Sight word flashcards…bleh, right?

At some point in your life, you’re bound to have had an encounter with flash cards.  I mean, who didn’t have to endure the endless drill of them when learning their times tables years ago?

You likely don’t have the fondest of memories of them.  They are without a doubt boring.  But there is strong research to support the value of use of flashcards.

Research shows that flash cards improve both active recall and meta cognition.  This means that you actively monitor your own growth as you learn new words, and will remember them longer because of the strong connections you make with them.  This is why the importance of flash cards is emphasized  in my letter of the week series.  They will also be a crucial component in learning sight words.

Undoubtedly, there is a place for repetition.  I’m not going to  say you don’t need to routinely practice sight words in the plain old flashcard drill manner.

Because you do.

But it doesn’t need to all be drill, drill, drill.  Adding an interactive component will help your child connect with what they are learning in a hands-on way.   Not to mention have fun with it in the process.

So I’ve dug into my vault of teacher treasures, scoured Pinterest,  and compiled a list of over 20 engaging games and tactile activities that will make learning sight words anything but a chore!

Also, If you’re looking for a developmental list sight words, be sure to check out my 4 free sight word lists in my previous post!

Sight Word Games

You can turn practically anything into a game and kids will love it!  So it’s super easy to turn sight word practice into something they will enjoy!  You’ll find most everything you need lying around your house, and if not, you can score it easily for cheap on Amazon!

For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase from these links I may make a small commission at no cost to you.

Popcorn

This is a simple, yet fun, game.  To play, you need to use one deck of sight cards.  I usually limit it to the list we are working on unless we have some extra time, and then I will add in previous lists.

I have created some POP cards you will need to mix in throughout the deck.  To play you simply alternate turns drawing a card and reading it.  If you read it, you get to keep it, if not place it at the bottom of the stack so it can be tried again later.

Each time you draw a POP, you lose the cards you have kept.  They need to be put in a discard pile, not returned to the deck.

The game ends with the last card and the person who has the most cards at the end of the game is the winner!

This sort of levels the playing field for kids till struggling with their sight words, as anyone can receive a “POP” and lose it all!

You can download my POP cards here, or, you can find them included in my Sight Words Bundle.

Beat the clock

We play this two different ways.  The first way, we set a timer and alternate reading the cards and try to say them all  before the timer goes off.  If we get a word wrong, it goes to the bottom of the stack and has to be tried again.  We don’t beat the timer unless we can read them all.

Keep in mind, you can set the timer for seconds.  I don’t recommend including a ton of words your child struggles with in this one as it can be frustrating to them.  You want to build their confidence by letting them play a few times with words they know.

The second is to set a goal for ourselves to get through a stack of cards.  This one takes a little practice, particularly as it can be difficult for your child to estimate times.  We played with a few times to teach my daughter what a good estimate would be.  She starts with that time (for example 4 minutes) and then works to beat her time.  This helps promote  fluency with the sight words.

Sight word Board games

We love to play Chutes and Ladders, and just mixed it up slightly to include sight words.  For every roll, we have to read a sight word, if we cannot, we lose a turn.

Just like in the real game, the winner is whoever makes it to the end first.  It’s simple and so much fun!

This can be modified to go with lots of different board games.  We are going to try Trouble next and see how that goes!

Sight word match

This is an easy little game that kids love!

All you need is two decks of sight words.  I’d recommend doing no more than half of the words at once, that way you can keep your total cards in the 24-26 total cards (12-13 matches) range.  If this is too overwhelming for your child, you can break it into groups of 12 cards (6 matches) and do 4 rounds with the 4th having 5 matches.

It’s literally as simple as finding the matching pairs and reading them.  However, we add a fun twist to this one and if you can’t read it and your partner can, they can steal it.  The winner is the person at the end with the most cards.

Sight word go fish

You’ll need two sets of cards for this one as well.  I usually do the set we are working on.   You’ll need to deal to each player.  If its just you and your child I’d recommend sticking with 8 cards, but if anyone else joins I’d bring it down to six.

You then take turns asking the other player(s) if they have a card in their hand that you need to make a pair.   If they do, they must give it to you.  If not, you have to “go fish.”

You continue with this until there are no cards.  The person with the most points wins.

Find the treat

Let’s face it, candy is a huge motivator for kids.  So while it may not be the most healthy of treats, it is a good bribe for completing a task that has become routine and boring.

So I like to mix it up and play this little game with sight words and treats hidden under them.

I’ve got a stack of solo cups with each list written on them.  Before we start our practice with whatever new words and review words we are working on that day, I hide a few Skittles underneath the cups.

Before checking to see if there is candy hidden under the cup, my daughter has to read the word written on the cup.  This is absolutely her favorite activity and on those days when she doesn’t want to work on her sight words, this is guaranteed to get her going!

Sight word Scrabble

This is a fun little way to practice sight words and incorporate some math!

We use Scrabble tiles to make the words and then add them up.  I usually just put the words we are working on in a deck and we take turns drawing a card, creating it, and then adding up the value of the words.  The person with the highest value at the end of the game wins!

Magazine hunt

We have a ton of old magazines laying around.  I never knew what I was saving them for until we started working on ABCs and sight words!

I usually just give her a list, and let her look through a magazine and find and cut out as many examples as she can.

To turn it into a game – we guess how many words she can find and cut out in a set time, and she tries to beat that guess.

Setting a realistic estimate was a bit of a challenge in the beginning, but she is slowly starting to understand it.  I do believe this activity also is helping to improve her sense of time.

