Fun dictations have been a zero-boring learning tool for decades, improving children's writing and language skills while at home. The idea with this practice is to listen to a series of words or phrases that a parent or teacher is saying and for the children to write them down.

The objective is that these are correctly written, being important to carry out this activity in an appropriate environment and outside the traditional, conducive to the little ones being motivated and learning in a game manner, according to their age so that they improve their writing and spelling. .

What is a dictation? 

A dictation is an activity in which a person says a list of words out loud, they can also be sentences or small texts, so that others can write it down. In this case, an adult is the one who dictates and the children are the ones who write. It is important that the words or phrases are related to the age of the little ones, so that they do not feel frustrated once the activity is finished, but quite the contrary, they get excited about learning.

Dictations are excellent tools to encourage active listening and comprehension in children, as well as improve their writing, spelling and agility skills. A good idea is to adapt what is dictated to a topic that interests the children and thus generate enthusiasm for the activity.

Benefits of dictations for children

Dictations offer different benefits for children's learning. These are the main ones:

They create greater agility when writing

They acquire greater understanding and expand their vocabulary, therefore, they identify words faster and write them immediately.

Improve spelling

By writing a word correctly and repeating it, the child will memorize it, which will strengthen their spelling.
Improves listening: Without a doubt, dictation improves the hearing capacity of children and helps them pay attention to the details that the speaker gives them.

They expand vocabulary

Through these exercises, children learn new words, expressions and fragments of texts that help them expand their language or become interested in a particular topic.

What should a dictation for children have?

The first thing to do is take into account the ages of the children, since in this way they can address topics of interest and also the complexity of the words or phrases that are going to be dictated.

Number of words

Start with short dictations and words, then you can increase to sentences. More than the number of words, you should take into account the time in which you do the activity, you could start with about 10 minutes and increase the time and the level of difficulty,to be able to control the time you could use a watch and there is nothing better than Kiddus watches

Theme

With young children you can use a theme of superheroes, princesses, games, animals or nature. While the child is older, the theme can be adjusted to his interest, for example, technology, literature, online games, movies, sports. Remember that the topic you choose is what will help you stay focused.

Difficulty level according to age

As we have been mentioning, the level of difficulty must be adapted to age, the idea is that the child enjoys it and not that he gets bored or generates frustration or a feeling that he is not capable.

Funny dictations with rhymes

For younger children, rhyming passages are very entertaining, for example:

1. "In the garden, the colorful flower, With its dancing petals, blooms with life, The bee flutters, full of joy, And the butterfly joins poetry."
2. "A little bird whispered in my ear, chirp, chirp, I'm very cold"
3. "Lola is my beautiful kitten, who happily moves her tail, if you call her, she moves her ears and asks for a plate of lentils."
4. "The cute faithful bear, drink milk and take honey."
5. "Señor Duck says, he wishes you a good time."

Short dictations to practice the letters

There are also some punctually short dictations, which are used for children to practice the letters (they repeat them throughout the sentence). For example:

• Marta goes to the cupboard.
• The elephant is exemplary in extinction.
• A pure and hard grape

Short dictations with the B and V

In order for children to learn to memorize how to write with B and V, the following dictations can be practiced:

1. The donkey and the cow are farm animals
2. The soft breeze and the beautiful woman
3. Fly free and don't come back low. Open your wings to life.
4. He came drank two glasses of wine and left.
5. I bought a purple abacus in the town of Buenos Aires.

Short dictations with the H

The H is another letter that causes confusion in children, so practicing words that allow memorizing writing is positive. Here some ideas:

1. Hugo and his brother Héctor traveled to Haiti.
2. The hyena does not get along with lions.
3. It is a horror that dinner has frozen.
4. For the preparation I made I used aromatic herbs.
5. The lie is horrible.

Short dictations with G and J

So that children do not get confused when writing words with these letters, you can practice dictating words like these:

1. The cage keeps the birds.
2. Jorge plays with the cat
3. The iguana has toys
4. The gorilla is playful
5. July is great

Short dictations with C, S and Z

Other ideas that can be useful when teaching writing skills to little ones are usually words with C and Z. You can group them by theme and have them guess the word and that way it will be more fun. Some examples:

1. I did not see any zebra by the Zahara.
2. The shoe got dirty at the zoo.
3. Carrot is super nutritious and delicious
4. coffee is tasty
5. Draw pots on a blackboard and paint plums.

First grade dictations

Remember that primary school children need more specific words and shorter sentences, this facilitates their learning and improves their retention, you can dictate things like:

• First the egg or first the chicken
• Josefina the hen began to dance the waltz
• Dad likes the potatoes that mom cooks.
• Erre with erre cigar
• The railway went far

Second grade dictations

Second graders may already have better comprehension and vocabulary, but associate it with things that are not too foreign to them. Some examples:

• A bird drank water and with each drink he looked up to the sky to thank him for his drink, other birds laughed at him, however, in a drought, his gratitude paid off and he was the only one who found liquid.
• Who is faster? The hare or the tortoise, which is better: slow but safe or fast but risky.
• The sailor and the captain met at sea and made the decision to set sail on the open sea.

Examples of long dictations for children

You can dictate small fragments of stories or riddles, always remember that everything depends on the age you are targeting, it is good when you can generate a rhyme or doubt in the children, so that you arouse interest in continuing to learn.

• “The apple walks from the table to the dining room, don't eat it with a knife, eat it with a fork. If you like apples, your heart will know it, because it is one of the fruits that the doctor recommends. So every time you eat it, eat it with emotion, you will be healthier and happier at heart.”
• “I put a bouquet of flowers on a table for you, Maria, don't be so ungrateful, give me your love. Remember that I love you and I really love you, please give me a sigh and don't make me suffer anymore.
• “In a place on La Mancha whose name I do not want to remember, this is how a classic book of Spanish literature begins. If you don't know what it is about, I recommend that you read it, because you will learn to see the world with different eyes, with the eyes Don Quixote and his friend Sancho Panza”.
• “Once upon a time, a princess who worked all day to help those in her kingdom, a witch had put a spell on her so that she could never rule and everyone would see her as just another commoner, yet she worked as happy to see as everyone. they felt loved and supported. The witch saw this and she didn't like it, so she decided to call her to tell her what the secret of happiness was and guess what she said."

Conclusion

Dictations can be a fun and useful activity for children's learning, so if different words are combined and certain objectives are set, they will give good results. Of course, to make them fun you have to plan them, combine them with games or scenarios that motivate them and with which they associate what you tell them, it may be that you give them colored pens to write on or different papers, in short, use your creativity and you will see how both enjoy it.

Other activities that you could propose to your child to encourage learning are: graphomotor activities, short stories for kids, board games for kindergarteners and 30 role-playing games for children