We all loved puzzle games when we were kids and some of us even love them today. With the high popularity of smartphones, hundreds of puzzle games appeared on Play Store and App Store and they are just a few clicks away.

This means that we can play them any time and in any place, thus setting the cogs of our minds in motion and making the inner clock ticking. A few moments later, we are deeply involved in the game and when we stop playing – several hours have passed.

What’s the deal with them?

One type of puzzle games is connected only to learning words and spelling and they can be very useful when someone tries to learn English. Whether you work with adults or with kids, these five pieces of advice will help you with training them to spell correctly.

1. Combine memory games with spelling games

Memory games are closely related to spelling puzzle games. Due to the fact that language occupies both hemispheres in the brain, we can easily combine it with both creative and logical hemisphere.

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By combining the traditional memory games with spelling puzzle games, you make people memorize spelling better. This is especially neat when it comes to teenagers and children because their brains are still in development.

On the other hand, this practice may not be as effective with people of age who want to learn English as a second language due to the decline of their cognitive processes which include memory as well. However, if someone finds it interesting, then they definitely should be encouraged to proceed with this kind of combination.

2. Use it with the youngest ones.

As previously stated, the latest research in cognitive linguistics claims that we all have predisposition for learning languages and that the best time to start is when we are children.

Spelling training is no exception to this rule and you can start with some simple Puzzle spelling games and slowly increase the difficulty of words.

The internet is full with the spelling puzzle games that are targeted towards the youngest ones. For example, you may visit Learning Games for Kids and choose some of the free games they are offering. The games are the classic ones – crosswords, scramble, hangman, etc.

Once you start training spelling, you will find out that the games will have positive effect not only on kids but on you as well up to certain extent.

3. Make children learn by themselves

When it comes to teenagers who are older than 16, a slightly different approach should be applied when spelling training is in question.

Namely, the best way to learn spelling of the words through puzzle games is to make them solve all the puzzles by themselves and even to figure out the rules by themselves.

Why is this important?

Well, when we start thinking about the rules for solving a certain puzzle we activate more cognitive functions and focus on the puzzle more than usual.

This means that we will remember how to spell the words better. The most important thing of all – people will have fun, especially those who want to solve puzzles and enjoy that process.

4. Combine several different puzzle games

Using one type of puzzle games can become boring really fast and that is exactly the reason why you need to combine several puzzles in order to have a complete training in spelling.

Take you for example.

Would you rather solve one type of puzzles over and over again or would you like to change them as soon as you think that you have got enough. Our brains are designed in such a way that after we master something and it becomes easy for us, we start solving the problems unconsciously and not really carrying whether we will remember something.

This is exactly the reason why you should, for starters, choose two types of puzzle games and solve them simultaneously. This way, your brain will not rest for some time and you will need more energy and effort to solve the puzzle.

The effect is more than great – you will have two different sources of knowledge and your spelling will improve significantly.

5. Ask children to write down whenever they learn a new word

In the ear of digital writing, we completely managed to forget about handwritten word. However, there is something about handwriting that makes us remember things much better than writing them down in a virtual notepad.

How is that possible?

Well, when we learned to write, we needed to connect both our motor skills and our cognitive functions. This means that the effect produced is a two-way street – we get both the written word and our memory of it is better.

This is a good enough reason to start writing down all the words that you learn and their spelling. If you are a teacher, you should always ask the students to write a word whenever it appears in the puzzle and it seems familiar to them. It certainly requires more work but the final result will be much more satisfactory.

Furthermore, people who write a lot by hand when they are kinds have a good chance to become writers who will use digital technology for writing. Find more information about improving writing skills on Aussiessay blog.

To sum up, being either a person who wants to learn spelling or a teacher, it is always a good idea to take puzzle games as a mean of training. These games are important because not only do they teach us but because they activate other cognitive functions which can help us in studying other things.

These 5 ways to use puzzle games in spelling training may be something that you can start from and eventually come up with ideas of your own.