Our Spelling Bee File Folder

Studies have shown that many young students learn better and remember more when the subject matter is turned into a song, game, a play, or some other visual or audible stimulant. We try to keep that approach active in our studies.
One subject that we do every week is spelling. Now we normally will have spelling bees the day before the test. We have the boys stand in line and we give them a word and they spell it out loud. They absolutely love it. Especially when one of them get it wrong and loses a round to the other(We play 5 rounds). However, sometimes they just get bored with it. So we made this.....

This is a file folder game we call follow the path of the spelling bee. The rules are:
Youngest goes first. Roll the die to move. If you land on a pencil you have to spell a word. If you get it wrong you have to write it 3X. If you land on an A you spell another players word. If you misspell it, the word will be spelled for you. If you get it correct, move one space. First one to the finish WINS! Here is how the inside looks:




We just let the kids pick playing pieces. Sometimes they choose pennies or nickels. Sometimes they use pieces from other games. For the inside we used alphabet stickers for the A's, yard sale stickers for the circles, and I printed all the pencils off, but you could find sticks for those too. Just be creative. Add lots of color and fun.
We have really enjoyed this one. Sometimes daddy and I get into it as well! You could do something like this for math also. Do math problems instead of the spelling and maybe use a different character.

Have fun!!