Spelling games are an excellent way to teach the basics of spelling. What child would not prefer to play a game over "learning a lesson?" Of course, the trick is, spelling games are both educational and fun. Here are some fun example of spelling games:

Tic-Tac-Spelling

Divide your students into two teams. Draw a big tic-tac-toe grid up on the board. Choose one person of one team to start. Give her a word to spell - she can write it anywhere in the grid. If she spells the word correctly, then a person from the same team gets to come up and write a word. If she spells it incorrectly, then a person from the opposite team gets to come up.

Hot Seat

For this spelling game, you need to put three chairs with 3 students sitting in them in front of the chalkboard. Have the students facing the class so that they cannot see the chalkboard. Write a word behind them on the board. Other students in the class can offer clues about the word to the 3 students in the "hot seats," but they cannot say it. Once one of the 3 knows the word, she must ring a bell and then spell the word correctly. If correct, the other 2 in the hot seats get to pick someone new to come up. If incorrect, then all 3 of them pick an extra person to come up.

Spelling "Swat" Team

This spelling game is an active one. Before class, create a game board of the alphabet - you can take a shower curtain liner and write largely the letters of the alphabet. You can write commonly used letters twice. For younger kids, keep the letters in alphabetical order, for older kids you can mix it up. Call the students up one by one. On each student's turn, give him a fly swatter and then say a word that needs to be spelled. The student can then spell the word out loud while swatting at the corresponding letters on the shower curtain game board.

Detective Spelling

Write up your spelling list for the week on your chalkboard. Go over all of the words with your students. Then have your students close their eyes or put their heads down on their desks. Erase one of the words and then rewrite it with a spelling error. Then wake up your young detective and see how quickly they can find the misspelled word. Then have them write the word with its correct spelling on a piece of paper.

Conclusion

Spelling games are a great way to spice up an old spelling lesson plan. Not only will your students love playing spelling games, but you will enjoy giving them, as well. There are many possible spelling games out there - enough to keep both you and your students entertained for the whole year. Be creative and come up with some of your own spelling games.