Week 13: Learning Spelling from Hangman

Hangman is an age-old game we’ve all probably played countless times as kids. It can be a great way to entertain the kids, especially during moments they need to wait – at a restaurant, at a doctor’s office, at a sibling’s soccer game.  You name it.

But what you may not have thought of was that some great learning can sneak into this simple but fun game.  Here are some tips to help amp up the learning potential.

• When choosing a word or phrase, think carefully about your child’s current reading/spelling level so that you’re challenging them but not making it too hard.
• Consider using words from a recent spelling list, or words that you know they have trouble with in their own writing.
• Use phrases that mix harder words with easier ones to keep their confidence up.
• As they are guessing letters, help them think about needing a mix of consonants and vowels in every word – and teach them about vowels and consonants if they don’t know yet!
• Talk with them about which consonants are more common.
• Help them make their guesses more accurate by talking to them about consonant combinations that you often find in words – SH, CH, TH, WH, QU.
• Take turns – let your child come up with the word or phrase too, and then be patient with their spelling attempts! After you’ve solved it, gently help correct their spelling. Correcting the spelling of words they chose and care about right at the time they wrote them is more effective in teaching spelling even than spelling tests are.
• Keep in mind that when your child comes up with the secret word or phrase, they will also be practicing their handwriting!

These are my kids playing a game of hangman at a restaurant when we were out with friends. We’ve also had fun playing hangman at the airport, on an airplane, in the car, and even at the doctor’s office. If you keep printed sheets and a Trip Clip Clipboard tucked into your purse, you can pull it out during those unexpected times you have to wait longer than anticipated.