Spelling Games for Kids

Wake up your students with our spelling games for kids!  If they snooze, they'll lose out on a lot of fun! Spelling games provide a great change from the usual weekly routine of writing sentences, writing words repetitively and taking quizzes. Games are especially valuable tools for reviewing large blocks of words.

For this game, you'll need a Scrabble TM board game and letter tiles. This game works well for students in grades 4-6.

Mumbo-Jumbo

A game for four players, using Scrabble™ tiles or dry-erase boards

Printable version

Directions:

1. Player 1 secretly selects a spelling word. He places letters on the board to represent that word, but only one letter is correct.

For the word broke, for example, he might use these letters:

 zyqkm

It does, indeed, look like "mumbo-jumbo"!

2. Player 2 tries to guess the spelling word and replaces just one letter in the word. If she correctly guesses a letter, player 3 has a turn to replace another letter.

3. When a player DOES NOT make a correct guess, Player 1 says, "Mumbo-jumbo." The player has two more chances to guess a letter.

4. If a player cannot make a correct guess after 3 tries, Player 1 earns one point. He reveals the secret spelling word and chooses a new one. The game begins again.

5. If the entire spelling word is solved correctly, Players 2, 3 and 4 each earn one point. The player who completes the spelling word gets to pick the next Mumbo-Jumbo word.

More Spelling Games for Kids

We have LOTS of free spelling games here at Spelling Words Well. See the entire collection, or check out just a few here:

Try our Online Spelling Game for Homonym Practice!   Best for upper elementary, middle school, high school students and even adults. Fun and easy to use.

Double the Fun - To double or not to double the final consonant when adding a suffix? Another great game for spelling fun!  For grades 3 - 5.

Spelling Bee Games - Try one of our new Silent Spelling Bee variations. A fun--and quiet--twist on  a classic game! For grades 2-6.

Spelling Bee Pop Quizzes - Try this fun assortment with your students this week! Help prepare them for the big spelling bees ahead!

Missing Letters and In Between - Two super-simple ways for students to practice spelling, develop their vocabulary and practice dictionary skills. Grades 4 - 8.

Fifty-Fifty - Fun word game for kids. Older students earn points as they engage in word play and spelling fun. Grades 4 - 8.

Word Sandwiches, The Vowel Game, and Words in a Word - Try these easy-to-conduct fun spelling games that also provide spelling and vocab enrichment.  There are three different games that require very little preparation. 

Try some of our our fun, free spelling word worksheets, too.

Ann Richmond Fisher is a longtime published educational writer, a former classroom teacher and a former homeschool teacher. Ann's spelling bee resources, graded spelling word lists, spelling games, worksheets, and other language arts resources have become respected around the globe since she launched Spelling-Words-Well in 2010.

Ann is also the creator of www.word-game-world.com.

Visit my YouTube Channel for fun spelling practice videos!

---

For more fun spelling practice, try our AnyWord Spelling Practice Series. In these three eBooks, you'll  find word play worksheets, writing prompts and partner games and activities that work with almost any list of spelling words!

101 Word Play Puzzlers   Discover the FUN of letters & words as you solve each unique puzzle. Great vocabulary & spelling practice!

Gigantic Spelling Bee Word Lists with definitions, sentences and languages

Spelling Bee Toolboxes for Grades 3/5 and 6/8   All the resources you need for a successful bee! 

Monumental Spelling Bee Word Lists for grades 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8 with definitions, sentences and languages

Mammoth Spelling Bee Word Lists  for grades 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8  with sentences, definitions, and languages

Young Spellers Spelling Bee Word List for Grades 1 & 2 only 

100 Difficult Spelling Bee Words with Definitions, Sentences and Pronunciations, Volumes 1 and 2

600 Spelling Bee Words & Sentences for Gr 3/5 & 6/8 Extra words & sentences at two levels