Do you want a super fun way to do sight words with your students? You do? Then keep on reading!
As a preschool teacher or a parent, it’s important to know that teaching preschoolers to read especially when they’re just starting out should be filled with fun and excitement because that’s how you get kids to engage and learn—through the art of playing.
And with that in mind, today, we’re going to learn 10 fun and easy sight word games for preschoolers that teachers and parents, would enjoy as well.
10 Super Fun Sight Word Games For Preschoolers!
1.) The Floor is Lava!
We all know how fun the game “The floor is lava” is, now imagine taking it to the next level just by incorporating sight words into it!
Not only does it make the game more challenging and more exciting, but it also makes it educational at the same time as well.
This one is an absolute fave of mind and my own daughter. I got her to learn and read so many words with just this game and all you need is a trusty marker and a few paper plates or colored card stocks and you’ll have never-ending fun with your kids or students with this exciting sight word game.
Now to play the game, all you need to do is to write the one sight word on each plate or colored card stock that you and your students are currently working on.
Each plate or colored card stock will act as a stepping stone and you can set it up across the room until they can reach the endpoint.
Students must read each word correctly before stepping onto the next stone. This can help enhance their familiarity with each of the sight words and also help improve their gross motor skills.
2.) Whack-a-word!
Do you remember the whack-a-mole game in arcades? This game is a little bit like that but instead of moles, they’ll be whacking words!
This is a quick and easy sight word game that will have your students improve their reading and word spelling recognition as well.
To initiate this game, you just need to write a bunch of sight words on the whiteboard and let your students come up to the board one at a time whack a word and let them read it aloud.
You can let them use a fly swatter that you can call the “magic whacker” to make it more exciting or any item that you think they can use to whack the words.
If they get the word right, the word gets erased, and all that’s left to do is for them to finish up all the sight words on the board and enjoy!
3.) Launch away!
Another guaranteed super fun game that will have your kids or students busy for hours is the launch away sight word game.
For this game you’ll need the following:
-Popsicle sticks
-Markers
-Paper cups
-Rubber bands
-1 spoon
-Any small item that can fit into the spoon (e.g, cotton balls, small erasers, etc.)
Once you’ve gathered all the materials you need the first thing that you need to do is create a mini launcher using the popsicle sticks, the spoon, and the rubber bands, as illustrated below.
Once you have your launchers ready, you’re going to write one sight word for each cup. After you’re done writing all the sight words you want them to be more familiar with set them up on the floor and the rest is fun and games!
Have them launch anything they want to, it can be cotton balls, small erasers, and just about anything that you think will be an easy fit to the spoon and can be launched easily into the cup.
If they get the things they launch into the cup they’ll need to read that sight word. This game also incorporates science and also helps them develop their critical and problem solving skills as they need to figure out how much pressure they need to use and where to place the spoon.
Overall, a super fun game that even you will surely want to have a go at it!
4.) Word egg hunt!
Another superb game that’ll have your kids learning their sight words in no time is the Easter Egg Word Hunt.
In this game, kids will act like they’re in an easter egg hunt but instead of chocolate eggs, they’ll be hunting sight words that you will be hiding in different locations in your classroom.
You can try to use colored index cards or a plain one and write one sight word in each and insert them in empty eggshells such as this one and then for the fun part—you get to decide where to hide all the word eggs.
After you’re all set up and you’ve hidden all your word eggs all that’s left is for them to do is to hunt the eggs and each time they get one get them to read the word aloud.
And to make this amazing game more amazing, you can try to give them clues or provide them with a map that they can use as a guide in their journey to uncover all the word eggs!
Pro tip! Include cute stickers or small treats inside the egg along with the sight word they get this will get them amped up to get to the other egg!
5.) Dig a word!
Everyone loves sprinkles, especially kids. And for this next awesome game, you’ll be utilizing colorful sprinkles to create one of the most exciting sight word games that’ll have your students bouncing off the walls!
For this game, you’ll need a lot of sprinkles, 1 large bowl, 1 cardboard, scissors, 1 food tong, or any grabber that they can use.
Once you have gathered all the materials you need, you just need to cut little pieces of cardboard in a size enough to fit 1 sight word. A 2”x1” size would do.
And then, the next thing you need to do is put all the sight words you made into the bowl and pour out the sprinkles onto the bowl to hide them.
After you’ve hidden all the sight words under the sprinkles they’ll love digging for the words and they will surely love to do it through the colorful rainbow sprinkles!
You can also make a mini container where they drop off the sight word they got and read because kids love to do that.
6.) Tower Block Sight Words!
Tower Blocks popularly known as Jenga is a classic family game that we all know can be a bit challenging yet full of fun. Now just imagine using Jenga blocks for a sight word game, it’s double the fun, right?
You’ll just need one set of Jenga blocks and write one sight word for each block. You can let your students take turns to get one block and once they’ve successfully gotten one block out you can have them read it out loud or also write it down depending on how you want to proceed.
7.) Sight Word Memory Game!
Now for this next game, you’ll be testing out your students’ reading skills and memory skills as well.
For this game, you’ll only need one piece of paper and write down sight words in twos in different grids, as illustrated below. You can use post-it to hide the words momentarily until they have found their match.
Just let them have a go at it until they have uncovered all the grids and have found all the matching sight words.
8.) Sight Words Bingo!
Bingo is a game that all ages can enjoy and that includes preschoolers! For this game, you can print out bingo cards for your students and let them stamp them every time they get a word.
Now instead of numbers you’ll be reading aloud sight words and give them time to find the word in their card and wait to see the smiles on their faces when they get a word right. Whoever gets to blackout all words on their bingo card first wins!
It’s best to give a reward prize but don’t forget to give out consolation prizes to reward everyone’s effort because everyone will surely work hard to find the word and fill out their card.
9.) High Five!
Kids love to high five, and teachers can use that to their advantage! This next game is super easy to do and is quite fun too.
You can ask your students to map out their hands-on colored stock papers and have them cut them out if they can. Once you have all their handmade paper hands you can now then write sight words on it or let them write down sight words that they would like to write on it.
Now for the fun part, stick it onto the board or on a wall at a height that they will be able to reach.
To start the game pick one student to go near the wall or the board and read one from the sight words on the paper hands. After that, your student needs to high-five the hand that contains the sight words that you just said.
This will help with their reading and spelling recognition as well while they have tons of fun high-fiving!
10.) Sight word ball pit!
Ball pits are a sure win with kids. And for this next game, you’ll just need a container that you think can store a lot of ping pong balls.
It’s best if you can use ping pong balls in different colors to make it more fun for the kids. You can write one sight word for each ball and once you have one word for each of the balls you have just pour it right into the container.
To let your students enjoy this game, all you have to do is call out one student first and shake the container to give it a game effect and have them put in their hands in the container and pick one ball.
Once they get a ball they’ll have to read it aloud and you can also ask them to write it down. After that, you can ask them to call on another classmate and the cycle goes on.