TACTILE ACTIVITIES

Research shows that hands-on, or tactile learning, is an excellent way to connect with young minds.  Providing a tactile approach to a subject allows children to make real world connections with their learning.  It results in increased comprehension and development of cognitive skills.

There are many ways you can use tactile activities to help build your child’s sight word bank.

Build it

We have a huge set of these Mega Blocks.  I wrote lower case letters on each of them in dry erase marker.  Don’t worry! It easily comes off.  She finds the letters she needs and then practices building the words. When we have finished all the words we’re working on, I let her just build things out of those letters for fun!

Alphabet Blocks

We also practice building the words with alphabet blocks.  I bought this set when pregnant with my oldest and they’ve come in handy many times since.  I have also seen them at yard sales if you’re not wanting to pay retail for them. We’ve also used these for letter recognition activities.

Stacking Solo Cups

This is a cute idea from Tickled Pink in Primary.  She has students practice reading the words and then building towers!

Bead it

This is another one I’ve been doing for years with my kinderkids.  I originally started with tiny beads I found at the Dollar Tree.  They came in big packs of several hundred and I wasn’t worried about them getting lost because they were so cheap.  But they got everywhere.  And to be honest, I had a few kiddos I was worried about sticking them inappropriate places.

Then I found these alphabet lacing letters.  They are my favorite and both my kids love playing with them!  They are a great fine motor activity too!

Write it

There are so many different ways to practice writing sight words.  A few of my favorites are:

Using sand

I keep a rectangular bin with sand stored for this activity.  We usually do it outside because I hate having sand in the house.  I give her a pencil or stick and she practices writing them.  She starts out by looking at the card of course, but after practice begins to spell them on her own.

Using salt

Here’s an alternative from Tickled Pink in Primary if you don’t have sand handy.

Shaving Cream

Shaving cream is super fun and is another easy way to incorporate sight words into the routine!  You can do this in or out of the bathroom, but it’s really fun to do it in the tub!  Just make sure you buy the cheap shaving creme because you will go through a lot fast!

Paint it

This is a super cute idea from Tickled Pink in Primary!  You could have your child write the words first, or you could write them and make it a fun discovery!

Shape it

Check out these fun (& free!) playdough mats from KinderMomma!  They are a great way to practice sight words!

Keep in mind also, you’re not limited to using playdough!  There are all kinds of recipes for different doughs with different consistencies on Pinterest.

Bend it

This is an oldie but goodie!  Have your child pratice shaping the words using pipe cleaners or Wiki Sticks!  This was a popular center activity in my classroom.

Spell it

There are also tons of different activities you can do with spelling sight words.

Magnetic letters

We have a easel with a dry erase board and chalkboard.  The dry erase board is also magnetic, so we take some time to practice spelling the words on the board.

At school, when I was doing this with groups of kids, I grabbed some baking sheets from the Dollar Tree!  They were magnetic and the kids could take them back to their seats to work with independently! We use these magnetic letters.

Dry Erase

Super simple  activity, but fun because for some reason kids think all markers are super special.   And, if you don’t have a dry erase board, dry erase markers erase easily off of tons of surfaces!

Chalk

And to switch it up, we practice writing them with chalk as well.  Again, this doesn’t have to be done on a chalkboard.  You can write them on the sidewalk, deck, cardboard boxes…the options are endless!

Bathtub Crayons

We also practice sight words in the bathtub!  These bathtub crayons are perfect for practice spelling!  We’ve also created some pretty cool artwork with them!  They clean up pretty easily too!

Bathtub Letters

Here’s yet another way we have fun with sight words in the tub.    We have these foam letters that stick to the wall when they are wet.  We practice spelling sight words with these also.

Slime It

My child, like almost every other child in the world, is obsessed with slime.  We did this activity before with letter recognition.   She had to reach into the slime and pull out and identify a letter.  She loved that so I decided to give it a try again with practicing sight words.  I show her a  flashcard word and she has to read it, then fish out the letters out of a big pool of slime to make it.

In case you need a recipe for slime – this is what we use:

• 1/2 cup of clear Elmer’s glue
• 1/4 cup of liquid starch
• 1/2 cup of water
• food coloring

We got a giant tub of liquid starch that has lasted us over a year and made TONS of slime.  If you’re big into slime like us, this is good, fairly inexpensive investment.

Stamp it

My daughter loves this one!  She practices them by stamping them out on paper.  I found these stamps on Amazon, and they’ve been super useful as a parent and a teacher!

Swat it

This is a fun activity, where kids use a fly swatter to swat the words as they read them.  You can usually grab fly swatters at the Dollar Tree, so it’s also an affordable activity!

Clip it

I adore this idea from a Pinch of Kinder.  She takes large popsicle sticks and clothespins and creates an amazing hands on activity that kids are sure to love!

Type it

My kids see me working all the time and love to play on my computer.  It was such a problem that I drug out an old keyboard for them to play with.   When I taught kindergarten, I also had a typing center – but used a printer worksheet I’d downloaded from somewhere.

Using the actual keyboard provides a fun and very tactile experience!  It also gets them working on developing those early typing skills!

Additional resources

We’ve also purchased a few additional resources that we love!  We have gotten some sight word reading sets, cds, and games that we rotate throughout our activities to help commit those words to memory.

Hopefully you’ve found tons of ideas to help break up the monotony of flashcards!   I use these in my List 1 lesson plans.  I’ve created an amazing (and inexpensive!)  bundle you can check out, and also given you a free template and other freebies in the next post! Either way you’re set for a long time!

Also, don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest!  I’m pinning all the sight word games and freebies I see pop up in my feed!