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:

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.

10 Comments

  1. 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!

  2. 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!!

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

    1. 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! :)

  4. 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 :)

  5. 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.

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

  7. 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!

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