On Tuesday, we shared our favorite resources and activities for Preschool Math – Learning Addition, and I realized that I had yet to share the resources and activities that we like to use to promote word recognition and reading skills. So, without further ado…here are our tips and tricks for Preschool Reading – Learning Sight Words!
When teaching little ones how to read, most experts recommend starting with sight words. There are a few varying definitions, but sight words are most often known as a collection of words that are extremely common and frequently-used. They consist of approximately 100 words that reappear on almost any page of text (i.e. the, me, we, were, it, is, etc.). Children are often encouraged to learn to recognize sight words without sounding them out – mostly because a lot of sight words fail to follow our basic phonics principles, making them extremely difficult for our youngest readers to decode. When it comes down to it, sight words basically create a great foundation for children to build their vocabulary upon.
So, here are a few of our favorite sight word activities and resources:
Sight Word Matching Game
Every child loves a good memory/matching game…right?!? The very first time we introduced our little nugget to sight words, we used a Sight Word Matching Game, and it was an instant success! I’m a firm believer that if you make learning fun, the lesson is more likely to stick. And our daughter has enjoyed playing matching games for quite some time now – be it the personalized memory game that we ordered from Pinhole Press, or the always fun Seek-A-Boo! game. That being said, if I can find a memory game for us to play that introduces her to a brand new concept, I always buy it! This particular game came from the Target Dollar Spot.
These sight word cards are double-sided, so to play, we typically start by choosing a side (blue or orange). I then go through the cards and separate them, so that each pair of words ends up in two different piles. Our little nugget takes one pile and lays each card out on a flat surface. Then she draws a card from the remaining pile, finds its match, and reads the letters out loud. If she knows the word, she will say it. If she doesn’t know it yet, I help her find the answer. Her very last task is to use the word in a sentence. And then she moves on to find the next match.
This simple game keeps our daughter fully engaged until every last sight word has found its partner. It’s a quick and easy learning activity that is both challenging and rewarding – the perfect combination!
Do-A-Dot Sight Word Search
If I had to chose one activity that we’ve done that has made the most noticeable impact on our daughter’s ability to find and state various sight words, this Do-A-Dot Sight Word Search is most definitely it! I’m blown away every single time that we sit down to read a book, and our little nugget starts excitedly pointing out the sight words that she’s learned from completing these super quick and fun word searches.
I found these Free Dab n’ Dot Sight Word Printables over on Kindergarten Mom, and I thank my lucky stars that I stumbled upon them. P.S. There are a ton of other fantastic printables on this site, so make sure to pop over and check it out! π
Our little nugget loves using Do-A-Dot markers to create artistic masterpieces, so why not incorporate some dot-making fun into a learning activity? Like I said before, if you make the learning experience fun, your kiddos are more likely to engage with, and retain, the lesson. I printed out a full set of these sight word search printables and every few days, we pick two words to conquer. Our daughter starts by spelling the word in the middle, then we state the word together, and then she sets off to dot all of the other matching words on the sheet. When she’s finished with both sheets, I hold each one up at random and ask her what the word is and how to spell it – as a reinforcement tool. On most days, as soon as she’s finished dotting her sight words, she immediately requests that we read a book, so that she can try to find the words that she just learned!
I also love how energetically she points out all of the other sight words that she’s already learned, when they appear in the dots on a new word search sheet!
Say It, Make It, Write It – Sight Words
If you caught our Preschool Math – Learning Addition post on Tuesday, then you’ve already seen this fantastic Say It, Make It, Write It printable in action! As I mentioned in that post, this one printable (from You Clever Monkey) can be used in a variety of different ways – making it a free printable that you absolutely want to have on-hand.
For sight word practice, we like to pair our Say It, Make It, Write It mat with some colorful letter charms (leftover from making our ABC’s Sensory Bottle). Magnetic letters also work well. I start by writing a sight word, that our little nugget has recently learned, in the top box. She will then read the word out loud (Say It). Then she creates the word, using the letter charms, in the second box (Make It). Lastly, she uses a dry-erase marker to write the word in the bottom box (Write It).
I love using this activity as reinforcement for sight words that we’ve already learned, but it’s a fantastic way to introduce new sight words too. Our little nugget loves using this worksheet and I think the main reason why is because it is multifaceted – it requires the use of more than one skill.
Sight Word Salt Tray
Another fun way to learn sight words is through sensory play. If you’ve been following along in our Instagram stories over the past month, you know that we purchased a sensory bin from the amazing Katy (@prekwolfpack). Katy’s February bin came complete with three beautiful hues of colored salt, paper straws, silicone cupcake liners, foam roses, gems…and so much more! We’ve had the best time using our sensory bin in a variety of different ways (in fact, we will be sharing all of the incredibly fun activities that we’ve completed, in a review post next Thursday).
For this sight word activity, we scooped some of the colored salt into the lid of our sensory bin – creating a nice even layer – and then we chose a sight word card (from our sight word matching game) for our little nugget to write in the salt. She utilized one of the paper straws to write some of the words, and she used her pointer finger to write a few more. Gliding your fingers through a salt tray feels divine!
This is such a fun and colorful way to practice writing sight words, and is yet another way to make the learning experience exciting and engaging. Our little nugget also enjoyed creating various designs and pictures in the salt, once we had finished with our sight words. π
My husband and I love to read! It’s a peaceful and relaxing hobby that we’ve both enjoyed since a very early age. Thus, it is very important to us to instill a love for reading and books in our little nugget. Teaching our daughter to read is obviously a very important step in attaining that goal, but I think the most important piece to the puzzle (especially at her young age) is continuing to read to her on a daily basis (and letting her see us reading on our own, as well). Reading to a child every single day provides a multitude of benefits: it promotes language and communication skills, boosts concentration, sparks imagination and creativity, develops empathy, provides introductions to our great big world, increases vocabulary…as well as so many other wonderful and amazing perks!
Have you introduced your child to the world of sight words yet? What are your favorite learning resources, or sight word tips and tricks? I would love to hear all about your experience in the comments below.
