Menu

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About
    • Developmental Domains of Early Childhood
      • Language Development
      • Cognitive Development
      • Motor Development
      • Social/Emotional Development
      • Self-Help/Adaptive Development
      • Spiritual and Moral Development
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclosure/Disclaimer
    • Terms of Use
  • Thematic Units
  • Concepts
    • Alphabet
    • Number Recognition
    • Color Activities For Toddlers
    • Shapes
    • Reading
    • Science Experiments
    • Sunday School Activities
  • Holidays
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Fourth of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
  • For Parents
    • Gifts
    • DIY Ideas
    • Recipes
    • Photography Tips
    • A Lesson Learned
    • Tools
      • Infant Percentile Calculator
      • Children’s Percentile Calculator
      • Children’s BMI Calculator
  • Shop

I Can Teach My Child!

Activities and resources for parents of young children

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Blog
  • Birth-12 Months
  • Fun Activities For 1 to 2 Years Old
  • Home
  • 2-3 Years
  • 3-5 Years
  • 6+ Years

September 15, 2018 by Jenae - 10 Comments
This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy.

Fun and Easy Sight Word Activities for Kids

Sight Word Activities for Early Readers

Sight Words are an important component to a balanced approach to literacy. Learning to recognize sight words (the most commonly used words in print) helps children to become more fluent readers. These sight word activities for kids help make the process fun and engaging!

What are sight words?

Here is a short excerpt from my eBook I Can Teach My Child to Read:  A 10-Step Guide for Parents:

There are a lot of misconceptions as to what exactly a “sight word” actually is, especially in the blogging community. Words like “bed”, “bathroom”, “sink”, etc. are not necessarily sight words. Yes, it is nice for your child to learn to read and spell these words, but they can be learned using basic phonics principles. Sight words, on the other hand, are the most common words we find when reading, which often do not follow the phonics rules that children may be learning. These words are not easily decoded (sounded out) and are often called “cheaters” because they don’t play by the (phonics) rules.

Teaching your child to automatically recognize these sight words while reading will greatly improve her reading fluency. The National Reading Panel (2000) has defined fluency as “reading text with speed, accuracy, and proper expression.” Fluency instruction should always be paired with comprehension—just because a child can read aloud quickly and accurately does not necessarily mean she is gleaning the important information and concepts within the text. Sight Word instruction, which aims to improve reading fluency, should take no more than 5 minutes each day.

 

Sight Word Activities

Here are several easy sight word activities that can be done in 5-10 minutes and will help your child learn their sight words. These make great sight word activities for kindergarten or preschool.

Sight Word Bingo

 1.  Simple Sight Word Bingo

Roll-a-Sight Word

2. Roll a Sight Word Printable Game

Snowy Sight Words

3. Snowy Sight Words

Sight Word Smash

4.  Sight Word Smash (with baked cotton balls)

Sight Word Pounding

5. Sight Word Pounding

Sight-Word-Dive

6. Sight Word Dive (could do in the bathtub during the winter months)

Tips for Learning Sight Words

7. Tips for Learning Sight Words

Sight Word Target Practice

8. Sight Word Target Practice

IMG_4578

9. Sight Word Shake

Extra Resources To Help You Teach Sight Words:

Zingo Sight Words

Zingo Sight Words

Big Brother and I frequently play this together. It makes the process of automatically recognizing sight words fun by turning it into a game!

Sight Word Readers

Scholastic Sight Word Readers

Meet the Sight WordsMeet the Sight Words DVD Set

These DVDs are helpful for when you just need a few minutes to get something done and want your child to watch something educational in the process. We haven’t watched them all that much, but they are nice to have around. Read my full  Meet the Sight Words review.

Sight Word Apps for your iPhone or iPad:

  • Free Sight Words List
  • Free Sight Words
  • Meet the Sight Words ($0.99)

Reading Eggs Sight Words Activity

Click here for more helpful ideas to teach your child:

How To Teach Your Child To Read

35 Fun Alphabet Crafts and Activities

Kindergarten Readiness: 33 Ways To Prepare Your Child For Kindergarten

 

This post was first published November, 2013. Updated 2018.

Related Posts

  • Sight Word Shake

      Learning sight words is an important component of a balanced approach to literacy. Although…

  • Sight Word Dive

      One of our favorite things about the summer is swimming. My parents have a…

  • Roll A Sight Word

    Roll and Read Sight Words Learning to recognize sight words (also known as high-frequency words)…

  • Learning Sight Words

      Guest Post by Julie of Make, Take, & Teach    After your child learns…

  • Sight Word Bingo

    Sight words are the most common words children will encounter when learning to read and…

  • Sight Word Target Practice

    Hi! I'm Kristina from Toddler Approved and I am so excited to be guest posting today while…

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michelle says

    November 21, 2013 at 3:13 pm

    Thank-you! I’m just getting ready to start sight-words with my son. I’ve really appreciated your ebook, its given me a lot of guidance, besides just confidence that I can do this!

