Best crosswords for kids how to#
For example, when my son was unsure how to spell the \air\ sound in wear, we looked at the chart and saw that he could choose from -air, -are, -ear or -ere.
Best crosswords for kids code#
We used the Alphabetic Code Chart from Phonics International which lists the phonic sounds with many of their different spelling alternatives.For example, when struggling to spell little, it helped to remember that we had grouped it with different, pretty and school because it has a double letter. I asked them whether they remembered how we had grouped the word in the wordsearch.When they struggled to spell a word, I encouraged them to work it out using one of the following strategies: I then asked my children to try to solve the crossword puzzle, reminding them that the answers were all words which they had just found in the wordsearch puzzle.
Best crosswords for kids download#
I created this crossword for kids which you can download here or click on the image below. Now that my children were a bit more familiar with the spelling of these tricky words, it was time for the crossword. If you want to make your own wordsearch puzzle, you can use this word search maker. Then they looked for words with common vowel letters:įinally they looked for the words which didn't fit with any pattern: name, people, straight, theirs and while.Īs my children looked for each word, I made sure they sounded it out and when they found the word they said the word again while tracing the letters with their fingers. They started looking for these words first since the double letters made them easier to spot in the grid. So if you want to use a wordsearch puzzle as a learning mechanism, it is important to sit with your child while they are doing it and help them to take notice of the spelling patterns of the words they are looking for.įirst I created this wordsearch for kids which you can download here or click on the image below.įor this exercise, we started by looking at the word list and grouping the words according to similar attributes or spelling patterns.įirst my children identified all the words with double letters ( different, little, pretty, school). For this purpose, I created a wordsearch.Ĭhildren can solve wordsearch puzzles without paying any particular attention to spelling by just mechanically looking for one letter after another. aunt, bear, beautiful, caught, different, enough, fourth, friend, heard, little, name, people, pretty, school, should, straight, theirs, view, wear, white.īefore attempting the crossword, however, I wanted to give my children a chance to become familiar with the spellings of these words.Using lists of words commonly misspelled by primary children (for example, the words marked with an asterisk in this list), I chose twenty words which my children also have difficulty spelling correctly. Recently I decided to make up a crossword to help my children practise difficult spellings.
I particularly like this crossword maker at The Teachers Corner. There are plenty of websites which enable you to create your own crosswords for kids. I also love these homophone crosswords for kids. Here are some excellent on-line crosswords for kids created by grade level so that your child can practise spelling words appropriate for their age.
If your child is struggling with a word, they can turn to a dictionary for help, thereby helping to develop their dictionary skills. These are all useful skills which help to enhance your child's vocabulary and reinforce difficult spellings. To solve a crossword puzzle, your child needs to search for alternative words, evaluate word choices and differentiate between homophones (words which sound the same but are spelt differently eg pear and pair). Crosswords for kids help your child to learn about the meaning of words and how to use them in sentences.
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