KS1 puzzles and games to improve vocab and spelling

[tricot39]

DS loves a puzzle and it would be great to use this to improve his vocabulary and spelling. He is in Y1 and he is reading well ahead, while his writing is lagging behind a bit. I think he is maybe a bit too perfectionist. Anyway I wondered if getting him to play a few games would help him get his skills up without being faced with a whole blank page to put a story down..... he can deal with that a bit later! TIA

Junior scrabble or pictionary?

Boggle ?
Wordsearches?
Hangman ?

playing hangman with my 6yo requires a lot of imagination

I think it is rather common for writing to lag behind reading, especially in early years.

Have a look at Reading Eggspress - (not the Reading Eggs, that's for smaller ones learning to read) - it is subscription based, but they have 14 days free trial. I think it is meant to work on spelling and vocabulary/comprehension.

Also - with Dd1 we did a holiday diary and a reading diary in the summer of Y1/Y2 - bit of practice daily got her writing a lot better for the start of Y2 and her confidence increased as well.

As a TA working with 'reluctant writers' I used to let them dictate their ideas to me, and I would type on the computer as they talked. Once freed from the effort of controlling a pencil their ideas began to flow.

If you have a tape recorder, or a phone that records, let him dictate into that. He can later review his ideas, amend if necessary, and write or type it at a later time.