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Learn how to play SPELL CHOMP SPELL!
A fun spelling game using ABC Chompers Paper Characters!
As many of you know, our free ESL/EFL curriculum for language schools and eikaiwas, the BINGOBONGO Curriculum, is popular with kids and teachers around the world. We’re always looking for new games and activities to use together with our fun free flashcards, worksheets, and lesson planning ideas for English teachers. So today we want to introduce and explain how to play our new spelling papercraft game, Spell Chomp Spell, using the free papercraft characters over at our friends’ site, ABC CHOMP!
To play Spell Chomp Spell, all you need is an ABC Chomper paper craft character. These are the characters found in the free hit game that’s packed with educational power, ABC Chomp! You can download them and find out how to make them at the ABC CHOMP! Free resources page. Once you have a character and its word discs for each player, grab a single six-sided die and you’re ready to go. You can play with two or more players, and it’s best if everyone has a different character.
What you need to play Spell Chomp Spell
1 ABC Chomper character per player
A die
(optional) 1 dice guide (best for 2 players)
How to play Spell Chomp Spell
Step 1
Once each player has prepared an ABC Chomper and their word discs, place all the word discs face-down on a table and scramble them. (If the word discs are identifiable from the back, put all the discs in a bag or box to draw from.)
Step 2
Play rock-paper-scissors or any other other game to decide who will be the first player and the player order.
Step 3
The first player rolls the die and picks up the same number of discs as on the die. For example, if a player rolls a 4, he or she can pick up (or draw) 4 discs at random.
Step 4
After picking up the discs, the player looks at the word and tries to spell it. If the word starts with the same letter as the players own character, then the player can feed it to the character for 1 point. However, if the word doesn’t start with the same letter, the player must return the word. At this point, feel free to scramble the words again.
Since the correct spellings are taped to the back of each character, other players can say if the spelling is right or wrong. If spelling the words is too challenging, the teacher can hold up flashcards to help practice the letters. On the other hand, if spelling the words is too easy, have students use each word in a sentence. e.g. I like ants./I don’t like ants. You can use any structure suitable for your students!
Step 5
The game continues and all the players go around in turn. The first player to get 5 points is the winner!
Variation (ideal for 2 players):
If there are only two players, rolling a 6 on the die will allow a student to pick up 6 of the 10 discs and the game will end too quickly. For that reason, you can add additional rules for each number on the die. We usually write the rules on the board before playing. Feel free to make up your own rules for the game, but the guide below is a good place to start.
Dice guide
- Pick up 1 word disc.
- Pick up 2 word discs.
- Pick up 3 word discs.
- Return all your own discs to the middle.
- Skip your turn.
- Your opponent(s) must return all discs to the middle.
Let’s play Spell Chomp Spell with ABC Chompers!
We’ve been playing Spell Chomp Spell with our students and the verdict is in: it’s a fun and fantastic spelling papercraft game to help EFL/ESL students learn basic words and spellings. This quickly develops their understanding of phonics, reading, and writing in English. Play Spell Chomp Spell with your students just once and you’ll see why ABC Chompers are not only cute and fun, but also full of potential for teaching English.
Can you think of any other ways to use ABC Chompers in the classroom? Please let us know!
