Sight Words Games to Make Learning Fun!

In order to learn these sight words by heart, children must practice reading them many, many times. This can get tedious, especially if your child isn’t super into reading yet. Here are three fun games you can use to make sight word practice more fun:

1. Hot/Cold Game

Write several sight words on index cards and stick them up on the wall (or fridge).  For children who are just starting to learn sight words, say one of the words out loud and ask the child to point to the word that he THINKS is the right one.  Say that word out loud and then tell him if he’s hot or cold.  As he points to words that are closer to the target word, say “warmer” or “hotter”.  As he gets farther away, say “colder”.  For each word he points to, say the word out loud so he can start to memorize what those words say.

For children who are getting better at sight words, think of one of the words in your head but don’t say it out loud.  Have your child point to one of the words and say it out loud.  You can then give hot/cold clues to get her closer to the target word without saying the word out loud.

2. Dart Gun

Just like before, put your sight words up on a wall or refrigerator.  You can either have them say the word they shoot with a dart gun, or you can say a word and see if they can shoot it.  Have fun with this!

3. Make Silly Sentences

Lay out your sight words. See if you can arrange them into silly sentences. If you have them stuck to a wall or board like I do, you can simply point to the words as you go along.  Or, you can actually move the cards around.  Once you make a silly sentence, try to switch out just one word over and over again so the child gets extra practice with the words that stay the same.  After several versions of the sentence, see what other sentences you can make.  The sillier the better!