3 Fun And Engaging Sight Word Activities For Kids
3 fun and engaging sight word activities for kids
Sight word practice is a key part of kids learning how to read. This blog post isn’t meant to stir the debate on whether or not kids should be practicing sight words, but rather to give you 3 fun and engaging sight word activities for your students or kids at home!
You'll be shocked how engaged your students are
You’ll be shocked how engaged your students are!
These 3 activities are ones I use in my own first grade classroom to help my students practice sight words so they can become better readers and more engaged while they’re practicing sight words. Say goodbye to the flash card method (even though I’m not opposed to it) and hello to fun activities that your students will ask you to do again and again!
Teach sight words so kids can become better readers
I know these activities will help your kids learn sight words so they can become more confident readers!
Turn sight words into Google slides for a daily warm-up activity
Turn sight words into Google slides for a daily warm-up
I used to write out sight words for my first graders on notecards or have them do it as a Daily 5 station activity so they’d have a set in their book tub and one to take home. While I do think this is still a great option, once we switched from in class instruction to online learning, I had to get creative. I taught first grade online for 2020-2021 and I made Google slides of sight words so I could practice them with my students and share the slides with families who wanted more practice time at home. My students all had an iPad or tablet, so it was an easy thing for them to practice on car trips or while their parents were making dinner. I also made the Google sight word slides editable so families could add in extra words or teachers who wanted to use the slides could customize them. You can check out the sight word slides here! Before my first graders head off to second grade, my school district wants them to know how to read and write 50 words and practicing them daily gives them a better success rate as they go to second grade.
Make sight word practice accessible for kids to use at home
Share the sight word slides with parents so kids can practice at home
I mentioned this briefly but it’s important! Share the sight word slides with parents so kids can practice at home. Our world has become increasingly more digital and kids are using technology more and more at home. I noticed once I sent the sight words to the parents via email, my students were excited to tell me they’d been practicing at home and their small group reading had improved. My lower level readers were picking up sight words quickly and we were able to move levels more frequently!
Have a snowball fight with sight words for fun
Have a snowball fight with sight words
Having a snowball fight with sight words is hands down the best activity for kids to practice sight words. I’m telling you, your students will ask you to do this activity again and again. Here’s how you play: have kids pick one sight word and go write it on a scrap piece of paper. Hopefully you have some kind of word wall in your classroom so students don’t feel stressed when choosing their word. The kids crumble the word up like a snowball and come back to the carpet. On the count of 3 they get to gently throw their snowball at someone else. They have to pick up one other person’s snowball and read the word out loud. My students LOVE this and ask me if we can play it every day. It’s a great way to read other kids' handwriting and practice different words. You can do multiple rounds and they usually don't get the same word twice. This also helps with gross motor skills and throwing!
Turn sight words into a basketball game
Turn sight words into a basketball shoot off
My last fun and engaging sight word activity for kids is basketball slam dunk or shoot off with sight words. You can do this following the snowball fight or as a separate activity. After they read the sight word out loud they get to shoot or slam dunk their word into the recycling bin. All my students love this activity and I love watching them have so much fun. Plus, it’s a great activity to practice gross motor skills and throwing just like the snowball fight.
Your students will love the gross motor movement while practicing their sight words
Your students will love the gross motor movement while practicing their sight words
I noticed many of my students were shooting their papers into the recycling bin when they thought I wasn’t looking. Instead of getting mad at them, I turned their love of throwing things into a fun and engaging sight word activity. Now they get to play basketball in our classroom and have fun learning.
Come back to this blog post and let me know how your students liked these activities in the comments below! I’d love to know more ways to make sight words fun and engaging so let me know what works for you and your students!
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