Does your child grumble when it’s time to practice those spelling words? We had lots of fun with this spelling practice activity that is perfect for a dinosaur unit (or just your typical dinosaur fan to do at home).
What I love about this activity is that it is super easy to set up. Plus, once the kids see the set up, they actually WANT to practice those spelling words!
Spelling Practice Activity for Dinosaur Unit
Materials Needed:
- Letter Tiles (We love using the tiles from our Bananagrams game.)
- Kinetic Sand
- Rimmed Cookie Sheet (or other container with sides)
- Plastic Dinosaurs
- A List of Your Child’s Spelling Words
Using your child’s spelling list, find letter tiles to create each word. If you don’t have enough tiles to make all of the words all at the same time, your child can easily make a word, take it apart and reuse the letters for the next word.
Place a few letter tiles on your cookie sheet. Cover the letters with sand and add more letters, until all the letters needed have been placed on the tray.
Arrange a few plastic dinosaurs on top. Place the spelling word list next to the tray for reference.
Your child can use the dinosaurs to help dig up the letters, or they can use their fingers. You might even spot T-Rex helping to put the letters in the correct order to form those spelling words.
Tips:
- When using kinetic sand I usually have the kids sit on the kitchen floor instead of at the table. It actually helps reduce the amount of sand that gets on the floor because it puts the child at a level higher than the tray so they can see/control the mess a little more. Once they are finished it is easy to sweep up.
- You can further reduce the mess by using a plastic table cloth under the activity.
- Want to increase the difficulty level? Instead of giving your child the spelling word list, give them the words orally to spell with the tiles.
- You can also add in unnecessary letter tiles to increase the difficulty level a notch.
Practicing those spelling words doesn’t have to be boring. This simple spelling practice activity will have the kids smiling and begging to do it again.
For more spelling and sight word fun:
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Erin @Nourishing My Scholar says
This is such a cute idea! My kids love kinetic sand!