Learning sight words doesn’t need to be boring or mundane. Your children/students will be begging to learn their sight words with these fun and engaging activity ideas.
Desk Writing Fun
Children love this idea! Use a window marker to write sight words on the desk. The writing comes off easily with a damp wipe! Have students pick three or four sight word flashcards suitable to their level, then have them copy each of the sight words on their desk.
Ten Pin Bowling Sight Words
What fun! You can pick up a cheap plastic ten pin bowling set from your local toy shop or variety store. Using some sight word flashcards suitable to the level of the children playing, place a hole punch in the corner and attach one word to each pin using a rubber band. Students try and hit as many pins over as they can, then correctly say each of the sight words they knocked over in order to add to their overall score!
Sand or Rice Writing
So simple, yet children love it! Use sand or even rice in a tray and have students pick sight word flashcards appropriate to their skill level and then write that word in the sand or rice. Place a sheet of coloured paper on the bottom of the tray for a more visually appealing activity.
Sight Word Paper Cup Tower
Using paper cups, stick sight words to each cup using a glue stick. Children must correctly say the word on each cup before they can place it on their ‘sight word tower’. Challenge your students to find out who can correctly say all of the words and create the tallest tower!
Play Dough Sight Words
Who doesn’t love to play with play dough? Using sight word flashcards appropriate to your child’s skill level, have them pick a word and then create it using play dough.
Non-mess Paint Writing
Simple! Put some paint in a plastic zip lock bag. Have children pick sight words and then use a cotton bud or their finger to write the sight word!
Scratch Paper Fun
My daughter loves this paper! I can pick it up fairly cheaply from my local newsagent. Simply use sight word flashcards and encourage children to write each sight word on the scratch paper to create a colourful list of sight words.
Sight Word Fishing Fun
Looks basic, but children in my class loved this game! Sight word fishing! Attach paper clips to sight word flashcards and create a fishing rod with a magnet at the end of the string. In a small group, children take turns to ‘fish’ out a sight word. If they can successfully ‘fish’ the sight word and say the sight word, they get to keep that flashcard. The child with the most sight word flashcards at the end wins!
Magic Sight Words Activity
Using a white crayon write some tricky sight words on a white piece of paper. Children then use water paint to discover their magic words. Can they work out what the magic sight words are? Challenge students by writing a secret sight word message for them to discover!
Sight Word Hop
Inspired by hop scotch, find a tiled area and write one sight word on each tile with three different colours. Children then pick a colour, and by hopping only on that colour sight word they can get ‘home’. They must say each sight word as they hop on it to get to the end.
Sight Word Popcorn
Print out sight word flashcards on yellow paper and scrunch up just like popcorn. Have students pick a piece of popcorn and read the sight word. If they get it correct they get to keep that piece of popcorn. Who can fill their popcorn bucket first?
Sight Word Card Game
Sight Word Card Game fun…
Each player is dealt 7 cards and the remaining cards are placed face down in the middle of the group. This forms the draw pile. Players turn over the top card of that pile and place it face up to form the discard pile.
When it’s your turn place a card on the discard pile. Your card must have either the same colour or sight word or you may place a wild card down and change the colour. You must say the sight word on the card that you are placing down on the discard pile. If you are unable to discard, you must pick up a card from the draw pile.
Players must follow the directions of cards such as draw 2, reverse or skip.
Sight Word BINGO
We have sight word bingo cards for all of the dolch word lists.
Print out the bingo and word cards and laminate them. Take a word cards out from the pile and have students put a marker over the word if they have it on their card. Your students can decide if they need to find three words vertically or five words horizontally to win. Our bingo cards also come with two blank game cards for your students to choose their own words.
Is it possible to make these resources for the Magic 100-300 sight Words?
Hi Kerry, The Magic brand of sight words are not owned by us and we cannot create resources for them, however, the activities in this blog can be adapted and used for any sight word lists you choose to use in the classroom. If there is anything else I can assist you with, please don't hesitate to contact me.
I love teaching my class sight words!?!
It can be so much fun can't it Adam? Thanks for your comment.