In August I spent quite a bit of time reading up and researching which books and games I would like to use with the kids. I found the Orchard Toys game called Match and Spell and after reading some good reviews I thought it might be a good addition to my son’s home-education activities. He already knows his letters and is starting to read but he needs practice blending his sounds and he is really desperate to spell words like his big sister. The game seemed like a relaxed way for him to practice his blending and spelling, without him having to write out the words.
The game has 20 double-sided word boards (some are 3 letter words and some are 4 letter words) and individual letter cards. One side of the word board has the word written on it and the kids need to match the letter cards to the letters on the word board.
This would be a great activity for kids learning their letters. For my youngest it was a bit too easy. He tried two of the words but quickly informed me it was too easy and turned the word boards over. The second side of the word board is blank. On this side the kids need to spell out the words themselves.
One advantage of having the double-sided word boards is when the kids are first trying to spell the words by the themselves, they can get a bit muddled, if that happens they can always flip the board over and the word that they are trying to spell is there. (This is a bonus for me as I like to spend one-on-one time with my daughter each day helping her with whatever she is currently learning, so my son needs activities where he can check himself.)
As often happens in our house when a new game/ activity arrives the kids often use it a lot in the first few weeks. And that is exactly what happened with this game, my son has completed all the words a number of different times and he is now confidently spelling most of the words.
It has been a great activity for him to do both by himself and with his older sister.
And the kids have even branched out a bit and had some fun trying to think of rhyming words which match the word on their boards.
The only issue I have with the game is I wish we had bought this game a year ago when my son was still learning his sounds and I would not mind if there was an extension pack (some extra word boards which you could buy and add to the game once the kids have learnt the existing words). All in all I think it is a relaxed way for younger kids to practice spelling some basic words.
The Match and Spell game was given to us by Orchard Toys after I requested a spelling game for my youngest. All opinions expressed are mine.
ofamily learning together 