Sight words are common words that children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by sight so that they can automatically recognize these words in print without having to use any strategies to decode. Teaching sight words through fun activities not only helps children remember these words more effectively but also maintains their interest in learning. Whether you’re a parent or teacher, you might find the following activities useful for teaching sight words at home or school in 2020:
1. Sight Word Bingo: Create bingo cards with common sight words and have fun searching for the words as they are called out.
2. Flashlight Find: In a darkened room, use a flashlight to shine on sight words written on index cards taped to the walls.
3. Word Fishing: Place magnetic letters or cards with sight words into a ‘pond’ and let kids ‘fish’ for words with a magnetic fishing rod.
4. Word Building Blocks: Write sight words on the sides of building blocks and have children build towers while reading the words aloud.
5. Sight Word Memory Game: Make pairs of cards with sight words and play memory by trying to find matching pairs.
6. Sight Word Treasure Hunt: Hide sight word cards around the room and give children clues to find them, rewarding them with pretend or real treasure.
7. Hopscotch Words: Draw a hopscotch grid outside and write sight words in each square for children to read as they hop along.
8. Sight Word Swat: Spread out cards with sight words, give learners a fly swatter, and call out a word for them to swat.
9. Sight Word Detective: Scatter some mixed letters amongst real sight words and have children spot and read the actual sight word.
10. Bean Bag Toss Reading: Place buckets labeled with different sight words, and when a child tosses a bean bag into one, they must read the word.
11. Sight Word Puzzles: Cut up sentences containing sight words into strips or pieces for children to put back together in the correct order while reading.
12. Musical Words: Like musical chairs, play music and have kids walk around circles of cards with sight words; when the music stops, they pick up a card and read it aloud.
13. Spell with Snacks: Use alphabet-shaped snacks like cereal or crackers for kids to spell out sight words before eating them.
Using these engaging activities will help ensure that learning sight words is an enjoyable process rather than monotonous memorization work, thereby helping children in developing their reading skills seamlessly.
