Using Upwords game for Learning to Spell

I am always on the lookout at yard sales for things that Nathaniel and I can use for homeschooling.  Last Summer, Sean and I found an Upwords game for $.99.  You can see the price tag on the game.  It came with the families name that I bought it from written in marker on the front of the box.  Now I can think of them whenever we play with it!

Nathaniel can count to 100 but is struggling with learning his letters.  We have been working on it since he was two and every time I think he has it, he seems to lose it!  I know that we just need to find a way for him to learn his letters that is interesting to him and then the letters will stick.

Using the Upwords tiles is a fun way for him to spell out words that matter to him, like his name!

We found all of the letters to spell out his name and put them on the Upwords game board to keep them in place.  Yes, Nathaniel is wearing his "I dig Mom" jambes.  One of the many joys of homeschooling is that he can come as he is!

After spelling out his name once together, I had Nathaniel find the letters on his own and spell his name a second time below the one we did together.

Success!  After matching the letter tiles to spell his name a second time, we went over the name of each letter.

Nathaniel spent a lot of time looking at the letters and finding the ones that he needed.  When he was looking for an L he found the J.  We talked about how close those letters were but that the J is backwards from an L. He tried turning the letter time over and around to make it into an L but learned that it just wouldn't work no matter what he tried!

We also lined the letters up right side up to make it easier to find find the letters he needed.

Nathaniel is totally into The Dukes of Hazzard right now and asked to spell Bo Duke, so off we went looking for a B!

For the past week, I have had to refer to him as Bo to get his attention.  He is calling me Daisy.  She's pretty, so I guess I'll take it! 

Nice rhyming with Luke and Duke!

Bo led us to Luke and a discussion on how Luke Duke would sound like Luck Duck without the E making the U sound instead of the Uh sound.

He really liked spelling out his favorite character's names.

Can't have Bo and Luke without Daisy!

After all that spelling, Nathaniel wanted to build towers with his letters.  Sounds like fun!

And then Rosco and Cletus showed up to chase the Duke Boys in the General Lee!  

Watch out, Bo!

If you can't find Upwords at a yard sale, you can order it here:

The number and letter tiles are so open ended that I know we are going to be doing a lot with this fun game.