Classroom Games Large Group *Flashlight Words Turn off the lights and point a flashlight at a particular word on the Word Wall. Call on a student to read the word, and then it is the student s turn to shine the flashlight on a word and call on another student to read. *Word Wall Bingo Give each child a BINGO card with 6 blank spaces. The children write a sight word in each space, to make their own BINGO card. Play just like BINGO! *Bean Bag Toss In advance, divide a shower curtain into 20 squares and write sight words and a number 1, 2, or 3) onto index cards. Tape the cards onto the shower curtain. (This allows you to change the words as needed!) Divide the class into 2 teams. Each team takes turns throwing a beanbag onto a square. If the student can read the sight word the beanbag lands on, his team gets the number of points on the card. If the student misses the word, the other team gets the chance to say it and earn the points. The team with the most points wins the game. *Around the World Students sit in a circle on the rug. One student stands behind another student who is sitting. The teacher flashes them a sight word. Whichever child says the word first moves on to stand behind the next student. The student who makes it back to his/her own starting point is the winner. *Tic-Tac-Toe Create several tic-tac-toe boards by writing sight words in the spaces. You could make the boards on paper, or make transparencies for the overhead projector. Divide up into 2 teams of X s and O s. Team members take turns coming up and selecting a word to read. If he reads the word correctly, he may put an X or O in the space for his team. If the answer is incorrect, the other team gets to send a player to the board to try to read the same word and earn an X or O for his team. *Erasing Relay-Write 2 columns of sight words on the board, including as many words on the board as there are students in the relay. Divide students into 2 teams and have them stand in 2 lines at the board. At the signal, the first student in each line points to the first word in his team s column of words and reads that word. If he reads the word correctly, he may erase that word. The team that erases all of the words first wins the game. *Sight Word Red Rover This is an OUTSIDE game! Have students wear nametags with sight words on them. Divide into 2 teams. Play Red Rover as usual, except instead of saying a student s name, say a sight word in its place. The child who is wearing that tag may come over.
*Swat! Divide students into 2 teams, each standing in a line on either side of the word wall. Give the first student in each time a fly swatter. Read a word from the word wall. The first team to swat the word gets a point, and the players then pass the fly swatter to the next person in line. Also Splat! In this version, instead of using the word wall, draw 2 grids on an overhead transparency and program each grid with the same sight words, but not in the same position on the grid. Play the game just like Swat! *Heads Up Remember playing 7-Up as a kid? For this variation, you will need to prepare at least 14 sight word cards. Students put their heads down and cover their eyes while you quietly place a word card on each of 7 students desks. Then announce Heads up, 7 up. Each student who has a card at his/her place takes it to the front of the classroom and the whole class reads the words aloud. Switch cards with the standing students and continue the game by having the standing students quietly place their card on a different student s desk. *Sight Word Musical Chairs Make 2 sets of sight word cards. Have students arrange their chairs in a circle and place a sight word card in the seat of each chair. Students stand behind the chairs. As you play music, students march around the circle of chairs. When the music stops, each students stops behind a chair. The teacher reads one of the sight word cards aloud and the student who is standing behind that word holds up the card and spells the word. Start the music again and continue the game. *Picking Apples Create 3 kinds of cards: a single apple, apples in a basket, and worms. On the apple cards, write a sight word. On the basket cards, write take another card. On the worm cards, write Put all of your cards back. This game is played exactly like the other card games Bang, Crash, etc., except that if you draw a basket card you get another turn. *Fishing for Words This is a version of Memory with a twist! Make a fishing pole by attaching string to a dowel rod and then attach a magnet to the other end of the string. Create construction paper fish, labeled with a sight word, making 2 fish per word. Adhere a strip of magnet tape to the back of each fish. Place the fish face down on the floor, inside a hula-hoop if desired. Students catch a fish, read the word, and then try to find the match in the pond. If he finds a match, he keeps the pair; if not, both fish are returned to the pond. Players alternate turns until the pond is empty. You could color code the fish for different reading levels if desired. *I Have Who Has? Create the game cards for this activity by making a master that says I have at the top and Who has at the bottom. Then write the sight words onto the cards. The bottom word on card #1 will be the top word on card #2, the bottom word on card #2 will be the top word on card #3, etc. The bottom word on the last card will be the word that was at the top of card #1. To play the game, pass out all of the cards to students. It doesn t matter if
some students have more than one card. Any student may begin the game by reading his card. Whoever has the word he asks from the bottom of his card reads his card next. *Boys vs. Girls vs. Mrs. --Program Popsicle sticks with students names and separate them into boys and girls. Get your set of sight word cards. Put a graph on the board to keep score. Draw a boy and a girl Popsicle stick and those students come up to the front. Show them a sight word card, and the first student to read the word gets a point for his/her team. If somebody else shouts out the word, the teacher gets a point! *Word Monster This is from Dr. Jean. Cut a monster shape from one side of a file folder and then laminate the folder open. Then close the file folder and tape the sides together to make a pocket. Draw a face on the monster. Write sight words on white paper, where the monster s tummy would be, and insert the papers in the folder. Students identify the sight word that the monster has eaten, then remove that paper to reveal the next word. *Simon Says Sight Words Make sight word necklace nametags for students to wear. Students sit in a circle and the teacher calls out sight words and actions for the students to do. For example, Simon says me, and, on hop on one foot. Continue to play the game until each student has had several opportunities to participate.
