Spelling doesn't have to be boring! The biggest problem faced by many teachers in the classroom today is a lack of desire to learn in the children. They are more distracted today than ever before with video games and complicated social lives, but it is possible to get them focused and turn them into active learning participants.

How do you do that? By turning basic spelling into a game, of course!

Old Fashioned Games

You don't even have to be very creative to get children of all ages interested in spelling lessons. Take a couple of old fashioned games that have been around for generations and you have two fun ways to turn the classroom into a fun spelling environment: memory matching and hangman.

Have kids write their spelling words on small pieces of paper or index cards cut in half. Arrange the kids in groups and have them lay all of their cards face down on a table, mixing all of their cards together. Kids then have to flip them over two at a time, trying to collect matches. Just seeing, reading, and remembering the words over and over will help with spelling.

Draw a large hangman on the board along with enough small lines to represent the number of letters in one of their spelling words. Kids can raise their hands to guess letters. Make it class versus teacher and see if you can hang them before they collectively guess the word.

Timed Games

Just placing a time limit on anything will challenge children and stimulate their competitive side. One idea is to call out the spelling words and have children write them out as quickly as possible, raising their hands when they have the word down. As soon as all hands are in the air you move to the next word, trying to get everyone through the list before a timer sounds.

You can also line kids up and have them go down the line spelling a word covered at some point during the year. If a child gets their word wrong they have to sit down. The last child standing wins. This is a good way to continually remind kids of words learned earlier in the year.

Note: please be sensitive to children with severe spelling difficulties and/or dyslexic children. This kind of game can be tortuous and embarrassing - these games should be for confident spellers only.

Active Games

Who says spelling lessons have to be carried out inside? Get outdoors on a nice day and children will respond to active spelling games with excitement. One idea is to line children up in a field of grass or a large paved area and give them spelling words one by one. If they get it correct they get to run across to the other side but if they get it wrong they are out. The goal is to be the last child running across the field. See note above.

Another idea is to get some chalk and create larger sized hop scotch boards with letters instead of numbers. Each board can represent a different spelling word and children have to hop across with their feet touching only the letters in the word, in order of course.

Small Rewards

Giving a small reward to the winner of these games is a great way to make them competitive so children want to win. For example, do a game in the morning and let the winner be "line leader" or your personal helper for the day. Stickers are also great motivators.