Hands-on sight words kids activities help preschoolers and kindergartners become efficient readers through fun tactile sensory invitations to learn and play.
If you have a preschooler you might often hear the term “sight words.” Well, those are words that appear most frequently in the reading text. And, sight words are clues that hold the connected text together (sentences), giving reading its meaning. In fact, if the child is to decode each word s/he comes across, reading becomes too strenuous. Plus some words in the English language simply cannot be phonetically decoded. Thus, teaching sight words early on is extremely important because knowing sight words will help your little one to become an efficient reader! And, since sight words are specifically chosen and need to be learned by SIGHT and not by sounding out, blending or segmenting, frequent practice through fun hands-on invitations to learn and play will make sight words learning desirable rather than dreadful!
I made this SIGHT-WORDS PDF for your personal use – download it HERE. Print the PDF, laminate all the pages and then cut out each word along the dotted line. You will notice that each page is color-coded according to its level. Level 1 is blue, Level 2 is green and Level 3 is red. To determine which level your child should use, you can do either of the two:
- have your child read Level 1: if s/he makes more than three mistakes, start with this level; otherwise proceed to the next level. Adrian (five-year-old), made five mistakes in Level 3, so it is the level I will be using today
- you can also have your child read all three levels, and choose only the words the child read incorrectly, so you will end up with various words from all three levels
Once you have determined the level your child is at, below find some fun hands-on sight word activities.
Find And Spray Sight Words Activity
A fun way to “see and read” sight words is by spraying them with water while observing a beautiful process of chromatography!
WHAT you’ll need:
– paper towel
– watercolor markers
– spray bottle filled with water (you can use droppers too)
First, download the sight words PDF. Then, decide which level you would like to use and write sight words with colorful watercolor markers. Thereafter, offer your child to read the word and thereafter spray it with water. Alternatively, you can say the word out loud and then ask a child to find it and spray it, which is a little easier. We are seeking sight words, but you can write numbers, letters, a child’s name, shapes or pictures!! So do adapt according to your child’s level. See this post on Instagram HERE.
Magic White Crayon Sight Words See and Read
And, how about magically appearing sight words?
First, over-impose a white thin paper over a printed PDF and trace over the sight words with a white crayon. Then offer your child to color each with watercolors and read aloud as they magically appear! You can see this activity on Instagram HERE.
Shaving Foam Sight Words Tracing
Here is another way to stimulate the senses while learning through play to read and trace sight words.
First, squirt generously shaving foam on a waterproof tray. Next, flatten the foam with a credit card or a flat hard cardstock. Offer your child to pick a word, read it and trace it in shaving foam. Lastly, offer to spell each letter by filling it with colorful chips. You can also use this sensory tray to trace numbers, alphabet letters, shapes, and even your child’s name. And the best part is that the mess is contained in a tray, so the clean up is minimal. The goal of this tactile learning style is to stimulate hands-on assimilation of information. Here, the child visually sees the word and then via the sense of touch traces and finally “makes” a sight word by filling it with clear chips while learning proper letter formation. You can see this activity on Instagram HERE.
Please, always supervise your children while they are learning through play.
Want more Hands-On Sight Words Activities?
FUN FACT according to Fry’s research:
- 12 sight words make up 25% of words your little one would encounter while reading
- 25 sight words make up approximately one-third of all published text
- 100 sight words make up 50% of the words we read and write
- 300 words make up approximately 65 percent of all written material