Spelling activities are a great way to help build confidence and practice letter sounds! Simple games like our Muffin Tin Spelling Activity use every day items that can be found at home, take little time to set-up, and can be used in different ways to best suit each individual learner. Using CVC words (like in our printable game) with young children in preschool or kindergarten reinforces simple letter and short vowel sounds without any of the crazy rules of the English language getting in the way!
This activity may be labeled a spelling game, but it is perfect for those preschoolers who are ready to give names to letter sounds!
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Muffin Tin Spelling Activity
Setting up this activity takes little prep time. The only supplies needed for this activity include a muffin tin and magnetic letters. I prefer to use the chunkier letter magnets in my classroom and with younger children. And the muffin tin can be found at most dollar stores. Muffin tins and cookie sheets are magnetic, so putting them together is always inviting and fun!
Gather toys and items around your house or classroom that have short CVC names. For example, words like CAT, FOX, BUG, NET, PIG each include a consonant, vowel, consonant. The word has the short vowel sound and this makes it easy to sound out for beginning readers.
My preschooler was all in with this activity. She recently has started reading sight word and easy reader books, so it was fun for her to sound out and spell out the letters in her toys.
She picked a toy and set it on the muffin tin. Then she started at the beginning of the word to find the sound in the first letter.
“Fox”
“fffff – oooo – kss”
She would find the F and then sound out the word again. Sometimes the vowels are still tricky for her. She gets stuck on U a lot. If she ended up tripping over the vowel, I would tell her what it was. Right now, beginning and ending sounds are what beginning readers focus on. This leads to phonetic spelling (my favorite to read!) and writing.
After a word was spelled, my preschooler would double check her letters. She knows how to slide her finger down the word and say the sounds – to stretch out the word.
This skill came in handy when she was spelling CAT. She found all the letters, but worked quickly and mixed up the T and the A. She thought she was done until she went back to sound out the word.
It’s fun to see her self-correct her mistakes. When she realized that CTA was definitely not how CAT was spelled, she switched the letters and sounded out the word again. Bingo! This time it was right.
Our Muffin Tin Spelling Activity can be adapted to fit the needs of your individual child or student in your classroom. If your child is ready to find beginning and ending consonant sounds, but not strong with short vowel sounds, add the middle vowel letter to the muffin tin yourself. This way, spelling skills are still being strengthened, but without any added frustration.
If your focus is the short vowel sounds, add the beginning and ending letters, but not the vowels. This way, your child is only worrying about distinguishing 5 sounds since vowels sounds can be confusing.
Work the spelling activity how it will work for your child best!
Early reading and spelling skills will come at different ages and stages for each child. This is why being able to adapt games and activities keeps learning fun, and at the correct developmental level for your child!
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