If you have a child that thinks school is no fun no matter what you do, I can sympathize with you. While I often do feel like the ringleader of a three ring circus, I don’t believe it’s my job to keep my children entertained every waking moment of our school day. Having said that, I do try and throw in a few games throughout the week to help keep things interesting. Lately spelling has been our nemesis so it’s also been our focus. It’s a good thing I have collected several games to help teach spelling over the years.
Teaching spelling in the elementary grades is essential because it lays the foundation for confident and effective communication. At this age, kids are developing key literacy skills, and spelling helps them understand how words work—how sounds connect to letters, how patterns form, and how language is structured. When students can spell well, they write more fluently, read more easily, and express their ideas with greater clarity.
Spelling also supports vocabulary development and improves reading comprehension, as correctly spelled words are more quickly recognized and understood. Plus, let’s be honest—it’s a lot easier to enjoy writing when you’re not stopping every two seconds to ask, “How do you spell…?” Teaching spelling early helps remove that barrier and builds long-term literacy confidence.
Games that Help Teach Spelling
Using games to teach spelling makes learning fun, engaging, and way more effective than drill-and-kill methods. Games turn spelling practice into something kids want to do, not just something they have to do. When children are actively involved—moving pieces, solving puzzles, racing timers—they’re more likely to stay focused, motivated, and excited about learning.
Games also encourage repetition in a natural way, helping kids internalize spelling patterns without even realizing they’re doing the work. Plus, they support different learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), making spelling accessible to more students. Bottom line: games take the stress out of spelling and turn it into a challenge they’re eager to conquer.
We have been loving playing What’s Gnu? It’s a fast paced game that has two levels of difficulty. The game has two levels of difficulty with three letter words on one side and 4 on the other side.
The goal is to fill your cards with real words before your opponent. This game is great for getting to practice some of the spelling rules that we have been working on. It’s also perfect for working with long and short vowel sounds.
Boggle Jr is a good game if you want to practice spelling. The game has cards that have words on the bottom. You can play the three letter word side or the 4 letter word side. The goal is to match the letters on the die with the letters on the card. The game can be made more difficult by covering up the letters on the card and figuring out the spelling first and then matching it to the card.
It would have been much more fun to play with another kid so that there was more competition. But since we were playing together, and it seemed silly to pretend that I didn’t know the words we improvised. I tried to make it more fun by timing how many cards she could get in 2 minutes. While this is a great game for my daughter to practice beginning spelling, it isn’t nearly as fun as the regular Boggle game.
Scrabble Jr
Well who doesn’t like Scrabble? This game is fun because it can be played two ways. The traditional way on one side and the other side can be used to teach and practice spelling at the same time.
The game is fun to play because all the letters are visible to every player. This allows for some friendly competition as they work out different strategies to win the game.
There are so many fun spelling games out on the market today that are great to do alongside whatever spelling program you are using. If you are not currently using a spelling program then any of these games would be great to encourage a natural love for words and open up conversation about spelling rules.
Here are a few others that we have played and enjoyed at one time or another, as well as ones that I plan to look out for.
What Games Do you Play to Add a Little Fun to Your School Day?
Angela is the Homeschool Encourager for the Overwhelmed & Under-Caffeinated and the Chaos-to-Confidence Specialist behind Schooling with Grace. With a no-fluff approach, a dash of humor, and a whole lot of heart, she helps homeschool moms cut through the chaos, ditch unrealistic expectations, and teach with confidence.
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