Fingerspelling Fun!
Fingerspelling can be a tedious learning task for students. It can often leave students feeling frustrated, lacking in skill, or even incapable of achieving success in ASL. To make fingerspelling fun, try to implement entertaining and creative ways to practice it. Most students respond well to games and activities that don’t feel like learning. Establishing an atmosphere of fun and making failure OK in your classroom will help put students at ease. Always keep in mind each student will learn at a different pace. If struggling students know it is OK that everyone is working at a different skill level, then fingerspelling can be seen as fun, not challenging.
Let’s face it, ASL students at every level need help with fingerspelling. All students need fingerspelling practice weekly but daily would be best.
Fingerspelling Fun at Any Level
Here are some ideas to make fingerspelling fun in the classroom at any level.
Scrabble
Use your own Scrabble board with these American Sign Language Scrabble tiles.
Let students play just like a regular Scrabble game. No board? No problem, play on a desk.
Also, you can use the tiles to have students randomly select 10 – 12 letters. Start a timer and see how many words students create using the tiles selected. This can be an individual practice, a partner activity, or a station activity.
Boggle
Boggle can be played in a few different ways. First, it can be played with a traditional Boggle game. Shake the cubes and set the timer. Students write down the words they see. After the time is called, students fingerspell back and forth sharing words they found. If two or more students have the same word, only one point is awarded. However, if a student has a word no one else saw, they get two points. Play as many rounds as time permits. The student with the highest points at the end wins the game.
Secondly, Boggle can be played using the ASL alphabet. This activity takes a little more time to prep for, however, it uses the manual alphabet handshapes. This helps with shape recognition. Use the Gallaudet font to create cards. You will need 16 handshapes to play. Create a 4 X 4 grid in a document and add the 16 letters, one in each grid. Make enough copies for the students. Play the same as above.
Another option for this game is to have one student find and spell the words and the partner write the words down on a piece of paper. Playing this way will allow groups of four to compete against each other using two teams of two. Adjust the number of students on a team if there is an odd number of students in the classroom.
ABC Blocks
While this activity is very much like Boggle, it still engages students. Use craft blocks and manual alphabet rubber stamps to create game pieces. Stamp the letters onto the blocks ensuring that each side of the block has a different letter. I used the Scrabble tile distribution as a starting point to make sure I had enough letters to create good words. Then I filled in the other blocks with random letters. I found that covering the blocks with Modge Podge first helps the stamp not bleed.
Use a document camera to project the game pieces. Use them all or pick a number that fits under your projector. Toss the blocks then set a timer. Allow students to play individually and write down all of the words they see. When the timer goes off, students will fingerspell to a small group. The person with the most words that no one else used in that group, wins the round and receives a point. The person with the most points at the end wins.
Telephone
Telephone is a fun game that can be thrown together at the end of a class. It can take up those last few minutes of the period that is often filled with students packing up and leaving. Keep students in rows. Have all students face forward. The last student in the row is who will start the game. Give a word to the students in the back. They pass the word to the person in front of them. Play continues until the word reaches the student in the front row. That student will write the word on the board. If it is correct, that team scores a point.
Because this activity is easy to cheat at, there is a variation of this game. Create a word card for each row of students. If you have 5 rows, you make 5 cards like in the image above. On the front of the card, write 10 different words on each card. Give one card to each student sitting in the last seat of the row. Once the game starts, play is just as described above. The student in the front is in charge of 
writing all the words on the board. There are two criteria for winning. The first is time. The first to have all the words on the board wins. However, if that team has several errors, the first team to have ALL the words accurate trumps that and wins. Accuracy is better than speed.
Want more practice? Throw in some number practice by flipping the cards over and writing numbers.
If you are crunched for time, try these already-created fingerspelling products:
- Fingerspelling Mega Bundle
- Fingerspelling Full unit
- Fingerspelling Question Trail
- Lexicalized Fingerspelling Mini-Unit
- Fingerspelling Quads Bundle
- Color by Number or Fingerspelling
- I Have Who Has – Major Brands
- Self-Paced Fingerspelling Practice
Check out all of the fingerspelling activities and lessons in the store!
In Conclusion
Consequently, all ASL students need fingerspelling practice and help no matter what level they are enrolled in. Use the ideas listed above to improve students’ fingerspelling skills. Fingerspelling can be fun. What are your ideas for fingerspelling fun?
Here is a bonus packet to use to help students remember the rules and history of fingerspelling. It is free so download it now and add it to your fingerspelling unit.
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