learn to find dangerous places in words and so, step by step, “point by point”, confidently move forward, not noticing that at some point they are no longer writing separate words, but sentences.

In the fourth part, the studied is updated, tasks are proposed to consolidate knowledge about proper names and common nouns, animate and inanimate. Each letter is dedicated to a full spread. There are many free lines in which the student can write independently. It is very important for me that there is a place for independent writing, tasks for reading printed text and writing it in cursive are offered. A variety of tasks for the development of critical thinking are also presented, for example, to make the correct sentence out of words. And here the parts of speech are silently introduced: adjective, noun, verb.

I also noted for myself the tasks for composing complex words with connecting vowels and spelling “cha-shcha”, “chu-shchu”.

In the process of their implementation, the guys learn to establish a connection in a sentence. Schoolchildren have particular difficulties when writing words with iotated vowels, so this issue is given special attention in the copybooks. I would like to note the work on the spelling of dividing soft and hard signs, sound-letter analysis. In almost all tasks, a system-activity approach can be traced, all of them are thought out in such a way that students have to acquire knowledge, to be always in action.

Summing up, I would like to emphasize once again that writing is a difficult subject for many children. And, as we know, if something is difficult for you, you don’t want to do it at all. Indeed, in order for the handwriting to become beautiful, and the written text to be literate, it is necessary to make a lot of effort. This methodological set is compiled taking into account the age characteristics of younger students.
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