5 FREE apps for Building Vocab and Spelling!

It is my belief that wherever possible SPaG should be embedded in reading and writing. Sometimes, however, there maybe the odd five/ten minutes where the children can play a game to help practise spelling and build vocabulary. Here are some great apps and ideas that children can use as a quick mental starter for the day or lesson.

1 - Emoji Quiz 

I have previously blogged about using Emojis in class, you can read this here. This app challenges the children to guess the compound word from the emojis in the image. There are different categories to work through but be aware there are adverts and in-app purchases (put the iPad in airplane mode to stop these) -


2 - Spellfix 

The first app in the list from Alan Peat is a great way for children to practise spelling and learn the definition of different words. I have previously blogged about this app, which you can read here. 



3 - 1Pic8Words

This new app is similar to the Emoji Quiz in that children are presented an image and have to find the words linked with it. With this app, the children must find 8 different words within the picture. The children love the added detective feel to the app and the fact they have to really study the picture to help find the words. The app also helps think carefull about the spelling of each word. Again be aware of the adverts and in app purchases (stick it in airplane mode) -


4 - AnyWord Crossword

The second app from the Alan Peat team is one of my favourite games to play with children as it really gets children thinking carefully about vocabulary and experimenting and playing with words. You know it works when children are hunting down dictionaries to use! Here is a short promo video -


Make sure you check out Word Juice too!


This is an idea that came from seeing an example of a 6 word hidden picture - 


Children can load the image onto the student's iPads and ask them to load the app Skitch where they can then highlight all the hidden words -

The words found can then be used to find definitions, look for links or even create short stories or sentences using the vocabulary. You can find some more hidden word pictures here. 


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