    Reply
  2. Jennifer says

    September 30, 2014 at 1:42 pm

    I just want to say thank you for the ideas!! My son just entered 1st grade and doesn’t exactly enjoy his homework and practicing his sight words!! I think these creative twists on learning will be enjoyable for both of us at homework time!!

    Reply
    • Jenae says

      October 1, 2014 at 3:03 pm

      Thank you! So glad that you found some ideas to implement! :)

      Reply
  3. CEW says

    June 15, 2015 at 10:05 pm

    ? How on earth are words like “at” and “and” and “gave” sight words? These words can easily be sounded out.

    Reply
    • Jenae says

      June 16, 2015 at 7:50 am

      Yes, they can. But sight words (also known as high-frequency words) are the most common words in written language. So being able to recognize these words from sight (without having to sound them out) makes for a more proficient and fluent reader. Hope that helps! :)

      Reply
  4. Ariana says

    September 8, 2015 at 11:41 am

    Dear Jeane,
    These ideas are very helpful for parents and fun for kids to learn sight words. Thank you for sharing, please keep up the good work regardless of the different points of view shared on this site.

    @CEW
    Dear user: The ideas presented above are just examples of how parents can help their kids with school. It seems that they can be easily adapted to anyone’s needs. Perhaps was not your intention, but the comment you posted has a very negative tone. Seriously, who needs that?
    Taking a deep breath while enjoying a cup of tea feels awesome!
    Peace :)

    Reply
  5. Alicia says

    August 17, 2016 at 10:05 am

    Thank you I really hope that these activities will help my child with site words. He is only in kindergarten and they already want them to learn these. School just started last week and his teacher nit-picks about every little thing from not turning the paper when he uses scissors to not coloring correctly. He went to K-4 lasts yr and can write his name and knows his numbers and colors and shapes knows most of his letters. He hates doing homework and hates to color. Thank you for these tips if you have anymore that might help me I would greatly appreciate it.

    Reply
  6. Mrs. Cogdell says

    October 3, 2018 at 10:00 pm

    The bingo sight word activity looks like it will be fun. This is a great idea. I hope it works. thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  7. shell shockers says

    November 20, 2018 at 10:39 am

    Thank-you! I’m just getting ready to start sight-words with my son. I’ve really appreciated your ebook, its given me a lot of guidance, besides just confidence that I can do this!

    Reply
  8. Lisa Yang says

    January 23, 2019 at 3:09 pm

    What a beautiful idea. Thank you for sharing this. Will try it

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You Might Also Love

Sight Word Christmas Tree
Sight Word Christmas Tree Printable
Categories: Christmas, Printables, Reading, Sight Words
Sight Word Spray
Categories: Sight Words
Sight Word Fishing
Categories: Language Development, Sight Words

Primary Sidebar

Kindergarten Readiness Teach Your Child to Read ABC Printable Scripture Cards Indoor Toddler Activiites

Looking for something specific?

Footer

Note on Copyright

Feel free to use ideas at your home, school or anywhere else you learn and play. If you wish to share any posts or photographs from this site on your blog or website, please make sure to abide by the following copyright guidelines: -Use Only 1 Photo -Maximum of 1-2 sentence description -Include a link to the ORIGINAL post Please do not repost/duplicate more than 1-2 sentences of the tutorial or distribute printed content without written permission from the original author. Please do not use ANY of the photographs on this website on Instagram.
Privacy
© 2021 I Can Teach My Child, LLC. All Rights Reserved. · Site Design and Hosting by SERVOUSLY
The owner and writer of this blog accepts no liability. Readers following instructions and suggestions made by the owner and writers are responsible for their own safety and the safety of minors in their care. All activities require adult supervision at all times. Children under 3 should not participate in any activities that involve small pieces.
Back to Top
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

SAVE & ACCEPT
  • About
    ▼
    • Developmental Domains of Early Childhood
      ▼
      • Language Development
      • Cognitive Development
      • Motor Development
      • Social/Emotional Development
      • Self-Help/Adaptive Development
      • Spiritual and Moral Development
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclosure/Disclaimer
    • Terms of Use
  • Thematic Units
  • Concepts
    ▼
    • Alphabet
    • Number Recognition
    • Color Activities For Toddlers
    • Shapes
    • Reading
    • Science Experiments
    • Sunday School Activities
  • Holidays
    ▼
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Fourth of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
  • For Parents
    ▼
    • Gifts
    • DIY Ideas
    • Recipes
    • Photography Tips
    • A Lesson Learned
    • Tools
      ▼
      • Infant Percentile Calculator
      • Children’s Percentile Calculator
      • Children’s BMI Calculator
  • Shop
  • Birth-12 Months
  • 1 – 2 Years
  • 2-3 Years
  • 3-5 Years
  • 6+ Years
  • Blog