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April 13, 2015 2 min read

You don’t need to buy ‘special’ speech therapy spelling activities and games: Store-bought children’s spelling games can make a great addition to your resources cupboard, especially if you can find them for just a few dollars in thrift stores.

Speech Therapy Spelling Activities

Choosing Speech Therapy Spelling Activities and Games

When considering which games to buy, there are a few points I like to keep in mind:

  • Don’t Trust The Age Range

The age range on the box may not be the best guide to use, as your children may vary greatly in their abilities. Instead of the age range, consider the basic skills the game is relying on the children having already, and which skills the game seeks to stretch. If the game is too challenging, you’ll be dealing with children who are frustrated rather than engaged.

  • Adapt The Rules

Speech Therapy Spelling ActivitiesOnce you’re familiar with how the game is meant to be played, feel free to come up with your own versions. Just a few simple adjustments can help make a game accessible to everyone, making it possible to use the game in a group of mixed abilities.

  • Freestyle

Often the best thing about spelling games isn’t the format of the game itself, but the lovely, adaptable equipment that comes with it. Phonics sticks, vocabulary cards, letter tiles, and more are very useful tools to have to hand, whether you use them as part of the game, or for activities you’ve designed yourself.

My Favorite Speech Therapy Spelling Activities and Games

I’ve used dozens of spelling games with the kids I work with, and whilst each one has its own strengths, I have four firm favorites.

Game Age Range Equipment Uses In Speech Therapy

Word On The Street

  • Standard is 12 years+
  • Junior edition is for 7 years +
  • Letter Tiles and Traffic Lanes
  • Word recall, vocabulary development, pronunciation while deciding words to use, and teamwork.

Word For Word Phonics

  • 7 years +
  • 100 color coded “reading rods”
  • Developing phonological awareness

Zingo/

What’s Gnu

  • 5 years+
  • Word cards and ‘Letter Getter’
  • Teaches early word recognition and word building skills

Bananagrams

  • 7 years +
  • Letter tiles
  • Reading, vocabulary, pronunciation