Small Group Games *BANG! Write all of the sight words your class has learned on cards and put them in a box. On a few cards, write BANG! Students draw a card from the box. If he can read the word, he gets to keep it. If he cannot read the word, it is returned to the box. If he pulls a BANG! card from the box, all the cards he has collected must be returned to the box. When the game is over (all of the word cards are taken, or time is up), the student with the most cards is the winner. *Stinky Cheese Played just like BANG! Except make the pieces shaped like cheese. Other ideas: Rotten Apples, Smelly Socks, anything GROSS! The kids will love it! Another one is CRASH! The cards have cars with sight words but some say CRASH! *Tic-Tac-Toe Create a sight word tic-tac-toe board by writing a sight word in each section. Students play the game just like regular tic-tac-toe except that they must read the sight word before they can make an X or an O. Laminate the board and use wipe-off markers so you can re-use the board! *Sight Word Twister For this game, you will need a set of sight word cards. Create a Twister mat using 2 pieces of poster board taped together. (You don t want the mat to be too big ) On each shape, write a sight word. Also make a spinner divided into 4 sections: left hand, right hand, left foot, and right foot. To play, player #1 spins the spinner and reads a sight word card. Player #2 puts the corresponding hand or foot on the cutout with that word. Give players a couple of turns at spinning and reading the word and then switch roles. *Read & Bowl Program bowling pin cards with sight words, but create a few cards that say WOW! Create game boards by making 10 bowling pins in a triangle shape like the bowling pins are set up at the bowling alley. Put the cards in a small bag and give each player a game board. Student #1 draws a card and if he can red the word, he puts a counter on one of his bowling pins. Then it is student #2 s turn, etc. If a player draws a WOW card, he gets to knock down 2 pins. Play continues until one player has all of his pins covered. *Path Games You can create any number of path games with sight words written on each space. Students roll a die or spin a spinner to see how many spaces they move and then must read the word to stay there. If the student cannot read the word, he/she goes back 3 spaces.
Independent Center Games and Activities *All Lit Up Cut white paper to fit a Lite Brite screen and write sight words on the paper. Students place a page on the screen of the Lite Brite and use the pegs to spell the word. *Sight Word Stepping Stones Cut out a set of stepping stone shapes from a non-slippery material such as craft foam. (Or, if you re going to lay your stones on the carpet, you could attach small pieces of Velcro to the bottom to keep them from sliding.) Write a sight word on each stone. Students lay the stones on the floor in a path and read each word as they step on it. *Kites You will need a kite shape for each student, with a string attached to the bottom of the kite, and a set of bows programmed with sight words. See www.makinglearningfun.com for the blackline for this activity! Place all of the bow cards in a small bag. The student draws a bow from the bag, and if he can read the word, he places the bow on his kite string. *Sight Word Caterpillar Make game boards that have a caterpillar head and 10 blank circles for the body. Cut circles from tag board or craft foam and write a sight word on each. Place the circles in a small bag. Students take turns drawing a circle from the bag. If the student is able to read the word, he places it on his caterpillar body. If not, it is returned to the bag. *Frogs & Lily Pads Cut lily pad shapes from green craft foam and add a flower if you like. Write a sight word on each one. For the playing pieces, use plastic frogs from Dollar Tree. Spread the lily pads around on the table. Students name the sight words as his frog hops around from lily pad to lily pad. You could also have one student name a sight word and another student has to hope his frog to that lily pad. *Letter Tile & Plastic Letter Activities You can make letter tile word cards to go with any theme! To use tiles, you will need to put 1 boxes on the cards for each letter in the word. Write the sight word on the thematic picture at the top of the card. There are some printable ones at www.makinglearningfun.com. Students locate the letters to spell the sight word on the card. For plastic letters, you can use any medium-sized bulletin board cutouts or note pads. Write the sight word on the top portion of the cutout and students use plastic letters to spell the words. *Popcorn Words Using the popcorn bag blackline at www.makinglearningfun.com, create game boards by writing sight words on each piece of popcorn in the picture. Create a set of sight word cards to match. Students draw a card, read and locate the word on their board, and butter it with a yellow wipe-off marker. Continue until all of the popcorn is buttered!
