My Child Hates Spelling Homework — 7 Games That Sneak the Practice In

The list is on the fridge. The test is Friday. And your child has just declared, with real feeling, that spelling is stupid and they’re not doing it. If you’ve been through this — and if you have a child between 5 and 10, you have — you’ll know that the fight over the worksheet takes longer than the worksheet would have.

There’s a way out that isn’t bribery. Spelling memory needs three things: seeing the word, producing the word from memory, and doing both again a few days later. Nothing in that list requires a worksheet. Every game below delivers at least two of the three, and a child who “won’t do spelling” will do most of them without noticing. For each one we’ve said honestly what it practises, so you can pick the ones that fit your child’s weak spot.

1. The word search (with the words hidden)

Start here, because it’s the one game that a child will ask to play again and that also makes them look at the exact letter order of a word repeatedly.

How: make a word search from the week’s list — on squared paper or in under a minute with an app. The first time, print the words as clues. From the second time, replace them with pictures, translations, or say each word aloud; the child now has to recall the spelling before searching.

What it practises: recall (if the word is hidden), letter order, repetition. Weak on: handwriting the word.

Why children like it: it’s a puzzle with an ending. Ten words circled is a visible win. Three fresh grids across the week is enough practice for most lists — see why the classic puzzle is real spelling practice for the research.

2. Spelling hopscotch

How: chalk a hopscotch grid outside (or masking tape on the floor). Say a word; the child hops one square per letter, saying each letter as they land. Get it right, they hop to the end. Miss a letter, back to the start.

What it practises: oral spelling with rhythm, which is how many children first fix a long word (B-E-A-U, T-I, F-U-L). Weak on: seeing the word.

Why children like it: it’s physical, and they’re allowed to shout. Good for the child who can’t sit still. Best combined with a “seeing” game like the word search.

3. Mystery word

How: you write dashes for each letter of a word (like Hangman without the drawing). The child guesses letters. Every correct letter goes in; wrong ones go in a “not here” pile. When they’ve got enough letters, they must say the whole word and spell it aloud.

What it practises: thinking about which letters belong in a word; letter patterns (-ing, -tion). Weak on: producing the full spelling unprompted — the game gives them most of it.

Why children like it: it’s a guessing game they can win. Play it with the two or three hardest words on the list, not all ten.

4. Letter shopping

How: magnetic letters, Scrabble tiles, or letters written on bottle caps in a bowl. Say a word; the child “shops” for the letters and lays them out in order. Check together. For a harder version, put in a few extra letters they don’t need.

What it practises: full recall and letter order, with a physical rather than written output. Weak on: nothing much — this is one of the most complete games, it’s just slow.

Why children like it: the letters are toys. Works well for a child who resists pencils. This is essentially the Tap mode of a word search, done with real objects.

5. Spot the mistake

How: write each word on the list twice — once right, once with a common error (beacuse / because, freind / friend). Child circles the correct one and explains what’s wrong with the other. Teachers do this in class; it’s the “which one looks right?” instinct that good spellers have.

What it practises: recognition and error-spotting — the specific weakness of a child who “knows” the word but writes thier. Weak on: recall.

Why children like it: they get to catch you out. Let them make a version for you to solve; making the misspellings is excellent practice in itself.

6. Silly sentences

How: the child has to use three spelling words in one sentence, the sillier the better. “The beautiful elephant went to school because it was hungry.” Write it down — they write the spelling words, you write the rest if their handwriting is slow.

What it practises: meaning, and one careful handwritten copy of the word, which is the piece the other games skip. Weak on: repetition — each word is written once.

Why children like it: permission to be ridiculous. This is the game to use for the one written copy per word that we recommend at the end of a word-search week.

7. Beat the clock

How: the child has 60 seconds to spell as many words from the list as they can, aloud or written. Record the score. Same again tomorrow — the only goal is to beat yesterday.

What it practises: speed of recall, which is what stops a child freezing in the test. Weak on: anything they don’t already mostly know — this is a final-night game, not a first-night one.

Why children like it: competing against themselves rather than against a sibling, and the score goes up almost every day, which feels great.

Putting a week together

You don’t need all seven. A workable week for a child who hates the worksheet:

Monday: Word search, words printed (they’re meeting the words). 8 min.
Tuesday: Letter shopping for the hardest four. 10 min.
Wednesday: Word search again, new grid, words hidden with pictures. 8 min.
Thursday: Silly sentences — one handwritten copy of each word — then beat the clock. 10 min.
Friday: Test.

Under 40 minutes in total, spread over four days, with the words seen, recalled and written. That’s more practice than most children get from the worksheet, and none of it involved the sentence “sit down and do your spelling”.

What to do if nothing works

If a child hates spelling homework and is making little progress with games, it’s worth ruling out a real difficulty rather than a motivation problem. A child who reads well but can’t spell, or who spells the same word four different ways in one piece of writing, may need a different approach than more practice. SpellEasy has a careful guide on dyslexia versus a weak speller and on what to do when a child keeps misspelling the same words. Games are still worth playing — they just won’t be the whole answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best game for spelling practice?

For most children, a word search made from their own spelling list with the words hidden (picture or spoken clues) — it’s the one game that combines recall, attention to letter order and repetition, and that children reliably ask to play again. Pair it with one game that involves writing the word, such as silly sentences.

How can I make spelling fun for a 7-year-old?

Turn the list into a game with a visible ending: a word search to complete, letters to shop for, a clock to beat. Keep sessions under ten minutes and let the child choose the game. Seven-year-olds respond to novelty, so rotate two or three games across the week rather than repeating one.

Do spelling games actually work, or does my child need to write the words out?

Games work for the recall and recognition parts of spelling, and for many children they do it better than copying because the child stays engaged. Writing the word still matters for a handwritten test, but once is usually enough — ten copies mostly train the hand, not the memory.

My child says spelling is boring. Is that normal?

Very. “Boring” from a child usually means either too easy (they already know the words and the worksheet is pointless repetition) or too hard (they don’t know where to start). Games that let you adjust difficulty — hiding the word, using a bigger grid — solve both, so it’s worth finding out which it is.

How long should spelling practice take each day?

Five to ten minutes, four days a week, is more effective than one long session. The spacing between sessions is what makes the memory stick. If a game is still fun at ten minutes, stop anyway — you want them to want tomorrow’s.

Are spelling apps better than games without a screen?

Neither is better; they practise the same things. An app makes it easy to regenerate a fresh puzzle from the same list and can hide the word or read it aloud automatically, which a paper puzzle can’t. A screen-free game gets the child moving and handling letters. A week that has both is ideal.

WordSearchEasy turns your child’s own word list — or one of 300+ built-in topic lists — into a word search in seconds, with picture and sound clues and a printable answer key. Download free on the App Store.