Here’s a fantastic tool for kids who are learning to read and spell, made out of just a few upcycled items in your home!

Because Travis is a novice speller, I made a speller that featured three letter words, but bigger kids can accept the challenge of four spools!

On the empty spools, I wrote letters in permanent marker. Do try to think strategically for this: I had common beginning consonants on the first spool, vowels on the second, and common ending letters on the third.

Note: If you’re having trouble with this, download the template from Family Fun magazine’s Dec/Jan 2016 back issue.

Next I threaded the spools onto two pencils. Ideally, your empty spools will have small holes and fit around one pencil; however, I taped two pencils together, since my spools had wider holes. Secure the ends with eraser toppers.

Now twist and turn to make some words!

The speller worked in two fantastic ways for Travis. First, I could make a word and have him sound it out. This is great if you switch rapidly from one word to another. So if I have c-o-t it says cot…

…but if I twist just one spool, we have h-o-t hot.

More challenging was for Travis to try and make his own word, which he still needed some help with.

In sum, a great toy, and we’re thinking this will be perfect for car rides!