This week, I have been sharing all sorts of literacy sites and resources under the “Home-based Learning” tab. I wanted to take a minute and share one of my favorite spelling practice activities with you: the spelling squiggle!
Spelling Squiggles are a cute idea for practicing repetition while incorporating mid-line crossing, heightened hand-eye coordination, and creativity. This is WAY better than just copying words in a list! In short, using spelling squiggles to practice spelling words uses so much more of your brain than traditional spelling lists – and they look so cool when they are done!
Here’s how is works: Have your child practice drawing figure-eight shapes without a pencil, pen, crayon or marker in their hand. They can even bend over and use their arm like an elephant trunk. Let them loosen their arms, their shoulders and their hands. Next, give them a piece of paper – for younger kids, I like bigger paper! Older kids can do just fine with 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of copy paper or notebook paper. My favorite paper for this activity is the large 3M Post-it wall pads!
Next, using a black marker, crayon, or pen have your child make a totally random squiggle shape on the paper. There is no “wrong” shape, but the bigger and more squiggly, the more room you will have for more words.
Lastly, give your child markers, colored pencils, crayons (whatever sparks their creativity), and a list of their spelling words. Have them fill each segment in the squiggle with one spelling word, repeated over and over to fill that space. Some spaces may only be able to hold a few words, while others can hold a dozen! It’s up to you and your child’s creativity to decide how to fill all of the spaces! (You will notice that my demo picture has some words repeated.)
I always leave these up on the wall or the refrigerator so my kids can see the words throughout the week!
You can also use this same idea to practice math facts, filling each space with a new math fact.
Take this idea outside and use sidewalk chalk to make a squiggle in the driveway!
There are tons of ways to use this idea to practice spelling words, math facts, and much more! Add your own spin on this fun, and effective technique!