*Sight Word Race Use either 1 or 2 dice. Based on how many dice you are using, copy either the 6- or 12-section recording sheet from www.readingresource.net. Write a sight word by each number on the sheet. Students roll the die or dice, read the word that is on that row on his sheet, and color a square on the graph. They continue to play and see which word wins the race. Another version Use a large die with the clear plastic pockets. Make sight word cards to fit the pockets. Students choose 6 words to practice and complete the same activity, except no numbers are required. *Memory Players turn cards over, read the word, and try to find a match. *Baseball Catch Using the game board available at www.makinglearningfun.com, program the page with a sight word on each baseball. Make several boards with the sight words in different positions. Also make corresponding word cards and place them in a small bag. Students draw a word card, read the word, and place a counter over the word. The goal is to cover all of your baseballs. *Sight Word Clip-Ons For this activity, you can use any picture or clip art mounted on cardstock. Write sight words along the left and right sides of the card. Label clothespins with the sight words by writing the words on masking tape (which makes it easier to change the words when you need to ). Students select a clothespin, read the word, locate the matching word on the card, and clip it by that word. *Touchdown! Create game boards that look like football fields, labeled with the 10-yard markers. Each student at the center will need a board and a small football-shaped marker such as an eraser or button. Make your set of sight word cards shaped like footballs. A student draws a card, reads the word and. if the word is read correctly, moves his football down the field toward the goal. *Playdough Sight Word Stamping Print the Playdough sight word cards at www.makinglearningfun.com. Use Lakeshore alphabet dough stampers to stamp the sight words in Playdough! *Sight Word Spelling Activities For these activities, provide a set of sight word cards or a list for students to view. *Rainbow Words Students write sight words in many colors. *Ransom Words Students cut the letters to spell sight words from magazines or newspapers and glue them on a recording sheet. words in it. *Clean Words Squirt some shaving cream on the table and let students write sight
*Beach Words Write sight words in moon sand. *Eggs in a Basket Collect plastic Easter eggs. Cut apart sight words letter by letter and place the letters for each word inside an egg. Place the eggs and the list of sight words in a basket. Students crack an egg, arrange the letters inside to spell a word, and check their spelling using the list. After the student has cracked all of the eggs and spelled the words, he puts the letters back in the eggs for the next child to use. *3-Dimensional Words Students make snakes from Playdough and spell sight words. You can provide cards with the words for them to use as a base, or just let them make the words themselves. *Newspaper Word Search Give students a part of a newspaper page. Students search the newspaper page from top to bottom, looking for sight words. *Magna Doodle Practice writing sight words on a Magna Doodle. *Shake, Write & Read Write a sight word in the bottom of each section of an egg carton. Add a bean or other counter to the carton. Students shake the carton, open it, read the word where the counter landed, and then practice writing it on a piece of paper. *Color-Changing Chameleons This is a fun way to practice sight words, combined with a little science magic. At the center, provide cutouts of chameleon shapes, Q-tips, and a small glass of grape juice. Have students write sight words of their choice with the grape juice and then set them aside to dry. The following day, provide these magic mixtures: one small cup of 1 tablespoon of baking soda in 3 tablespoons of water, and one small cup of undiluted vinegar. Students get a fresh Q-tip and trace over one of their words with the baking soda solution (the purple will turn bluish-green!). Get one more Q-tip and trace over the other word with the vinegar (the purple will turn pink!). You could do this activity on plain paper, but the shaped paper makes it more fun! **There wasn t room in our handout, but we have created a file of the patterns, etc. for many of these activities. If you would like for us to e-mail them to you, please send either of us an e- mail at the addresses on the cover sheet of the handout! Kitty & Tammy